Organization Design Challenges

Read this article for a practical look at the challenges consultants hired to redesign an organization face. The consultants did not focus on what model they should choose but more on the process or phases of the major steps in the redesign. Any company that wants to redesign its organization will face the same challenges and decision-making points. Thus, it will help to consider how the redesign is undertaken. The first step is to analyze where the organization is currently and then consider whether a new organizational model is needed or if the current one needs to be adjusted.

Key findings

Results

We see quite some variation among the items (see Table 1). Only around two out of 10 respondents indicated that it is often or always a challenge to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current organization or to understand the formal governance processes and reporting relationships. In contrast, more than five out 10 indicated that it is often or always a challenge to understand how people collaborate and/or exchange information across units in the organization. A high number of respondents (nearly five out of 10) also indicated that it was challenging to document how the organization utilizes its resources in different units, work processes, and locations (Figs. 3 and 4).

Fig. 3 Results for item 10 in the survey

Fig. 4 Results for item 11 in the survey