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Class 4:
The Strategic Design Lens
- Objectives
- Review the basic concepts and approaches of the strategic design perspective on organizations
- Understand strategic design concepts by applying them to the HP case
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Strategic Design Lens
- Sees organizations as social systems designed to achieve strategic goals
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Strategic Design
begins with …
identifying the strategy
After Identifying the Strategy…
3 Building Blocks of Strategic Design
- Grouping
- Linking
- Alignment
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Grouping
- Drawing boundaries around clusters of tasks or activities to define jobs, departments, processes
- Differentiation
- Grouping structures
- Functional
- Divisional
- Product
- Market
- Geographic
- Functional/Product Matrix
- Front/Back
Linking
- Creating links across organizational boundaries
- Integration
- Examples include
- Liaison roles
- Cross-functional teams
- IT systems
Alignment
- Positioning elements of the organization (such as rewards and incentives) to provide access to the resources and the incentives to do the tasks assigned
- Examples include
- Performance measurement systems
- IT systems
- Training & development programs
- Financial, human, capital resources
HP Case: Discussion Questions
- What are the strategies/strategic direction of HP?
- What are the benefits of the front/back grouping to HP?
- What are some pitfalls of the front/back grouping?
- What linking mechanisms has HP put in place?
- What linking mechanisms should HP put in place?
- What alignment of resources has HP put in place?
- What resource alignments should HP put in place?
Strategic Direction of HP
- Boost communication & collaboration – sales and engineers
- Sales growth and profits
- Be market leader with their products
- Flexible in response to market
- Expand their market areas
- Short term AND long term focus
- Fast pace to achieve their objectives
- Design products to meet customer preferences & problems
- Look at what competition is doing
- Streamlining internal processes
- Cross selling of products – tie products together for customers
Grouping Structure
- Old
- Product Division
- 80 + divisions
- New
- Front/Back
Linking Mechanisms
- Existing
- Cross company teams-identifying initiatives
- Strategy council
- Team to reduce costs
- New IT system
- Teams focusing on the top customers
- Liaisons with customers through Sales
- Proposed
- Liaison(s)
- Between sales & engineers
- Within product lines- laterally
- Clearly defined procedures & new systems of communicating
- COO role
Resource Alignments
- Existing
- More resources toward R&D for big hit products
- Sales compensation tied to performance
- Bonus pay – changes in timing
- New leadership roles
- Reporting systems – financial IT system
- Outsourcing
- Layoffs
- Staff added
- Proposed
- More staff – liaison roles & COO
- Training
- For new roles
- For new systems and procedures
- Compensation/bonuses for R&D
- Reduce $ spent on meals
- Align sales & profits better
Strategic Design Lens
- The organization is seen as a constructed system to achieve certain goals.
- The Strategy of the organization
- The 3 key design tools – grouping, linking, alignment – are all needed.
- The role of the manager is a strategist, an organizational architect.
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Team Projects
Criteria for Organizational Analysis Projects
- The initiative must already be underway, but not in existence for too long a period of time (less than 1 year)
- The initiative must involve a reorganization or change in the structure (for ex., different reporting relationships or new departments)
- At least 6 individuals who are involved in the initiative must be individually interviewed (via Zoom or Skype or other video format)
- You can choose to do this individually or within a group
- Groups must be @5-6 people
Examples of Organizational Analyses
- ProMedica
- Reorganization of purchasing function to centralize it
- ProMedica
- Introduction of a new department-acute health care delivery at home
- UT Dept. of Environmental Health
- Combination of 2 departments to create a new group
- Flower Hospital
- Reorganization of the nursing structure/changing roles
- Dimensions Credit Union
- New C-suite level added with new reporting relationships
Organizational Analysis Projects
- Discussion Questions
- Introductions
- Why are you interested in this topic?
- What thoughts do each of you have about a specific organizational change initiative that you could study?
- What ideas do each of you have about an organization where you could study this topic/initiative?
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