Designing organizations that are built to change. The organization of the future, 2, 188-202.
Criteria: Noted authors who have written extensively on organizational design and development. The article is comprehensive and written in accessible language with insights that are transferable to educational organizations.
Key Takeaway: This enlightening piece from renowned organizational design authors offers pertinent insights that educational institutions can adopt to create agile, adaptable, and ever-evolving systems. The authors encourage us to see change not as a disruptor, but as a constant companion in our pursuit of success. They underscore the value of self-assessment and forward-looking investments, ultimately stating that a well-designed organization – with the right structure, employees, reward system, leaders, and information systems – will efficiently navigate change, while those lacking these elements risk faltering.
Summation and insights:
Writing through the perspective of organizational management and design, the authors provide valuable insight applicable to school districts seeking to become more adaptable and agile in program design and implementation. They provide perspective on the dynamic tensions that exist as organizations address the need for stability and continuity while responding to the demands for adaptability, agility, and nimbleness. Critical organizational components they examine include talent management, reward systems, organizational structure, information and decision processes, and leadership.
The authors’ summary paragraph captures the essence of their perspectives on organizations built to change:
What is needed is an organizational effectiveness model built on the assumption that continuous change is simply business as usual. Such a model requires the right approach to strategy. Instead of seeking a single sustainable advantage, built-to-change companies must continually pursue a series of short-term competitive advantages. Moreover, to create value over time, they must constantly ask themselves the right questions. Instead of “what do we do well?” they must ask “what do we need to learn?” “how do our current capabilities need to evolve?” and “what new capabilities do we need to develop?” In answering those questions, built-to-change companies must constantly balance resource allocations for present performance against investments that will create future fitness. These tradeoffs will be made through “make or buy” decisions to add, modify or delete certain capabilities. And the execution of those decisions will be greatly aided – or hampered – by a company’s organizational design. Simply put, firms with the right structure, employees, reward system, leaders and information systems will be equipped to implement the necessary changes, while those that lack them will tend to stumble.
Author(s): Lawler, E. E.
https://www.marshall.usc.edu/personnel/edward-lawler
Worley, C. G.
https://bschool.pepperdine.edu/academics/faculty/chris-worley/
Year: 2006
Resource:
https://ceo.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/2006_06-g06_6-Designing_Orgs_Built_to_Change.pdf