Organisation Design : Part 1

Designing and structuring organisations for todays and tomorrow’s world, it is worth understanding the journey we have been on and the evolution in #organisationdesign, and what drives it.

Going back quite a few years, the executive team had their own office floor, with fancy decorated offices, and a neatly dressed personal assistant located in front of each executive’s office. Work was split up in tasks and the various tasks were combined into a job description. The design of the organisation was top-down and divided into functional areas such as sales, marketing, production, finance, HR. Basically it was heavily influenced by the way previously production lines were set up.

With increasing globalisation came competition and the need to be more efficient and cost effective. Lean Manufacturing and Business Process Re-engineering became common buzzwords, and basically referred to the process of scrutinising each step in the work process to find and eliminate inefficiencies.

Technology had a huge impact on information and how it flowed through the company and influenced work and decision making. Though in the 90s we weren’t anywhere near the depth and speed of information we are today.

The transitioning from pyramid towards a flatter organisation, from tasks to talent had begun.