By M. Isi Eromosele

The substance and processes of organization design are too complex and their consequences too critical to be handled in an arbitrary manner.

For the redesign to succeed, decisions have to be made with in the context of the organization and its unique and complex dynamics. A mental model of how the organization works will have to be created. This model helps put the role of design in a larger organizational perspective.

It is helpful to think about organizational performance in terms of a systems model known as the Convergence Model of Organizational Performance. This customized model views the organization as a wholesome system that transforms strategy into performance through the interaction of four key components:

• The core work required to produce products and/or services
• The personnel who perform the work
• The formal organizational architecture that provide the pattern of structures, processes and practices that form the flow of work
• The informal organizational architecture encompassing the values and behavioral norms that shape the patterns of social interaction.

In normal situations, organizations are most effective when they achieve a high degree of integrated fit among the above four components within the framework of strategy.

Organizational architecture refers to the pattern of relationships among the four components of the organizational system. The architecture describes the ways in which the formal arrangements and social dynamics can be shaped to interact with one another in ways best suited to achieving specific strategic objectives.

All of the above need to be translated into necessary questions that need to be asked in the implementation of organizational design. With a strategy in place, an understanding of the interrelated nature of the organizational system should prompt design questions as follows:

• What changes will the new strategy require in the organization’s core work? How will tasks be modified?
• Does the organization’s staff have the skills, interest, characteristics and capacity to perform the required work in a way consistent with the new strategy
• Are the values, beliefs, behavior patterns and leadership styles associated with the current culture applicable to the performance expectations of the new work processes
• How will the explicit structures and processes that make up the formal organizational arrangements affect the new work requirements

Once the work requirements have been established, attention turns to the formal organization - the structures, processes and systems that make up the explicit and relatively stable aspects of the organization. These formal organizational arrangements provide the most obvious tools for implementing change.

The goal of organizational redesign is to develop and implement a set of formal organizational arrangements that will lead to a good fit among all components of firm - strategy, work, personnel, the informal organization and the formal organizational arrangements.

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

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