HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN PYRAMID: A Practical Guide to Organisational Structures for Managers

by John Winterson Richards

At some point in their careers, most managers, entrepreneurs, and executives are called upon to design or to take part in the design of organisational structures.

These can be the subject of heated debates and have enormous long-term consequences for all concerned.

So it is amazing that, although there is a huge academic literature on the subject, there has never been an easy-to-read practical guide for managers and other decision-makers ...until now.

This very brief outline is designed to be read on the train to a business meeting, but it introduces all the concepts and principles of organisational structures necessary to have an intelligent discussion and make informed decisions.

Note that this is a short practical guide and nothing else. It does not pretend to be an academic text. It states basic truths bluntly, with little respect for fashionable niceties.

John Winterson Richards brings 30 years of experience as a consultant and a lifetime’s fascination with organisational structures to the subject. He welcomes comments and questions to winterson_richards@hotmail.com – but please be patient waiting for a reply because he can get a bit busy.

Also please be patient with any drafting and formatting we are new to this technology. Any – polite – suggestions would be welcome.

128 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 31, 2014

About the author

John Winterson Richards is a Welsh entrepreneur, writer, and former local councillor. He held his first company directorship at 19, and at 22 founded a consultancy specialising in small business. He is the author of the Bluffer’s Guide to Small Business and the Xenophobe’s Guide to the Welsh, published by Oval Books. These two books have between them been reprinted twenty times in English and have been translated into eight other languages. More recently, he has been a regular contributor to the Mind Your Own Business podcasts and main contributor to that website’s blog.

In 1986, aged 22, he won a by-election for the seat of Lisvane and Old St Mellons on Cardiff City Council, becoming the youngest member of that Council. Six months later he was promoted to Shadow Chairman of the City’s Economic Development Committee, then under the Chairmanship of Alun Michael, MP. He eventually rose to become, at the age of 31, the last Leader of the Opposition on the City Council before Local Government Reorganisation. He played an important role in lobbying for that Reorganisation, which established unitary authorities throughout Wales. He was the only Conservative elected to the new Cardiff County Council in 1995.

He also stood as a Conservative and Unionist in the Rhondda, the safest Labour seat in the country, in the 1992 General Election. He was not elected but retained his deposit. In 1999 he decided to let his membership of the Conservative Party lapse and not to stand for the Council again.

In 2004, he co-founded Cardiff Independent Citizens as a vehicle for those wishing to stand for the Council as Independents.