Organization Design

“Is it a perfect chart?”

Every one nods in agreement when they hear the statement: Form follows function. At the same time, organization leaders often want to re-organize without a tough-minded discussion about "why now" and "what is to be accomplished" by this shift.

Sometimes, organization changes are prompted by a desire to minimize the impact of a poor performers, or to make a place for a unique contributor, or to enable a department to make an offensive or defensive move with the overall organizational set-up. There is a tendency to spend time creating "the right" organizational chart when experience teaches us that "a poor organizational structure can be overcome by effective working relationships among staff and a great organizational structure can be immobilized by leaders, staff and other impediments.

Cavanaugh, Hagan, Pierson & Mintz's approach to organization structural issues are rooted in three principles:

• Develop clarity and agreement about the organization's strategy to achieve its purpose
• Design a simple structure that strategically facilitates work flow
• Create a work environment that supports interdependence so that staff can see the links between their work and the larger accomplishments of the organization.

Classic organization charts are being challenged, and CHP&M is ready to help your organization take a broader look at your current organization design and consider what type of new organizational "life form" may serve the strategy more effectively. Recent client experiences called upon CHP&M to:

• Re-conceive the relationship between a national organization and its state/local affiliates.
• Reconfigure a department of a government agency so that the staff and resources were organized by program area, rather than functional lines of responsibility
• Reconfigure of the work processes and systems of a community foundation to make them more logical and assessable to the donor community-and easier for the staff to provide high quality service to both donors and grantees.
• Redesigned the management structure of a mid-size corporation to provide managers with more time to focus on one of their top priorities-developing the people.