Introduction

This course addresses a fundamental question: “What is the most effective approach to organizing and guiding a group of professionals toward achieving a collective goal?” Its primary aim is to enhance participants' ability to optimize the efficiency and alignment of their organization's structure in line with strategic objectives, environmental dynamics, and the workforce's readiness and capability to perform.

Organizational design is seen as a collaborative effort, with Human Resources (HR) professionals playing a key role in facilitating and steering the process. To assist HR staff in this responsibility, the course offers a comprehensive toolkit for systematic organizational design. This toolkit encompasses everything from reflection and brainstorming charts used during the analysis phase to design templates and facilitation guides for working sessions. The course is structured to meet the practical needs of participants, emphasizing their ability to apply these methods effectively within their own organizations.

Course Objectives

• Distinguish between various organizational structure models and understand their impact on both individual and organizational performance.
• Analyze key elements of organizational design, including strategic goals, scope of operations, governance, competency frameworks, and span of control.
• Utilize a comprehensive toolkit to co-design or redesign organizational structures.
• Enhance organizational readiness for change by identifying enablers such as incentive schemes and operating mechanisms.
• Apply workforce planning techniques to identify workforce gaps at both departmental and organizational levels.
• Develop essential HR competencies, including job evaluation and job description writing, for professionals involved in organizational design.

Course Outline

Day 1: Evolution of Organizational Design Models

• Overview and objectives of organizational design.
• The historical development of organizational design models and their characteristics.
• Examination of key models:
  • Leavitt’s Diamond Model (technology, task, people, and structure).
  • Galbraith’s Star Model (strategy, structure, processes, rewards, and people).
  • McKinsey 7S Model (strategy, structure, systems, staff, skills, style, and shared values).
  • Burke-Litwin Model (extending the McKinsey 7S model to include external environment, performance, and feedback).

Day 2: Organizational Structure Archetypes

• Exploration of common organizational structures and their implications for organizational effectiveness:
  • Functional
  • Geographical
  • Customer/Market-based
  • Product-based
  • Process-based
  • Matrix
  • Network and Structured Network
• Frameworks for assessing organizational structure:
  • Environmental complexity and stability.
  • Work standardization: work variety versus internal capability.
  • Classification of operating mechanisms.

Day 3: Functional Toolkit for Organizational Design

• Identifying the role of HR in organizational design and its responsibilities.
• Key elements to consider during the design and redesign process:
  • Goals: Aligning structure with strategic objectives.
  • Limits: Defining organizational scope (geography, function, business units, etc.).
  • Activities: Defining essential activities to execute strategy.
  • Units: Structuring functions into specialized units.
  • Links: Facilitating coordination and collaboration across units to avoid silos.
  • Shape: Defining spans of control and hierarchical layers.
• The comprehensive toolkit for organizational design:
  • Radar charts for identifying change initiatives essential for successful organizational redesign.
  • Enablers, including incentives, rewards, and governance structures.
  • Descriptions of new roles, competencies, and sourcing strategies.
  • Cultural norms and behaviors to be influenced for successful implementation.

Day 4: Workforce Planning

• Introduction to workforce planning and its strategic importance.
• Approaches to forecasting employee needs:
  • Static vs. Dynamic forecasting methods.
• Techniques for successful workforce planning:
  • Strategic staffing processes.
  • Demand analysis, trend analysis, ratio analysis, and zero-manning methodology.
• Gathering and organizing workforce data for decision-making.

Day 5: Essential Skills for Organizational Design and Workforce Planning Professionals

• Job evaluation methodologies and their implications for organizational design.
  • The Meirc Job Evaluation System: Application and use.
• Writing job descriptions for new or modified roles in alignment with job evaluation factors.
• Developing salary structures and incentive schemes.
• Enhancing workforce readiness through learning and development initiatives.

Conclusion

By the end of this course, participants will have acquired the skills necessary to effectively design and implement organizational structures that align with strategic goals. They will be equipped with practical tools to assess and optimize workforce capabilities, address organizational design challenges, and foster readiness for change across their organizations.