There is definitely misalignment at the company I currently work at. It's a small marketing firm that focuses on selling "leads" to online colleges and other businesses seeking to outsource their recruiting. As I look through the 7S model, the two categories that seem to be the main culprit for misalignment are superordinate goals and style.
As the CEO often reminds us, the company currently has one main superordinate goal: become a billion dollar company. On its own, I think this is a great goal and is definitely hairy and audacious enough to be called a BHAG. However, the misalignment comes in when you look at the style of the company. The company prides itself on treating its employees well. This comes in the form of a strictly 40 hour work week, many activities throughout the week, an hour long lunch break (which the company caters four days a week), many vacation/sick days, and the list goes on and on. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the culture! As an employee, I feel like a king at this company. However, this culture doesn't mesh well with the superordinate goal. As an example of this misalignment, a few weeks ago I overheard this quote from a web developer speaking with a coworker: "Yeah, that sounds like a big bug that needs to be fixed, but hey! It's Friday! I'll worry about it next week.
Without a serious cultural realignment, the company will never be able to achieve this goal. This is a problem. The company either needs to attempt to change its style, or else come up with a different superordinate goal. As an employee, I vote for a new goal, but if the CEO is serious about wanting to keep growing and attaining the goal of being a billion dollar company, the style will have to change.
