The diagnosis should be based on the analysis and an agreement by those concerned
with what the aims of the organization should be. The present arrangements can be considered against these aims and future requirements to assess the extent to which
they meet them or fall short.
It is worth repeating that there are no absolute standards against which an organization structure can be judged. There is never one right way of organizing anything and there are no absolute principles that govern organizational choice. The fashion for delayering organizations has much to commend it, but it can go too far, leaving units and individuals adrift without any clear guidance on where they fit into the structure and how they should work with one another, and making the management task of coordinating activities more difficult.
Organization guidelines
There are no ‘rules’ or ‘principles’ of organization but there are certain guidelines that are worth bearing in mind in an organization study. These are:
● Allocation of work. The work that has to be done should be defined and allocated to functions, units, departments, work teams, project groups and individual positions. Related activities should be grouped together, but the emphasis should be on process rather than hierarchy, taking into account the need to manage processes that involve a number of different work units or teams.
● Differentiation and integration. It is necessary to differentiate between the different activities that have to be carried out, but it is equally necessary to ensure that these activities are integrated so that everyone in the organization is working towards the same goals.
● Teamwork. Jobs should be defined and roles described in ways that facilitate and underline the importance of teamwork. Areas where cooperation is required should be emphasized. The organization should be designed and operated across departmental or functional boundaries. Wherever possible, self-managing teams should be set up and given the maximum amount of responsibility to run their own affairs, including planning, budgeting and exercising quality control. Networking should be encouraged in the sense of people communicating openly and informally with one another as the need arises. It is recognized that these informal processes can be more productive than rigidly ‘working through channels’ as set out in the organization chart.
● Flexibility. The organization structure should be flexible enough to respond quickly to change, challenge and uncertainty. Flexibility should be enhanced by the creation of core groups and by using part-time, temporary and contract workers to handle extra demands. At top management level and elsewhere, a collegiate approach to team operation should be considered in which people share responsibility and are expected to work with their colleagues in areas outside their primary function or skill.
● Role clarification. People should be clear about their roles as individuals and as members of a team. They should know what they will be held accountable for and be given every opportunity to use their abilities in achieving objectives to which they have agreed and are committed. Role profiles should define key result areas but should not act as straitjackets, restricting initiative and unduly limiting responsibility.
● Decentralization. Authority to make decisions should be delegated as close to the scene of action as possible. Profit centres should be set up as strategic business units which operate close to their markets and with a considerable degree of autonomy. A multiproduct or market business should develop a federal organization with each federated entity running its own affairs, although they will be linked together by the overall business strategy.
● Delayering. Organizations should be ‘flattened’ by removing superfluous layers of management and supervision in order to promote flexibility, facilitate swifter communication, increase responsiveness, enable people to be given more responsibility as individuals or teams and reduce costs.
It is worth repeating that there are no absolute standards against which an organization structure can be judged. There is never one right way of organizing anything and there are no absolute principles that govern organizational choice. The fashion for delayering organizations has much to commend it, but it can go too far, leaving units and individuals adrift without any clear guidance on where they fit into the structure and how they should work with one another, and making the management task of coordinating activities more difficult.
Organization guidelines
There are no ‘rules’ or ‘principles’ of organization but there are certain guidelines that are worth bearing in mind in an organization study. These are:
● Allocation of work. The work that has to be done should be defined and allocated to functions, units, departments, work teams, project groups and individual positions. Related activities should be grouped together, but the emphasis should be on process rather than hierarchy, taking into account the need to manage processes that involve a number of different work units or teams.
● Differentiation and integration. It is necessary to differentiate between the different activities that have to be carried out, but it is equally necessary to ensure that these activities are integrated so that everyone in the organization is working towards the same goals.
● Teamwork. Jobs should be defined and roles described in ways that facilitate and underline the importance of teamwork. Areas where cooperation is required should be emphasized. The organization should be designed and operated across departmental or functional boundaries. Wherever possible, self-managing teams should be set up and given the maximum amount of responsibility to run their own affairs, including planning, budgeting and exercising quality control. Networking should be encouraged in the sense of people communicating openly and informally with one another as the need arises. It is recognized that these informal processes can be more productive than rigidly ‘working through channels’ as set out in the organization chart.
● Flexibility. The organization structure should be flexible enough to respond quickly to change, challenge and uncertainty. Flexibility should be enhanced by the creation of core groups and by using part-time, temporary and contract workers to handle extra demands. At top management level and elsewhere, a collegiate approach to team operation should be considered in which people share responsibility and are expected to work with their colleagues in areas outside their primary function or skill.
● Role clarification. People should be clear about their roles as individuals and as members of a team. They should know what they will be held accountable for and be given every opportunity to use their abilities in achieving objectives to which they have agreed and are committed. Role profiles should define key result areas but should not act as straitjackets, restricting initiative and unduly limiting responsibility.
● Decentralization. Authority to make decisions should be delegated as close to the scene of action as possible. Profit centres should be set up as strategic business units which operate close to their markets and with a considerable degree of autonomy. A multiproduct or market business should develop a federal organization with each federated entity running its own affairs, although they will be linked together by the overall business strategy.
● Delayering. Organizations should be ‘flattened’ by removing superfluous layers of management and supervision in order to promote flexibility, facilitate swifter communication, increase responsiveness, enable people to be given more responsibility as individuals or teams and reduce costs.
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