What is a potential consequence of misalignment between an organization's strategy and its structure?

• A. Faster decision making
• B. Higher market share
• C. Increased innovation and growth
• D. Wasted resources and poor performance

Answer: (D)

The main idea is that a company’s structure must enable its strategy. When they are not aligned, resources get spent on activities that don’t advance the strategic goals, silos and unclear decision rights create bottlenecks, and effort is duplicated or wasted. This misalignment directly leads to poor execution and overall performance declines, so wasted resources and poor performance is the natural consequence.

For example, if a strategy calls for rapid, cross-functional innovation but the structure reinforces rigid, separate departments with slow handoffs, projects stall, investments miss their intended impact, and results suffer. That’s why the other options—faster decision making, higher market share, or increased innovation and growth—are not typical outcomes of misalignment; they require alignment and well-designed coordination to occur.