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Fundamentals: Structure
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| "We've been struggling with organizational issues for years. Our discussions were often confused, occasionally emotional, and rarely decisive. Structural Cybernetics brought everything into focus. It's not a rigid answer.... It's a well-structured process with a clear language that helped our leadership team come to consensus on a whole range of tough issues."
Bill Wilkins Chief Information Officer John Alden Financial Services Corp. |
Research also revealed clear principles for assembling them into an organization chart.
These scientific principles can be used to analyze the pros and cons of an existing (or proposed) organization chart, as well as to design a new structure.
The result: jobs that are entrepreneurial, well focused, and have a minimum of conflicts of interests.
| "Dean Meyer introduces you to a new organizational construct that makes sense and works."
Carla Garnham Special Assistant to the Provost, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee |
Examples of Organization Charts
There is no "one right" organization chart. Every organization is different. But using this science, a leadership team can design an organization chart tailored to its unique situation.
With that understood, illustrations of different types of organizational structure in different functional areas are offered below. They are described in the precise language of the building blocks, although in practice the groups would be renamed to be more easily understood by those not trained in Structural Cybernetics.
Holding Corporation Organization Chart (business is building companies)
Operating Company Organization Chart (business is building products)
Health Care Organization Chart
Information Technology Organization Chart
Human Resources Organization Chart
Education / Training Organization Chart
Public Relations / Corporate Communications Organization Chart
These examples of corporate organization charts are not recommendations, but rather only serve to demonstrate how the Structural Cybernetics building blocks and principles can be assembled into structure.
High-performance Teamwork and Cross-boundary Workflows
Beyond just the organization chart, structure must consider workflows. If people don't team across structural boundaries, the organization will revert into "stovepipes" of self-sufficient generalists. The structure implementation process must establish fluid cross-boundary workflows as an integral part of the design.
High-performance workflows are based on the business-within-a-business paradigm. Each project or service is assigned to a "prime contractor." The first job of the prime is to arrange for help from peers, that is, to line up any needed "subcontractors."
More on dynamic cross-boundary workflows....
| "The Structural Cybernetics process forced us to specify our products and services, [and] our customers and suppliers for each operating and support organization within our [department]. This brought to light many of the inefficiencies that we had been struggling with and allowed us to deal with them."
William T. Houghton President Chevron Information Technology Company |
Implementing Structural Changes
The Structural Cybernetics implementation process is radically different from the all-too-familiar process of juggling boxes at the top, announcing the new organization chart, and then hoping for the best as people struggle in public for month after month to figure out how it should work. It emphasizes leadership education and careful planning before announcement day, so that the new organization can then "hit the ground running."
Structural Cybernetics principles are the key to a productive participative process. Instead of territorialism and battles of opinions, leaders argue the trade-offs of various design alternatives in a rational, fact-based design process.
| "Once we adopted the [Structural Cybernetics] principles, we had a framework that provided a basis for any decision, defused the inevitable turf battles before they ever began, and accelerated our learning process in a way that probably could not have occurred otherwise."
John Benci General Director, M.I.S. The Canadian Wheat Board |
More on the structural change process....
Structure Resources
Organizational Structure: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
The lines of business within organizations, i.e., the building blocks of structure....
Principles that guide the design of organization charts....
How to implement dynamic cross-boundary workflows....
The components of a comprehensive structural change process....
Publications
STRUCTURE: The Building Blocks Approach to Organization Charts.
DECENTRALIZATION: Decentralization: Fantasies, Failings, and Fundamentals.
Lines of Business Database: a comprehensive database of all the "lines of business" within IT organizations.
Seminars
The Building Blocks of Structure:
the science of designing high-performance organization charts
Decentralization Versus Shared Services:
Structure Health Checkup workshop: examine your existing/proposed organization chart in terms of lines of business under each manager, spot the problems, and identify opportunities for improvement.
"STRUCTURAL CYBERNETICS" Organizational Structure and Workflows: the basic building blocks of structure, and how to combine them into entrepreneurial organization charts; plus how to establish high-performance teamwork and dynamic cross-boundary work flows
Contact us for a free one-hour telephone consultation on your unique challenges.
why the tug-of-war, and how to have your cake and eat it too
Consulting
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