Downsizing: Managing the Muddles

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What is Organization Design?

‘You can still be in a fog when surrounded by databases, information systems, knowledge sharing, learning environments, and people full of wisdom. ’ Jensen, B. (2000). Simplicity. Perseus Publishing.

Overview This chapter describes organization design as a systems approach that is more than just structure. However, the first section of this chapter does outline some of the structural options that are open to you as you think about the design. Be cautious against deciding on a structure too early in the design process. As you read more about the systems approach you find out that if you change one part of your organization design it will affect other parts. The start-point is knowing your organization’s business purpose and strategy and organization design starts from clarity on this. The methodology this book describes is a five phase one that involves teams working at a high level and at a detailed level. In this chapter, you will learn something of how these operate as the design process proceeds. Later chapters explain the participative approach in more detail. Essential to your design work is excellent communication to all those who are affected by any changes that you make. This chapter starts your

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Organization Design:The Collaborative Approach

thinking about the communication plan which is described in more detail in Chapter 6. Enjoy your learning and assess how much you know by the end of the chapter where you will find a short do’s and don’ts section, a self-check of your understanding, and a bare-bones summary. Learn Something about Organization Design and Structure Organization design specialists state that an organization will perform the way it is designed to perform and that the design must be able to realize specifically desired outputs. As evidence of this the Organization Design Forum – a US-based networking group for...