Organizational review and design is a crucial process for any company that aims to streamline its operations and optimize its resources. It involves the evaluation of the company's structure, processes, and people to identify areas of improvement and create a more efficient and effective organization.
Steps involved in the organizational review and design process, as well as the benefits it can bring to your business.
Step 1: Define the Objectives
The first step in organizational review and design is to define the objectives of the process. This involves identifying the key areas of the business that need improvement and establishing the goals and outcomes you want to achieve.
Some common objectives of organizational review and design include:
- Improving operational efficiency and productivity
- Enhancing employee engagement and satisfaction
- Reducing costs and increasing profitability
- Aligning the organization with strategic goals and objectives
- Addressing any issues or challenges that are hindering the company's growth and success.
Step 2: Conduct a Review
The next step is to conduct a thorough review of the organization's current structure, processes, and people. This involves gathering data and information about the company's operations, performance, and culture through surveys, interviews, and other methods.
Some of the areas that may be reviewed during this stage include:
- Organizational structure and hierarchy
- Business processes and workflows
- Job roles and responsibilities
- Staffing levels and skill sets
- Performance metrics and KPIs
- Culture and values.
Step 3: Analyse the Data
Once you have gathered all the necessary data and information, it's time to analyse it and identify the areas that need improvement. This involves looking for patterns and trends in the data, as well as identifying any gaps or inefficiencies in the organization.
Some of the tools and techniques that can be used during this stage include:
- SWOT analysis
- Root cause analysis
- Process mapping
- Employee engagement surveys
- Performance scorecards.
Step 4: Develop a Design
Based on the analysis of the data, the next step is to develop a design for the new organizational structure, processes, and people. This involves identifying the changes that need to be made and creating a roadmap for implementing them.
Some of the key elements of a good organizational design include:
- A clear and concise organizational structure
- Efficient and streamlined business processes.
- Well-defined job roles and responsibilities
- A skilled and engaged workforce.
- Performance metrics and KPIs to track progress and success.
Step 5: Implement the Design
The final step in the organizational review and design process is to implement the new design. This involves communicating the changes to the organization, training employees on new processes and procedures, and monitoring performance to ensure that the changes are delivering the expected results.
Some of the key factors to consider when implementing the new design include:
- Communication and engagement with employees
- Change management and training.
- Performance monitoring and evaluation
- Ongoing review and refinement of the new design.
In summary, organizational review and design is a critical process for any business that wants to stay competitive and successful. By taking a structured and strategic approach to this process, you can identify the areas that need improvement, develop a new design that meets your objectives, and implement the changes successfully. With the right tools, techniques, and expertise, you can transform your organization and achieve long-term success.
When reviewing an organisational structure, functions, roles, accountabilities, and effectiveness we follow a proven approach comprising of five key stages:
Strategic Understanding
- What is the strategy driving the organisation, and where do the inputs to this strategy come from?
- What also are the high-level accountabilities and authorities implied by the strategy (are there higher-level decision makers that need to be accommodated or is there a higher level strategic paradigm that sets action and local strategy).
- Connected to this is clarity about key stakeholders – both authority and influence.
Process Understanding
- What are the significant processes, functions or work tasks implied by this strategy? How do these processes etc. interact – what is the nature of the interface?
- What interfaces are there with the external environment?
- What are the shared accountabilities, and do they really need to be shared?
Structure design (including options)
- How should work best be organised to support these processes, functions, and tasks? Particular attention to be paid to the nature of the work at the interfaces
- How are shared accountabilities managed?
- How many levels of work need to be implemented to engage in all the work – this is about determining different levels of work complexity.
Role Definition
- What roles – type and number need to be attached to the structure?
- What is the unique value add of each role?
- Roles need to be defined in terms of their primary output, primary outlook (internal/external), primary responsibilities (strategic/operational), key relationships/interfaces and authorities as well as competency and experience requirements
People Factors
- What are the skill and experience sets of the available resources?
- How well do they match roles requirements?
- What are the actions that need to happen to ensure a better match?