What Does Organisational Design Mean for Me and My Work?

A presentation to European Organizational Development Network: EODF Stream in May 2014, by Frances Abraham and Jean Neumann. This forms the third in the series of organizational design themed presentations we have been profiling.

The presentation outlines the enquiry being undertaken by Frances Abraham and Jean Neumann into what organizational design means for their work, the theory they draw on in thinking about their practice, and the meaning of this for what they actually do in organizational design consultancy settings.

Transcript

1. 1 What  Does  Organisa/onal  Design   Mean  for  Me  and  My  Work?   Frances  Abraham  &  Jean  Neumann   www.tavins6tute.org   For  European  Organiza6onal  Development   Network:  EODF  Stream   7th  May  2014  
2. 2 What  is  Organisa6onal  Design?      How  we  plan  to  work  with  you  today   Coming up: • Reflections on Literature (small selection of definitions) • Some Case Study Illustrations • Our Assertions about what needs to be involved in organizational design Followed by us all working together on • What is important to each of us in working with organizational design, what we think makes for good organizational design and • See if we can identify any underlying principles of our approaches But first …
3. 3 Organiza6on  Design  Defini6ons     with  Reference  to  Design  Process   •  ‘Organiza6on  design  is  the  deliberate  process  of  configuring   structures,  processes,  reward  systems,  and  people  prac6ces  to   create  an  effec6ve  organiza6on  capable  of  achieving  the  business   strategy...  ’  Using  top-­‐down  versus  boXom-­‐up  design  processes.   [Quote  retrieved  21  April  2014,  from  www.jaygalbraith.com]   •  ‘Organiza6on  Design  is  a  formal,  guided  process  for  integra6ng  the   people,  informa6on  and  technology  of  an  organiza6on.  It  is  used  to   match  the  form  of  the  organiza6on  as  closely  as  possible  to  the   purpose(s)  the  organiza6on  seeks  to  achieve.  Through  the  design   process,  organiza6ons  act  to  improve  the  probability  that  the   collec6ve  efforts  of  members  will  be  successful.’  [Quote  retrieved  21   April  2014,  from  www.inovus.com]  
4. 4 Organisa6on  Design  Defini6ons     with  Reference  to  Values   •  ‘The manner in which a management achieves the right combination of differentiation and integration of the organisation’s operations, in response to the level of uncertainty in its external environment.’ [Quote retrieved on 21 April 2014, from www.businessdictionary.com] •  ‘Organizational design is a step-by-step methodology which identifies dysfunctional aspects of work flow, procedures, structures and systems, realigns them to fit current business realities/goals and then develops plans to implement the new changes. The process focuses on improving both the technical and people side of the business.’ [Retrieved on 21 April 2014, from www.centerod.com]
5. Different  Ideas  in  the  EODF  Community     about  ‘What  is  Organiza6onal  Design?’   Ways  of  seeing  org  design:   Contras6ng  two  aspects:  First,   •  Form:  structure  and   processes  Or   •  Form  and  culture     Second,   •  Inten6onal  change  towards   agreed,  ra6onal  strategic   objec6ves  Or   •  Reflec6on  on  the  current,   emergent  and  adap6ve  or   incipient  design  related  to   strategic  interests   Approaches  to  org  design:   •  E.g.  the  star  model  (top-­‐ down)   •  E.g.  socio-­‐technical  systems   design  (boXom  up)     •   Holographic  metaphors  for   remote  and  network   configura6ons   •   Whole  systems,  step-­‐wise   methodologies  using  eg   future  search   •  Discursive,  conversa6onal,   some6mes  off-­‐line     5
6. 6 An  Illustra6on  of  TIHR  ‘School  of   Thought’  and  Organisa6onal  Design   •  Discursive practices (e.g. Mutual adjustment) •  Conversational enquiry •  Improvised transitional arrangements •  Aesthetics as design •  Organisational environment •  Inter-organisational design •  Representational groups •  Cross-boundary collaboration •  Socio-technical systems •  Job design & control of deviations to standard •  Work flows •  Spans of control – requisite variety •  Differentiated boundaries for individual roles & departments •  Primary task •  Semi-autonomous work groups •  Role to role clarity TIHR Socio- Psychological TIHR Socio- Technical Plus Contemporary Interpretations TIHR Socio- Ecological Bert Painter’s Web-site: www.moderntimesworkplace.com – go to archives
7. Two  Case  Examples  of  TIHR  Influenced   Organisa6onal  Design   One Primarily Internal Reference to Roles and Groups   •  Jean •  Training & Development Firm in service sector •  Presenting Problem: External pressures decreasing value of internal work & seniors pulled outwards, internals insufficiently prepared to handle; succession planning •  Organisational design solution: –  Multiple outcomes from one main approach –  Action research over 5 years One Substantially External Reference to Environment   •  Fiddy •  Local Government-led cross-sector agency collaboration (with health, police, voluntary and community agencies etc) •  Presenting Problem: Developing an architecture for collaboration which: - provided for different models of authorisation in different constituencies -  Addressed power differentials -  built on strengths of different types of organization •  Organizational design response: - Improvising new settings and conversational routines over 6-9 months 7
8. TIHR  Case  Example:  Organiza6onal  Design   for  Roles  &  Groups   q  Training & Development Provider q  External reputation becoming increasingly important for purposes of attracting younger staff q  Problem: How to respond to external demand for well-known, senior trainers without undermining self-esteem of internal workload for modest trainers and junior staff (mostly administration and facilities management)? q  Organisational design solutions: 1. Bottom-up redesign of work into ‘portfolios’ & ‘clusters’ based on STS principles 2. Separation of external facing leadership from internal facing leadership 3. Leadership team combining cluster heads (rotating) with external and internal leaders 4. HRM via thematic working groups 8 Abraham & Neumann, 07.05.14, www.tavinstitute.org
9. TIHR  Case  Example:  Organiza6onal  Design   for  Inter-­‐Organisa6onal  Collabora6on   q  Local government-led cross- sectoral agencies meeting new requirements , progress towards shared local objectives through joint action q  9 month time-scale to meet nationally set targets q  Organizational design strategies employed: -  Work in existing settings to identify issues and triggers -  Work in cross-cutting settings to generate new relationships and communication channels -  Support for conversations in improvised cross-cutting groupings -  Modelling productive dialogue at whole system events on shared objectives 9 Abraham & Neumann, 07.05.14, www.tavinstitute.org
10. Our  Own  Asser6ons  about     ‘What  Organiza6onal  Design  Means’   Fiddy: “As far as I’m concerned, it’s not organizational design unless it addresses both structure and culture.” “A good organizational design in my opinion needs to involve participation from all parts of the system.” Jean: “ As far as I’m concerned, it’s not organizational design unless it addresses operations positively (meaning both the social and the technical).” “A good organizational design in my opinion needs to involve multiple, simultaneous changes over time, that is action research.” 10
11. Your Experiences with Organisational Design PLUS Drafting 1-2 Principles ŒComplete these sentences based on your experience in offering or receiving organizational design: Ø “As far as I’m concerned, it’s not organizational design unless ……………………………………” Ø “A good organizational design, in my opinion, needs to …………………………………………” Work with others to discuss and craft one or two principles of organizational design (suggested by your sentence completion). 11
12. Ending Comments •  Please clearly write out your sentence completion examples onto one A4 sheet of paper, along with any organisation design principles that emerged in your discussions. •  Add your full names plus clearly written email addresses onto the same sheet of paper. •  Jean and Fiddy will type up the principles & send them to those of you who have participated today. 12 Abraham & Neumann, 7.05.14, www.tavinstitute.org