Guide to Organisation Design

If it is to be successful, the restructuring or reorganisation of an enterprise must involve much more than focusing on the organisation chart and reporting arrangements. It needs to include the culture, group processes, leadership, measurement and stakeholder engagement if it is to result in an organisation that is aligned in a way that will achieve the organisation’s strategic goals.

This guide sets out to provide insights and practical help on how to avoid the common mistakes made when enterprises set about restructuring themselves. Each chapter looks at a specific aspect of organisation design and is illustrated with real company examples, and then concludes with a case study that demonstrates ways of tackling the issues raised in the chapter. Useful tools and techniques are also given.

To achieve high performance an organisation must be aligned and adaptable to changing circumstances. Getting to this state takes specific skills and knowledge, especially as the redesign of an enterprise must be carried out while making sure that the day-to-day operations do not suffer.

Using many real company examples, this guide looks at methods of thinking clearly about the reasons for wanting to change — and then working out the best ways of getting from A to B successfully. In doing so it stresses that organisation design work is a fundamental process and not just a repair job, and that it must

• be driven by the business strategy (and not, for example, a new IT system or a new leader wanting to make an impact)
• involve holistic thinking about the organisation
• look to the future, not just the present

1. Introducing organisation design
2. Models, approaches and designs
3. Organisational structures
4. Planning and sequencing the organisation design
5. Measurement
6. Stakeholder engagement
7. Leadership and organisation design
8. Culture and group processes
9. Morphing not future proofing

• Appendix 1: Organisation design models
• Appendix 2: Useful sources of information
• Appendix 3: Glossary

I like this book, even if it isn't the most complete or fun book on the subject to read, but it manages to convey a lot of information. So much so, that you are compelled to look it up elsewhere, but you still gets back to this one to understand how it all fits together.

A worthwhile addition to the library.