Every organizational structure has its strengths and weaknesses – there is no “right” answer – but there can be a better answer, a better structure for your strategy and stage of development.
In this workshop, we explore organizational design and systems. Organizational design shapes the overall look and feel of an organization, including both the formal and informal ways in which things get done – what we describe as “organizational architecture.” Organizational architecture is composed of structure, capacity, and performance, and strategic organization design fills in the specific features of how work is organized and coordinated. In this workshop, you will learn to use organizational design as a management tool in order to improve the efficiency of your organization’s systems.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
As a result of the How Organizations Work workshop, you will learn:
The basics of systems mapping, its application to an in-class case, and its application to a real problem you are confronting- Methods for developing organization structure – ways that will minimize dual reporting, ensure information flow, and create clarity
- The five interrelated components of effective organization design
- The characteristics of healthy organizations
- The Congruence Model of Organizational Behavior and its application to your organization’s systems
AUDIENCE: All levels
An optimal organizational structure balances differentiation (through grouping) with integration (through linking).
How Organizations Work
The fundamentals of systems thinkinginclude: defining and understanding the systems perspective about any situation or problem, solving problems with that perspective, describing and modeling aproblem, and designing and improving system solutions.
