Org Design Digest - August 2019

August Org Design Wisdom:  Form follows function...

The first question to ask when you are considering the design of a future operating model is "What does it exist to do, what is its function?"

Before you embark on a redesign be very clear about your strategic intent, your future; products and services, customers and their experience, value/social attributes and ways of working, customer demand and business performance parameters. The first rule of the OTM Applied STAR Model is ‘Form follows function ALWAYS’ because your strategy drives all your design choices. If you don’t know the function of your operating model you can’t begin to design its form.

[ut_button color="red" target="_self" link="https://on-the-mark.com/infographic-what-is-organization-design" size="small" ]Learn more[/ut_button]

Thank you to everyone who attended our webinar, Collective Genius: Leveraging The Power of Group Work For Better Decision Making, Problem Solving, and Sustained Action!

[ut_button color="red" target="_self" link="https://on-the-mark.com/collective-genius-leveraging-the-power-of-group-work-for-better-decision-making-problem-solving-and-sustained-action" size="small" ]View the Recorded Session Here[/ut_button]

9 Organization Design Principles for a Successful Redesign

In 1976, Albert Cherns, a British Engineer and author of The Principles of Sociotechnical Design published in the Journal of Human Relations. Vol 29, 1976, gave a presentation at Loughborough University on his Principles of Organization Design. These principles are a gold mine of practical wisdom for today’s practitioners and stand the test of time, even today. This article builds on Cherns’ Nine Guidelines of which OTM has applied in close to 450 redesigns and operating model modernizations around the globe over the last 30 years.

If you’re interested in effective organization design, then you’ll find it useful to adopt a set of organization design principles.

Organization design principles inform decisions about both process and content of design work. Be careful with these principles. They alone don’t make a design specialist. You cannot hand these ideas to an HR generalist and assume a good design outcome.

If you believe your organization has design opportunities, conservative advice is to contact a specialist in the field. You are looking for help among those who have a coherent set of organization design principles and experience applying them to real work. The benefit is a much higher probability for a successful design outcome.

[ut_button color="red" target="_self" link="https://on-the-mark.com/organization-design-principles/" size="small" ]View the recorded session here[/ut_button]

Upcoming Events

Global Network for Smart Organization Design 2019 Los Angeles Meeting

September 10-13, 2019 | Los Angeles, CA

Meeting programs:

- Smart organization design framework prototype

- Design Challenges in Major Case Studies such as:

• "Smart City" Design in Los Angeles, California
• SmartLab Alliance: Consortium of Companies' Action Research in Digital Organization Design
• (HTT) Hyperloop Transformation Technologies: Organizing Support Disruptive Innovation

[ut_button color="red" target="_self" link="https://on-the-mark.com/events/" size="small" ]Register Here[/ut_button]

HRPS Conference Presentation: Employee Life Cycle Operating Model

October 27-29, 2019 | Boston, MA

Alastair Robertson, past CHRO of Kingfisher and Mark LaScola, Managing Principal, ON THE MARK, will be delivering a plenary presentation during the Boston HRPS Oct 2019 Conference unveiling the Employee Life Cycle Operating Model. They will tell the story behind the development and implementation of the Employee Life Cycle.

[ut_button color="red" target="_self" link="https://on-the-mark.com/events/" size="small" ]Register Here[/ut_button]

Request an EXECUTIVE BRIEFING!

Please request an intimate executive roundtable aimed at C-Level Executives and Senior Leaders led by Mark LaScola, Managing Principal of ON THE MARK, (www.on-the-mark.com) who is one of the world’s leading practitioners in organization design having completed close to 450 redesigns, cross-industry around the globe over the last 30 years, in the critical conversation regarding When to Know it’s Time to Modernize Your Operating Model.

[ut_button color="red" target="_self" link="https://on-the-mark.com/events/" size="small" ]Register Here[/ut_button]

Recent OTM Article

Best Organization Design Books to Inspire Sustainable Change

OTM Team

The best organization design books are insightful for both seasoned professionals and those new to the concept. Here are a few favorites from the ON THE MARK team. Read more...

8 Steps to Establish Future of Work

OTM Team

The current working environment is characterized by constant change. Here are eight success factors to embrace the Future of Work.
Read more...

OTM Team Member Spotlight: Peter Turgoose

Peter is one of OTM’s most experienced senior consultants who joined OTM 10 years ago but had worked with OTM as a customer in the 10 years prior to that. Over this period, he has worked on well over 100 redesign projects, trained many hundreds of HR professionals and line leaders in the OTM methodology, and has helped develop the OTM methodology into the industry-leading product it is recognized as today.

There are not many industries, geographies, or functions that Peter has not experienced as he has traveled the world helping companies develop an operating model that is fit to deliver their strategy. Peter escapes from the intensity of organization design work to his family home in Devon in the South West of The UK.

When Peter and his family were first planning their move to Devon they produced a set of ‘design criteria’ with rationale for their future home. Peter’s three were – The home must:

• Be in village, not a town or a city, where they can integrate into a small local community.
• Be within walking distance of a harbor where we can keep a boat.
• Have a garage where we can keep and maintain a classic British car.

[ut_button color="red" target="_self" link="https://on-the-mark.com/about/" size="small" ]Learn More[/ut_button]