Who would argue that these aren’t turbulent times? For organizations, turbulent times require innovation, flexibility and resourcefulness. Those who make it through this period and into the long term will be Darwinian – adaptive to a constantly changing environment.
     In my experience, restructuring and redesign in organizations is too often looked upon as a static event rather than a process….a one-shot activity without full consideration of how the design might accommodate to other changing events. For example, many cost containment restructurings are often done without full regard for the kind and amount of institutional knowledge or skills that enable the business to move forward. This can be particularly true in small or middle market companies where there are fewer resource. These tactics definitely get costs under control but the question is “to what end” long term?
     On the growth side of the equation, too often responsibilities are tacked on to other jobs or whole jobs are tacked on to the existing framework. It’s as if “more is better and much more is much better.” It, too, usually gets the job done short term but often ends up resulting in a cumbersome, more bureaucratic structure. Then inevitable cuts are made. Do we not learn from our mistakes?
     In reality, an organization chart is a hierarchical representation of groups of tasks and outcomes with decision rights and responsibilities. They don’t represent “real” organization dynamics and processes – how the work really gets done.  Nor do they reflect the fact that organizations are living organisms that can expand and contract relatively quickly. 
     A more holistic and organic approach to the design of organizations is needed these days. This initially may necessitate taking a look at both jobs and talent against the strategy and designing the structure to deliver the strategy while taking into account existing critical talent. It also requires scenario planning, addressing those scenarios discussed in strategy formulation to create a second or third stage so one understands how jobs will split as the organism grows as well as how it might contract.
     By example, recently I was working in a highly tenured organization facing massive growth but absent the infrastructure, systems and talent to support it. It also had a history of “no layoffs.” This is the kind of culture that often exists in family-owned businesses and non profits and in merging middle market organizations. Among other factors, part of the challenge was to build the infrastructure, push decision making down into the organization, move qualified talent into higher level roles and place lesser qualified managers into more appropriate roles. A stepwise method was used to design and split jobs as the organization added talent. Within a year, our current business cycle hit. The design was such that the organization could effectively contract and maintain the core services.
      Unfortunately, market conditions today are so turbulent for many companies that short term actions may be necessary for short term survival.  But, conditions will change.  When it does, it will be those who have looked and planned ahead who will be ahead of the pack.

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