What is Organization Design?

A five minute animated overview of the two core models in organization design: Galbraith's Star Model and the Five Milestone Design Process. A perfect introduction to answer the question, "what is organization design?"

[Crystallist]

By far, this is the best video in explaining organizational structure. This video shows glimpses of the essence of org. structure. Most videos are just explaining the structure without explaining the foundation or the connections between aspects. So, thanks a lot!

[frankbritto]

Excellent video! Please slow down though.

[akromaangel]

At Kates Kesler, we’re often asked what is organization design? We find it best explained by talking about the what and the how.

Let’s start with the what. We use Jay Galbraith’s star model to describe the elements of organization design. It begins with strategy. A clear strategy provides a define goal and lays the path to get there. It outlines how we’ll grow and compete in our markets and defines choices we’ll make about what we do and don’t do. Once we have a clear strategy we need an organization to get us there. What are the unique differentiators are organization must have? What must we be able to do better than our competitors? The answers to these questions determine the capabilities that we need for our organization to execute the strategy. Leaders have four tangible to adjust to create an aligned organization. The first is structure. How should we organize? What are the key roles? How should power be allocated? What kind of structure should we use as the primary architecture of the organization? While structure is very important, is is a powerful but blunt instrument. Structure alone is not enough. Every structure creates silos, or boundaries, between people working together. To cross these boundaries, we turn to our second lever, process. We need ways to knit the organization together, decisions need to be made about how work flows between roles, and how decisions are made. Management processes that link people together and create the right conversations need to be designed and aligned with the structure. Third, we need to consider metrics and rewards, which are often underutilized in organization design. Metrics and rewards tell people how they’ll know whether they are successful. At a business level we need to determine how to measure success, and at an individual and team level, we need to create incentives that guide behavior to reach our goals. None of this is possible without people. The final lever is people practices. What talent profiles are needed? What competencies do we need to execute our strategy? What HR processes and routines will build these capabilities and competencies, and ensure we are attracting and retaining the right people? We are often asked, why isn’t culture a part of the star model for organization design? Culture is an important part of organization design; it should be considered part of strategy development. We suggest leaders identify: What behaviors will be most important in achieving our strategy? What will it feel like to work in our organization if we are successful? However you can’t design culture directly, it is an outcome of the way the organization works. That’s why we say alignment of an organization is what determines its effectiveness. Our goal is to create an organization that brings out the best in people and makes it easy to do the work that will accomplish our strategy.

Let’s move on to the how of organization design. Designing organizations is challenging and complex work encompassing many decisions, to do it well you need a process. At Kates Kesler we use the 5 Milestone Organization Design process. We begin by understanding the current strategy, the capabilities required to execute the strategy, and the current operating model. This knowledge then informs work in each of the five milestones. In milestone one, business case and discovery, we determine what problem we’re trying to solve, the organizational implications of this strategy, and the gap between where we are and where we’re trying to get to. From there, we can start on strategic grouping and integration work. Think structure and process together. We chose a basic structure that supports the strategy and begin tying the pieces together, intentionally designing the points of linkage across boundaries. We tend to do this work in a very participative way, involving people from across the organization. We really focus on the design in organization design, to create and iterate options, evaluate them, and create prototypes that can be used and tested before we make final decisions. Once we’re clear on our new organization model, we need great people to lead and staff pivotal roles. Organization design isn’t finished until the right talent choices have been made. Finally, we must determine who we will transition from our current state into the future state, learning and adjusting as we go, realizing that organization design, like any continuous improvement is the ongoing work of leadership.

There you have it. Together these two models describe how we bring the what and the how of organization design together with great success, both with small and large firms around the world. Please learn more about us at kateskesler.com.

[AmyKatesGregKesler]

Thank you everyone for the "likes" and the nice comments. We will soon be posting a series of videos on the key concepts in our new book, "Bridging Organization Design and Performance" (Kesler and Kates). We look forward to your feedback. - Amy Kates

[MohedAtef]

Big like to the material explained and to the sketcher at most, I am amazed!

[sasasafi]

Thanks. A clear exposition based on insight that comes with grounded theory and practice. Certainly resonated with me.

[austinmurphy]

The best video I have seen yet on this topic. Very helpful. Thanks for sharing.

