The Economist Guide to Organisation Design: Creating High-Performing and Adaptable Enterprises

by Naomi Stanford

Thousands of established businesses fail every year because of the way they are organised, or re-organised. Business survival can depend not only on whether its structures and reporting lines meet the needs of the market, but also whether they can adapt in the face of a rapidly changing business environment.

Yet managers seldom talk coherently about structuring or restructuring their operations, let alone take a systematic approach to this vital issue. Too often, companies are restructured for the wrong reasons - for example, because a new CEO wants to make an impact, or to work around a new IT system.

This revised and updated Economist Guide shows how leaders should think about and implement the design of a company, using five easy-to-use guiding

- Design a company around its strategy and the operating context, not for ulterior or non-business reasons;
- Think holistically - don't restructure just one division without taking into account other operations;
- Consider future markets, customers and trends, not just what works best now;
- Invest time and - a redesign can be complicated to implement and must be done without disrupting daily activities; and
- Go back to the basics of how the company operates and its market position; this is not a repair job to fix a short-term problem.

Genres: Business, Management, Nonfiction, Design

351 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 26, 2015

Reviews

[Sebastian Gebski · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who has been building teams and participated in rapidly growing whole organizations, I'm vividly interested in the topic of organization design. So when I (by chance) encountered this book, and noticed that: it has a stamp of Economist AND it has been recently updated - I knew I have to read it.

Unfortunately, as it sometimes happens, I've pumped the balloon of expectations far too much ...

1. If you're into Organization Design, chapters 1-3 are for you (ONLY). The biggest part of the book (chapters 4-8) is about change management (in general) - very boring and repetitive (yeah, I know this knowledge is useful as well, but it was not what I was looking for - I'm quite capable on CM already). The final chapter is intended to pretend that the book applies to modern, greenfield, "start-upish" organizations as well. But it's so shallow, that it actually made me sad :/

2. And that's probably the biggest flaw in the book - even if it covers various models and approaches, nearly all of them are terribly outdated and suitable only for high inertia, enterprise organizations. So if you e.g. are struggling with growing your startup (scaling from 20 to 100 or 100 to 500) and you'd like to use this book as some sort of help to make sure you design your organization consciously and safely - that is absolutely NOT going to happen.

Big disappointment. But maybe someone from a more corporate environment would appreciate it more.

[Eduardo Xavier · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the characteristics of her systemic style which approaches the same one used for textbooks: each chapter starts with a theorical introduction and the discussions gets real, referring and complemented by other works and examples. Then chapters ended up with case os study, then analysis of the same case of study and a nice chapter resume. Such methodology enforce learning.

The organization design is more than I expected even with the already know subjects. The books is a guide for those who wants to lead and implement projects of this nature but this work is more than that. It passes way lots of real experiences and offers "tools" to work.

I should have a printed copy.

[Cade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressed by the clarity, detail, utility, and readability. This is not just a series of white papers, but an actual guide to Organizational Design.

When I bought it, I was passing through an airport and looking for anything to help me gather my thoughts on some organization changes I need to make. I was expecting this to be just a series of white papers or repeats of standard project management principles that are somewhat useful as reminders but nothing new to me. I was greatly surprised from the very first chapter. I was introduced to organization strategies and approaches that I had not heard of before and quickly realized I needed a highlight marker in hand for follow-up.

[Gabriel Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indispensables. My copy is full of dog-eared pages, highlighter, strips of scrap paper marking crucial sections, scribbled comments and referrals to things my organisation really should take on board. Like pemmican, it’s a tough, compact read with a huge amount of info and quite a few items need unpacking in more detail with other sources (Updates Congruence Model, I’m looking at you!) but, overall, one of the best business texts I’ve read this year.

[Sergio Caredda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un ottimo libro su come disegnare un'organizzazione. Scritto non in maniera accademica, ma divulgativa, e' adatto a chi, manager o HR, voglia davvero comprendere quali siano i principali aspetti da considerare quando si crea una nuova organizzazione. Corredato da molti casi concreti (con annesse spiegazioni) e da numerosi tool pratici (checklist e modelli), diventa un ottimo manuale.

[Manouane Beauchamp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Décevant, l'auteur ne fait que effleurer les concepts de design organisationnel et tombe rapidement dans des questionnements en lien avec le fonctionnement d'une organisation (exemple : les choix des logiciels).

[Denis Romanovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very shallow book on organization design. There is, though, one well-explained topic - stakeholder engagement. Not recommended.

[Dave]

abandoned DNF.
this is management consultant methods, not design.

[Antony Mayfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really useful, practical management book. Would recommend as a read for anyone in management, not just when you're engaged in organisation design. Good mix of models, tools, case studies and advice.