What Is Involved in the Organizational Design Process?

The organizational design process consists of the alignment of several key elements so that the company is able to reach its goals. Primary tasks in this practice include analyzing the situation, planning for strategy, gearing operations towards following that strategy, and implementing the changes. When properly executed, the organizational design process should give employees the tools and direction they need to put the organization’s strategies into action.

One of the first steps of the organizational design process is to determine objectives and make a plan for fulfilling them. It is in essence outlining the company strategy and matching it to tasks. Once this has been determined, the organization can begin to pull the various elements of its operations into place.

The organization design must first be planned so that it is geared towards its strategic goals. This includes completing the tasks of the analysis period and adjusting results until they form a cohesive process. The result will form the big picture as it relates to organizational goals.

Then the organizational design process usually advances to operational design. This is the task of building the company strategy into daily functions while keeping the overall goal in mind. The basic concept is to determine what must be done every day in order to stay in line with organizational strategy.

Developing an effective business structure is one of the key elements of the organizational design process. The process involves evaluating the effectiveness of each aspect of the strategy and discarding the elements that do not work. It also includes developing new processes that will strengthen the structure as a whole and improve its strategic alignment. The end result will typically outline organizational leadership, reporting structure, and the process which will be followed to engage these resources in reaching strategic goals.

Once the structure is in place, the final step of the organizational design process is to implement changes. In order to do this successfully, strong communication with the workforce is imperative. Both the expectations of each worker and the overall expected outcome should be made clear to all employees so that it is understood why the changes are being made. Employees will also benefit from effective guidelines and guidance as they adjust to a new organizational model.

Usually the organizational design process is most effective when changes are given a sufficient trial. While it is wise to periodically review the design of an organization, making changes too often can cause more harm than good. It may also make it more difficult to determine which actions truly work, because many changes need time to take root.