Structure follows strategy
Changes in strategy come before changes in structure and require them, and structures that outlive the strategy that produced them become the obstacle to the next one. The organisation is how the strategy is implemented.
Evidence grade: practice A widely adopted practitioner model with clear provenance.
Use it when
Any new strategy; checking that it has been implemented rather than only announced.
Where it stops working
It is a historical thesis about large firms, and the direction of causation is disputed. The practical point is the corollary, that a strategy announced on top of the old structure has probably not been implemented.
Where the standard uses it
- SV-6Organisational design and leading changeTeam structures, ownership boundaries, reorgs, and transitions.
Sources
- Alfred D. Chandler Jr. Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise. MIT Press, 1962. In the bibliography
Used alongside it
- Conway's law practice
- Leading change practice
- Sizing teams and spans practice
- Team topologies and cognitive load practice
Cite this model
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). Structure follows strategy. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, TEC.structure-follows-strategy). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/techniques/structure-follows-strategy