Designing Organizations for Strategy Execution and Scale
This course examines how organizations translate strategic plans into operational reality and how those systems must evolve as organizations grow. Participants explore the relationship between strategy implementation, organizational structure, coordination mechanisms, and control systems, and learn how these elements influence information flow, accountability, and decision speed. Building on foundational research in strategy and organizational design, the course addresses how firms align structure and incentives with strategic priorities and how those systems must adapt as growth increases coordination complexity. Participants will apply frameworks such as the Strategy Star Model developed by Jay Galbraith, the “structure follows strategy” insight of Alfred Chandler, and organizational growth and coordination theories developed by Larry Greiner, Henry Mintzberg, and Oliver Williamson. Through applied examples and diagnostic tools, the course equips professionals to identify implementation breakdowns, redesign organizational systems, and manage the structural and governance challenges that arise as firms scale.
Learning Objectives:
- Distinguish between strategy formulation and strategy implementation and explain why well designed strategies frequently fail during execution.
- Analyze how organizational design elements including structure, specialization, centralization, and formalization shape coordination, information flow, and decision making.
- Evaluate alternative structural forms such as simple, functional, divisional, matrix, and network structures and determine their suitability for different strategic contexts.
- Apply organizational control systems including input, behavioral, output, and clan controls to align managerial incentives with strategic priorities.
- Diagnose organizational growth challenges including leadership bottlenecks, coordination breakdowns, and governance complexity that emerge as organizations expand.
- Recommend organizational design and governance adjustments that support effective strategy implementation and sustainable organizational growth.
| When: |
Friday, April 24th, 2026. 9:00 AM to 1:15 PM EST |
| Where: |
Your home or office |
| Speaker: |
William Kline, Ph.D., CFA, CSCA |
| CPE Credits: |
4 Business Management and Organization CPE |
| CLE Credits: |
4 Substantive CLE |
| Program Level: |
Basic |
| Prerequisites: |
None |
| Advanced Preparation: |
None |
| Delivery Method: |
Group Internet-Based |
The Presenters:
William Kline, Ph.D., CFA, CSCA, is an Assistant Professor of Management at Pennsylvania State University - Harrisburg. He received his Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the Fox School of Business at Temple University. He has received four awards for teaching excellence including the Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of the Year Award (PSU – Harrisburg), the Dean’s Award for Faculty Excellence and Stanley Fuchs Award (Fordham University), and the Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Doctoral Candidate (Temple University).
Dr. Kline’s primary research interests include strategic decision-making and executive compensation. He has been published in 9 peer-reviewed journals including the Academy of Management Perspectives, the Journal of International Management, and the Journal of Strategy & Management.
Prior to entering academia, Mr. Kline was a manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he completed valuations for mergers and acquisitions, business planning, as well as tax and financial reporting. Mr. Kline also spent time consulting at CBIZ Valuation Group, Inc. and Curtis Financial Group, a regional investment bank.
About CPE/CLE:
The ALA issues CLE credits as an accredited provider of CLE in Pennsylvania (PA CLE Provider # 5963). For additional information, please visit http://www.pacle.org/. It is the responsibility of each attorney to determine whether their state accepts CLE credits from a Pennsylvania-accredited provider. Acceptance of these credits varies by jurisdiction, and state-specific requirements may apply. Attorneys are encouraged to review their state’s CLE rules and regulations, including reciprocity policies, credit approval processes, and any submission requirements for out-of-state programs. The Accountant-Lawyer Alliance cannot guarantee CLE credit approval outside of Pennsylvania. For further guidance, please contact your state’s CLE regulatory body.
The Accountant-Lawyer Alliance, LLC is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Suite 700, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417. Web site:www.nasba.org.
