Why is implementation so difficult

As soon as you try to translate theory into practice, numerous difficulties start to arise. A small-business owner may tend to think of strategy as something that applies only to much larger enterprises. In effect, this means that any small-business owner with the foresight to develop and implement a good strategy will have a clear advantage. Simple common-sense plans are likely to be easier to successfully implement and much more likely to be realistic than complex and detailed strategies.

Individual managers and employees can slow or even prevent the implementation of a strategy they do not fully embrace or understand. If managers and employees perceive a strategy as unrealistic, they may ignore it or alter it or delay its implementation. A good strategic plan for a small business should simply identify all the competitive opportunities you can think of, all the obstacles or risks you can think of, the resources you have available, and some clear ideas for how to match your resources to your obstacles and opportunities.

For instance, a large chain store in direct competition with your business would be an obstacle or risk. The ability to offer more personalized service than the chain store would be an opportunity. Employees with local knowledge and good personal contacts in the area would be a resource.

The lack of coordination and communication can stifle policies, making it difficult for them to run smoothly from their inception. Resources, and the sometimes political provision of them, move beyond just simple funding and on to technology and time, a lack of these will make successful policy implementation a pipedream. Resource bottlenecks will only complicate this further; it is not just about having the resources, it is also about having all of them at the right time.

Perhaps some policies are setting their aims too high; this is particularly common when it comes to changing age ts belief systems across a wide variety of contexts. One could go so far to state that a policy can fail simply because the target group fails to actively play their part. The bottom-up approach yielded equally useful insights into the topic. The failure of agents on the front-line to act traditionally rational makes it difficult to generate accurate assumptions about how implementers will act.

The autonomy of these front-line agents gives them substantial discretion in how policies are implemented. They could ignore policies outright or selectively apply parts of it because it does not chime with their belief systems. That would however suggest that public servants are actively undermining policies, when the evidence suggests very few actually do that.

If the policy is unclear and ambiguous, then it is logical that people would understand and interpret it differently, leading to agents diverging from the desired aims of it. There is always the simple assertion that some policies fail because they are bad policies. If the policy is bad, the implementation of it will be. This could be because of those at the top choosing the wrong groups at the bottom to implement it.

Finally, the rise of NPM has highlighted some of the perceived issues with policy implementation, particularly focusing on those at the front- line. The NPM solutions give the impression that implementing agents have to adopt private sector practices in order to successfully carry out their role.

Implementing policies will always prove to be difficult; it is the nature of society and the agents within it that cause this. All that can be hoped is that lessons are learnt that will make future policies less of a struggle to implement.

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Pressman, J. Berkeley: University of California Press. Sabatier, P. Satz, D. The Journal of Philosophy. Spillane, J. Review of Educational Research. Weaver, R. Implementation Analysis to Improve Government Performance. Issues in Governance Studies. Related Papers Where is the implementation in sport policy and programme analysis? Strategy Management, the discipline of designing a robust strategy and establishing a continuous and predictable process to manage implementation over the long-term requires commitment and patient persistence from leadership to employees.

In over 20 years working with clients, we have experienced all kinds of challenges, particularly around implementation. The survey asked executives their opinions on seven core implementation capabilities. Companies that were best at implementation performed in the top quartile on these seven core capabilities. Here are the seven core capabilities and our perspective on each.