Organization Design

“Every organization is perfectly designed for the results that it is getting.”

When should you redesign?

When your organization or a program grows or shrinks substantially
When you change strategic priorities, or add or stop programs
When you merge
When an organizational assessment ^[1] uncovers that your organization is out of alignment with your strategy and goals.

So what is organization design?

It is the deliberate effort to line up your structure, systems, measures, people and policies with the vision and goals that you have as an organization.  It is saying that just because it has always been this way, doesn’t mean it always has to be this way.

We use the Star model designed by Dr. Jay Galbraith, and adapt it to the union and non-profit context.    The Star model holds that organization design is more than just “structure,” but rather a holistic approach that seeks to create alignment among five major components, each of these interacting with the rest.

Star Model Adapted to Social Change Organizations

Resources

Jay R. Galbraith, Designing Organizations: An Executive briefing on strategy, structure and process. Jossey-Bass (1995)

Contact us ^[2] for a discussion about organizational design.