Organizational Design

In today's volative business environment, organizational design is a serious challenge for any manager, whether of a multinational enterprise or a small team. This book sets out a step-by-step approach to designing an organization. Its action-oriented approach helps the reader to assess and re-design the complex organization of today, and plan for the information-rich organizations of tomorrow.

• Step 1: Getting started
  1. Define the scope of the organization and assess its goals
     • Introduction: The executive challenge of designing the organization
     • Overview of this book
     • The information-processing view
     • Select an organization for analysis
     • Define the scope of the organization
     • Assess the organization's goals
     • Diagnostic questions
     • Misfits and balancing competing design dimensions
     • Summary
     • Glossary
     • Where are you in the step-by-step approach?
• Step 2: Strategy
  2. Strategy
     • Introduction
     • Reactor
     • Defender
     • Prospector
     • Analyzer without innovation
     • Analyzer with innovation
     • Diagnostic questions
     • Fit and misfits
     • Summary
     • Glossary
  3. Environment
     • Introduction
     • Calm environment
     • Varied environment
     • Locally stormy environment
     • Turbulent environment
     • Diagnostic questions
     • Fit and misfits
     • Summary
     • Glossary
     • Where are you in the step-by-step approach?
• Step 3: Structure
  4. The configuration and complexity of the firm
     • Introduction
     • Configuration
     • Simple configuration
     • Functional configuration
     • Divisional configuration
     • Matrix configuration
     • Organizational complexity
     • Blob
     • Tall
     • Flat
     • Symmetric
     • Diagnostic questions
     • Fit and misfits
     • Summary
     • Glossary
  5. Distributed organizations
     • Introduction
     • Structures for spanning geography
     • Global
     • International
     • Multi-domestic
     • Transnational
     • Structures for managing knowledge exchange
     • Ad hoc communications
     • Informated
     • Cellular
     • Network
     • Diagnostic questions
     • Fit and misfits
     • Summary
     • Glossary
     • Where are you in the step-by-step approach?
• Step 4: Process and people
  6. Task design
     • Introduction
     • Orderly
     • Complicated
     • Fragmented
     • Knotty
     • Diagnostic questions
     • Fit and misfits
     • Summary
     • Glossary
  7. People
     • Introduction
     • Shop
     • Factory
     • Laboratory
     • Office
     • Diagnostic questions
     • Fit and misfits
     • Summary
     • Glossary
  8. Leadership and organizational climate
     • Introduction
     • Leadership style
     • Maestro
     • Manager
     • Leader
     • Producer
     • Organizational climate
     • Group
     • Internal process
     • Developmental
     • Rational goal
     • Diagnostic questions
     • Fit and misfits
     • Summary
     • Glossary
     • Where are you in the step-by-step approach?
• Step 5: Coordination and control
  9. Coordination, control, and information systems
     • Introduction
     • Coordination and control systems
     • Family
     • Machine
     • Market
     • Clan or mosaic
     • Information systems
     • Event-driven
     • Data-driven
     • People-driven
     • Relationship-driven
     • Diagnostic questions
     • Fit and misfits
     • Summary
     • Glossary
  10. Incentives
      • Introduction
      • Personal pay
      • Skill pay
      • Bonus-based
      • Profit sharing
      • Diagnostic questions
      • Fit and misfits
      • Summary
      • Glossary
      • Where are you in the step-by-step approach?
• Applying the step-by-step approach in a dynamic world
  11. Design dynamics: managing change and multi-organizations
      • Introduction
      • Where are you in the step-by-step approach?
      • What should you change first? Make changes within each step
      • What should you change second? Make changes between steps
      • Why change? Should we live with some misfits?
      • What are the benefits of change?
      • What are the difficulties of change?
      • Managing misfits over time
      • Multi-organization: multiple units of analysis
      • The multi-organization step-by-step approach
      • Joint venture
      • Merger
      • Strategic alliance or partnership
      • Summary
      • Glossary

A very interesting book that starts of with organizational design as an effect of the strategies a company adheres to (and manages to invent some new classifications as well).

I liked it.