Organizational Design: Some Helpful Notions

The writer reviews the role of organization design in management, the management functions necessary in organizations, and a practical, creative approach to organization design. This new approach to organization design utilizes the managers themselves as developers of criteria, creators of organizational alternatives, and ultimately the designers as well as implementers of any necessary organizational changes. The need for teamwork is stressed, with several implications for organization structure and design. A related need for five essential management functions is presented, noting that they are seldom all available in a single manager. While noting that the old rules for structuring organizations seldom still apply today, the writer offers a number of observations and precautions, based on emerging trends in increasingly effective organizations. The writer encourages frequent, evolutionary changes as opposed to major reorganizations, which tend to be disruptive and require long periods for full implementation.