A long overdue bookon organization design
A long overdue book onorganization design
Organization redesign exercises consume enormous time, resources and energy, and yet they so often get stuck midway, or fail to deliver the aspired benefits. Executives need a comprehensive framework that enables them to discover and weigh up a variety of situation-specific design alternatives, starting from five categories of design variables: architecture, processes, culture, people and technology. This long overdue and ground-breaking book brings together the building blocks of organization design thinking into a logical flow, from concept design through detail design and transition to implementation.
The book steers clear of academic abstractions, simplistic formulaic solutions, flavor-of-the-year debates and misleading anecdotes from today’s superstar firms. It is written for smart executives at mainstream companies who realize that organization design choices are contextual and influenced by their company’s specific history.
The book is relevant to C-suite executives in search of a conclusive and efficient organization design process. It will also appeal to board directors, senior and middle managers, internal project leaders, organization design consultants and anybody else leading or supervising an organization redesign exercise.
Endorsements
This wonderful and academically-rigorous book should become essential reading for senior managers interested in designing their organizations for success.Costas Markides, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, London Business School
A must-read for everyone involved in designing, structuring, and building resilient organizations.Koenraad Debackere, Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC Group
The book does an excellent job of conveying the substance of organizational design by providing principles and examples.Linda Argote, Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory, Carnegie Mellon University
A pragmatic guide that will enable executives to address the critical and specific organizational challenges that hinder their companies from reaching their full potential.Mohammad Abunayyan, Chairman of the Board of Directors, ACWA Power
The authors have done the business world a favor by laying out – comprehensively and simply – the choices leaders need to make to get organization design right.Stephen Heidari-Robinson, coauthor of “Reorg - How to Get It Right” by HBR Press
The authors’ playbook explains clearly and pragmatically how executives can combine an adequate organizational structure with top people and a top company culture.Willem Van Twembeke, Chief Executive Officer, Inkia Energy
This book provides a refreshing step-by-step approach to defining a future-proof organization design that supports the company’s strategic ambitions.Rob Nijst, former Chief Executive Officer, VTTI
This book explains clearly what it takes to organize complex international businesses for success. It shows how to involve managers in creating clarity on structure, roles and responsibilities.Dirk Beeuwsaert, former Executive Vice President, GDF SUEZ
Smart executives will use and re-use this book. It goes into the fundamental drivers of organizational design and provides a balanced perspective on alternative solutions.Olivier Legrain, Chief Executive Officer, IBA
The authors’ comprehensive and pragmatic framework enables executives to orchestrate their teams toward devising and implementing design solutions that work.Guy Richelle, former Chief Operating Officer, International Power plc
The Authors
Herman Vantrappen (left) is the Managing Director of Akordeon, a strategic advisory firm. A former Senior Partner at Arthur D. Little, he is the coauthor of Fad-Free Strategy, and has published numerous articles in a variety of journals, including MIT Sloan Management Review and Harvard Business Review.
Frederic Wirtz (right) leads The Little Group, a corporate advice company focusing on strategy development and organizational performance improvement for clients worldwide. He is also a member of the board of directors of several organizations and currently chairs the board of the Belgian Red Cross.