A Brief History of the 7S (McKinsey 7S) Model （7 s的简史》(麦肯锡7 s)模型）.pdf

A Brief History of the 7-S (McKinsey 7-S) Model I was asked to write a roughly 1K-word précis of the 7-S/McKinsey 7-S Model, of which I was a co-inventor. As far as I can tell, this is the first such history of the well-known organization effectiveness diagnostic. Herewith (and my apologies for the wordiness): In 2008 in a participant document accompanying a seminar in Dubai, event speaker and former McKinsey Co. Managing Director Rajat Gupta said in response to an interviewers question: The science of management continues to develop as scholars and global business leaders refine their approaches to organizing their enterprises to ensure both profitability and sustainability. There is surely no one size fits all solution that can guarantee success in business. However, among the array of techniques and theories that can help strengthen business, I have always found that the 7-S framework offers a sound approach to combining all of the essential factors that sustain strong organizations: strategy, systems, structure, skills, style, and staff —all united by shared values. The 7-S framework remains one of the enduring elements of diligent, focused business management. Guptas rather strong comment came 28 years after Business Horizons , in its June 1980 issue, formally birthed the 7-Ss in an article by Bob Waterman, myself, and Julien Phillips titled: Structure Is Not Organization. And the Business Horizons article, in turn, came three years after I, fresh from receiving my Ph.D. in Organization Behavior at the Stanford business school (completed while on leave from McKinsey), was summoned to the firms New York office and handed a fascinating assignment. Relatively new McKinsey Managing Director Ron Daniel was launching a priority effort to renew McKinseys intellectual capital —though that term did not exist at the time. (It was more or less called RD.) McKinseys fabled advisors to top management were under an assault of ideas from B