Exploring the Interface of Organizational Design and

Work System Design

Creating Sustainably Effective Organizations

Harsh V Bhasin

Strategy and Design: The Star Model

Harsh V Bhasin

Core Premises AboutOrganizational Effectiveness The resources of the organization must be

configured in an organization design that fits the strategy of the organization and enables the capabilities/key work processes required to deliver value to the stakeholders.

Effective work systems must be designed to deliver high quality services and products while consuming resources efficiently.

Harsh V Bhasin

Sustainably Effective Organizations

Enterprises that are sustained by solid financial performance, while improving:– the lives of people– the health of the communities in which they live– the condition of the planet

Have the capability to flexibly reconfigure both their organization and work system designs

Harsh V Bhasin

Three approaches:For organizations that continually adapt and innovate to be sustainable.

1. Flexible, high performance work system design

2. Lateral work structures3. Agile management systems

Harsh V Bhasin

Flexible, high performance work system design Include socio-technical systems

approaches, lean designs and six sigma approaches that build quality, reliability and efficiency into the routine processes of the organization that deliver value to customers and process for continual improvement and reengineering of processes.

Harsh V Bhasin

Lateral work structures

Lateral work structures that cut across the core units of the organization and allow resources and knowledge to be flexibly combined to focused on problems and opportunities.

Harsh V Bhasin

Agile Management Systems

Agile management systems that allow rapid, multi‐stakeholder approaches to strategy, innovation, organization redesign, and change implementation.

Harsh V Bhasin

The Organization is a system with inputs and outputs.Two Kinds of Work Core Work of the Organization takes inputs and

delivers value (products and services) that customers are willing to pay for. e.g.,– Defining the products and services, including innovation– Producing and delivering these valued products and

services Management Work determines

– Purposes, strategy, and goals of the organization– How resources will be organized– How to measure and “regulate” the system– How to align the organization– How to improve performance and develop new capabilitiesHarsh V Bhasin

Steps:

Socio-technical System Design1. Constitute Participative Design Team2. Specify Social and Technical System Values3. Map Technical Work Process and Perform

Environmental Scan 4. Identify Key Variances and Places where System

goes out of control5. Identify Teams to Carryout and Manage “whole” Piece

Process (maximize self containment ) minimize interdependencies across boundaries

6. Identify organization wide teams to carry out integration and give voice to employees

Harsh V Bhasin

Example:

Wimby’s Innovation Network Plan

Wimby’s Innovation Network Plan

Harsh V Bhasin

Harsh V Bhasin

Wimby’s Innovation Network Plan

Harsh V Bhasin

Wimby’s Innovation Network Plan

Iterative Process Control

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Variance ofTechnical System

Social SystemIterative Planning•Iterative•Time Bound•Feature Based•Incremental

Work Tasks Interaction

Plan 30/60/90 daysIteration and reviews for

achieving study state

Study state requirements

Improved functionality

Harsh V Bhasin