A complete summary of the course introduction to organisation design (Articles are incorporated). Concisely and clearly written.
Book: Burton, R. Øbel, B., Håkonson, D.D. (2015) Organizational Design: A step-by-step approach. 3rd edition
Burton, R. Øbel, B., Håkonson, D.D. (2015) Organizational Design: A step-by-step
approach. 3rd edition
Papers on lean management
Wood, N. (2004) Lean Thinking: What it is and what it isn't. Management Services Feb 2004;
48, issues 2-7 (see Brightspace)
Christis, J. & Soepenberg, E. (2016). Lowlands Sociotechnical design theory and lean
production. In: B. J. Mohr & P. van Amelsvoort (Eds.) Co-Creating Humane and Innovative
Communities of Work: Evolutions in the Practice and Perspective of SocioTechnical System
Design. Available from: http://hhs.surfsharekit.nl:8080/get/smpid:57944/DS1 - paragraph
19.2. and 19.5
Papers on Dutch sociotechnical approach:
Van Eijnatten, F.M. & Van der Zwaan, A.H. (1998). The Dutch IOR approach to organizational
design: an alternative for business process re-engineering? Human Relations, 51 (3), 289-
318. Section 1 and 2
Sitter, L.U. de, den Hertog, J.F. & Dankbaar, B. (1997) From complex organizations with simple
jobs to simple organizations with complex jobs. Human Relations, 50(5), 497-534.
Until page 507
Papers on human-centred job design:
Trist, & Bamforth (1951) Some social and psychological consequences of the longwall method
of coal getting. Human Relations, 4 (1) 3-38.
Cherns, A. (1976) The principles of sociotechnical design. Human Relations, 29 (8) 783-792.
Lauche, K. (2015) Human centred job design (see: Brightspace
Chapter 1 burton
,Organisation design should be based on the context of the organization,
structural as well as human and environmental components.
Burton’s 7 step approach:
Top- down and iterative approach is recommended, unless implementation an/or political issues
occur.
1. Getting started
2. Assessing strategy
3. Analyzing structure
4. Assessing people and process
5. Analyzing coordination, control and incentives
6. Designing architecture
7. Implementing the architecture
The contingency problem
Two problems org. design revolves around:
1. The subdivision of the organizational task in smaller tasks
2. The coordination of these sub-tasks so they efficiently fulfill the organizational goals.
The multi-contingency model: states that organizational designs should consist of five
interconnected parts that should fit together. These five organizational parts are:
- Goals/scope
- Strategy
- Structure
- Process and people
- Coordination, control and incentives
Misalignments between any of these parts will result in lower performance than could otherwise be
obtained.
The information processing view: Uncertainty is a lack of information about the world. Organizations
process information to make sense of their internal and external environment to make choices and
coordinate.
People and information systems can both process information, but are both limited. This limitation
is essential for understanding organizational behaviour.
The step-by-step approach presented is based on the assumption that the work of an organization
can be seen as information processing: observing → transmitting → analyzing → understanding →
deciding →storing → acting for implementation
,Organizational design is essential in matching the information processing demand of an organization
with its capacity.
Organization = a consciously coordinated social entity, with a relatively identifiable boundary, which
functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or a set of goals
- It does not have to be an entire organization, a business unit is in a way an organization too.
Unit of analysis: The organization that is the chosen subject that is going to be designed
Scope of the organization: the activities of the organization. What is the organization doing?
, Step 1: Assess the organization’s goals
Assess the organizations goals in terms of the following dimensions:
- Effectiveness: A focus on output(products, services, revenues, etc.)
- Efficiency: A focus on inputs(resources, costs, etc.)
Efficiency and effectivity are often competing goals since a better product often is in need of
investments and resources.
To assess the company goals you have to inspect the official goals and analyze them to assess if the
goal has a focus on efficiency, effectiveness, or a balanced combination
In order to be a company in Quadrant D, you need to know how to balance efficiency and
effectiveness
- organizational ambidexterity = optimal balance between efficiency and effectivity. This
requires the most complex organizational design to develop and maintain, and so not all
firms are able to take this approach.
Step 2: assessing the strategy
Strategy= the operationalization of the organizations goals for efficiency and effectivity.
Structure= the means to achieve them
High organizational performance is dependent on the fit of three elements:
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