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Table 5 Different perceptions of the new design
From: Navigating in a Hierarchy: How Middle Managers Adapt Macro Design
| Design element | Executive management team (vice president and directors) | Middle managers (senior managers and managers) | Congruence in perceptions (executive management vs. middle management) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategy | Must-wins: | Must-wins: | Yes |
| • Valued finance partner | • Valued finance partner | ||
| • Strong finance fundamentals | • Strong finance fundamentals | ||
| • Boost standardization and harmonization agenda | • Boost standardization and harmonization agenda | ||
| • ONE finance team | • ONE finance team | ||
| • Proactive collaboration with stakeholders | • Proactive collaboration with stakeholders | ||
| • Engaged, developed, and mobile colleagues | • Engaged, developed, and mobile colleagues | ||
| • Developed and utilized new technologies | • Developed and utilized new technologies | ||
| Structure | Simple functional structure | Full-blown matrix | No |
| Clear roles and command | Blurred lines | ||
| Confusing roles, especially business partners and controllers | |||
| Processes | Business plan (e.g., standardization of systems, SAP) | Few formal processes—people do their own thing | Partly |
| Service-level agreement (SLA) as a foundation for collaboration with sites | Service-level agreement (SLA) looks good on paper but does not reflect reality | ||
| SAP is not working on production sites | |||
| Rewards | Rewards given based on contribution to finance function | Formal rewards based on finance function | No |
| Rewards given based on the 7 must-wins in the strategy | |||
| Informal rewards based on line of business | |||
| People | Highly skilled and specialized finance people | Need for people who can “work the matrix,” e.g. serve both the function and the business | No |
| Need for people that think more strategic | Difficult to make employees fill out role as finance business partner | ||
| Frustration—people do not deliver | Concerns about stress |
