Blue Ocean Tools

Fair Process

Fair process is a concept developed by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne that builds execution into strategy by creating people’s buy-in up front. When fair process is exercised in the strategy formulation phase, people trust that a level playing field exists, inspiring voluntary cooperation during the execution phase.

There are three mutually reinforcing elements that define fair process: engagement, explanation, and clarity of expectation. Whether people are senior executives or shop employees, they all look to these elements. Kim and Mauborgne call them the three Ε principles of fair process.

Engagement Explanation Expectation Clarity
Engagement means involving individuals in the strategic decisions that affect them by soliciting their input and allowing them to refute the merits of one another’s ideas and assumptions. Engagement communicates management’s respect for individuals and their point of view. The result is better strategic decisions by management and genuine commitment from everyone involved in execution. Explanation means that everyone involved and affected should understand why final strategic decisions are made. An explanation of rationale engenders confidence among employees that managers have considered their opinions and have made decisions impartially in the overall interest of the company, even if their own ideas have been rejected. It also serves as a powerful feedback loop to enhance learning. Expectation clarity requires that after a strategy is set, managers clearly state the new rules of the game. Although the expectations may be demanding, employees know up front the standards by which their work will be judged and the consequences of failure. When people clearly understand expectations, political jockeying and favoritism are minimized, and people can focus on executing the strategy rapidly.

© Kim & Mauborgne. All rights reserved.

It should be noted that any subset of the three is insufficient. The three criteria collectively lead to judgments of fair process.

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W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne created a comprehensive set of analytic tools and frameworks to create blue oceans of new market space. In their just released New York Times Bestselling book, BLUE OCEAN SHIFT (September 2017), Kim and Mauborgne share how to put these practical market-creating tools into practice to move from red to blue oceans and to do so in a way that people own and drive the process.

Brimming with battle-tested lessons and the stories of organizations from around the world that put their ideas into practice, Kim and Mauborgne highlight what works, what doesn’t, the potential pitfalls along the way and how to avoid them to achieve the best results in your organization. Get your copy of BLUE OCEAN SHIFT now, and get all these answers plus so much more including exercise templates you can use to apply the tools in your organization.

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Don’t just check out the tools. Learn how to put them in practice. Find out what works, what doesn’t, the potential pitfalls along the way and how to avoid them to achieve the best results in your organization. Get your copy of BLUE OCEAN SHIFT now, and get all these answers plus so much more including exercise templates you can use to apply each tool in your organization.

Red Ocean vs. Blue Ocean Strategy
Value Innovation
Visualizing Strategy
Strategy Canvas
Four Actions Framework
ERRC Grid
Six Paths Framework
Pioneer Migrator Settler Map
Three Tiers of Noncustomers
Sequence of Blue Ocean Strategy
Buyer Utility Map
Price Corridor
of the Mass
Four Hurdles to Strategy Execution
Tipping Point Leadership
Fair Process

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