[HectorMartinez]

Informative, creative, and engaging. Terrific explanation!

[mahdimohammadi]

What and how of organization design


What:
What is organization design? we find it best explained by talking about the what and how.
let's start with the what we use Jay R. Galbraith Star model to describe the elements of organization design.

It begins with strategy; a clear strategy provides the defined goal and lays the path to get there. It outlines how we'll grow and compete in our markets and defines choices we'll make about what we do and don't do.

Once we have a clear strategy we need an organization to get us there. What are the unique differentiators our organization must have? what must we be able to do better than our competitors? The answers to these questions determine the capabilities that we need for our
organization to execute the strategy. leaders have for tangible levers to adjust to create an aligned organization.

The first is structure how should we organize what are the key rules how should power be allocated? what kind of structure should we use as the primary architecture of the organization?

While structure is very important it is a powerful blunt instrument, structure alone is not enough. Every structure creates silos or boundaries between people working together.

To cross these boundaries, we turn to our second lever. Process; we need ways to knit the organization together. Decisions need to be made about how work flows between roles and how decisions are made.
Management processes that link people together and create the right conversations need to be designed and aligned with the structure.

Third we need to consider metrics and rewards which are often underutilized in organization design. Metrics and rewards tell people how they'll know whether they are successful; at a business level, we need to determine how to measure success. At an individual and team level, we need to create incentives that guide behavior to reach our goals. None of this is possible without people.

The final lever is people practices; what talent and profiles are needed? What competencies do we need in order to execute our strategy? what HR processes and routines will build those
capabilities and competencies and ensure we are attracting and retaining the right people.

We are often asked why isn't culture a part of the star model for organization design. Culture is an important part of organization design. It should be considered as part of strategy development. We suggest leaders identify what behaviors will be most important in
achieving our strategy. What will it feel like to work in our organization if we are successful? However, you can't design culture directly; it is an outcome of the way the organization works. That's why we say alignment of an organization is what determines its effectiveness. Our goal is to create an organization that brings out the best in people and makes it easy to do the work that will accomplish our strategy.

How:
Let's move on to the how of organization design. Designing organizations is complex and challenging work encompassing many decisions. To do it well you need a process. At Kates Kesler we use the five-milestone organization design process. We begin by understanding the current strategy, the capabilities required to execute the strategy, and the current operating model. This knowledge then informs work in each of the five milestones. In milestone one,
business case and discovery, we determine what problem we're trying to solve, the organizational implications of the strategy, and the gap between where we are and where we're trying to get to. From there, we can start our strategic grouping and integration work; think
structure and process together. We choose a basic structure that supports the strategy and begin to hang the pieces together; intentionally designing the points of linkage across boundaries. We tend to do this work in a very participated way involving people from across the
organization. We really focus on the design and organization design to create and iterate options, evaluate them and create prototypes that can be used and tested before we make final decisions. Once we're clear on our new organization model, we need great people to lead and
staff pivotal roles. Organization design isn't finished until the write down choices have been made. Finally, we must determine how we will transition from our current state into their future
state; learning and adjusting as we go realizing that organization design like any continuous improvement is the ongoing work of leadership.
There you have it. Together these two models describe how we bring the what and the how of organization design together. With great success both with small and large firms around the world.

[pininfarina]

Well done! Excellent presentation combining powerful visual support, building and developing the core ideas. Thank you.

[maharaniarviputri]

Thank you for the detailed explanation and visuals🙂👍

[sajilmakkar]

Well articulated in layman's terms, Thank you for posting this video, 👍

[lizianecastro]

The best vídeo about it I've ever seeing

[warricktan]

Excellent introduction to Org Design. Sarah's drawing skills are exceptional. I will definitely share this with my network.

[daitonmawira]

What a great and informative video it is, thank you for developing such a masterpiece

[jonardmarcoromero]

Damn. Excellent Video Presentation. This is better than any Powerpoint Presentation..

[serememaphaka]

Very informative version about the Org

[jeehooahn]

this clarifies so much. fundamental analysis ftw.

[gauravmazumdar]

jyst wow
perfect combnation of knowledge nd art
KEEP IT UP
Love from india

[khantzawthant]

Really good drawing! and explanation as well. Subscribed. Waiting for more videos.