Organisation Design

Organisation design is the idea of fitting together people and tasks in order to maximise the potential of your company, team or department. This strategy is not exclusive to the managing directors of multi-national organisations, or their highly paid consultant, it is essential to even the smallest organisation or department.

This practical guide takes a down-to-earth approach to the subject, offering helpful tips on company structure, missions and goals, measuring standards and communications. It will show you how to address these issues within your team, department or company to ensure maximum efficiency.

Handy checklists enable you to monitor your progress, and mini-case studies provide invaluable insights into organisation design in practice. This is essential reading for anyone interested in running their company, team or department more efficiently and profitably.

1. First Steps
• Mission and goals
• Key success factors
• Business Processes
• Guidelines for identifying business processes
2. Dividing Up the Work
• Why structure matters
• Different kinds of structure
• Functional structure
• Product- or geographical area-based structure
• Customer- or geographical area-based structure
• Business process team structure
• Matrix structure
• Hybrid organisations: mixing and matching structures
• Guidelines for creating an organisation structure
3. Management Structure
• Management hierarchy
• Span of control
• Centralisation and decentralisation
• Guidelines for creating management structure
4. Coordination and Control
• Coordination and control techniques
• Management style
• Information organisation
• Guidelines for choosing coordination and control techniques
5. Measuring Performance
• What to measure?
• Setting standards for measurement
• Acting on results
• Measurement pitfalls
• Guidelines for developing performance measures
6. Putting the Pieces Together
• Implementing the changes
• Key success factors and design
• Review of major issues
• Conclusion

A good first book about organisation design.