10 must-Know Organizational Development Principles

“‘The measure of intelligence is the ability to change’ -Albert Einstein”

Organizational development can be defined as an objective-based manner used to commence a change of systems in an entity. Organizational development is attained through a shift in the communication process in the organization or their supporting structure. Observing the behavior of employees enables non-amateurs to examine. And observe the work environment and foresee change, which is then effected to attain sound organizational development.

10 Principles for Organisational Development

Despite of the fact that every company is different, and there is no set formula to intent the appropriate design for your organization. There are 10 guiding principles that apply to every company. These organizational development design principles point the way for controllers or leaders of the organization. Whose strategies require a different kind of organization they the one they already have.

“Growth responds to Structure whether organizational or personal. Build a structure for your life if you must grow”

Declare liberation for the past

The first step to organization design should start with corporation of self-reflection of the organization. What is the organizational sense of purpose. And how will the organization will make a difference for its clients, employees and the investors; for many business leaders giving an answer to these questions means going beyond their comfort zone.

You have to set a focused direction, command the organization toward that goal, and set your priorities to everything you do accordingly. Encouraging a forward-looking view is critical.

To sum up, explicitly decide that you will not blame nor try to justify the design in place for today or any organization design of the past. It is now time to move on. This type of authoritative announcement may sound simple. But it is amazingly effective for keeping the focus on the new strategy.

Design with DNA

Organizational development design may seem with unneeded complex, the correct framework however can help to decode and highlight the necessary elements. There are eight elements of organizational design that are suitable to any company. Regardless of industry, geography or business strategy model.

These elements naturally fall into four supporting pairs, each pair consisting of one tangible and one intangible element. You may be tempted to make changes using all the eight building elements. But as a barrier too many interventions at once could interact in unexpected ways, leading to negative side effects.

Fix the structure at last, not first

Organizational leaders know that their present organization chart does not necessarily record how things get done. It is at best indeterminate approximation. Yet they can still fall into a common trap: thinking that changing their organizational structure will address their business problems.

In an organization redesign, you are not setting up a new form for the organization all at once. You are settling out an order of interventions that will lead the company from the past to the future. 

Structure should be last thing that you will change that is the capstone not the cornerstone of that sequence. Otherwise the change will not strengthen itself.

Make the extreme of the top talent

Talent is crucial but often it is an overlooked factor when it comes to organizational design. You may assume that the personalities and capability of the current executive team members would not affect the design much. But the reality is that you need to design positions to make the most of the strengths of the people who will occupy them.

In other words contemplate the technical skills and managerial awareness of key people. And make sure those leaders are stocked to foster the collaboration needed from the people under them

Focus on your control

Make a record and observe the things that hold your organization back; the scarcities and constraints. By considering the stock of the real world limitations it help to ensure that you can execute and sustain the new organization design.

“We aim above the mark to hit the mark.” 

Promote accountability 

Design your organization so that it is easy for people to be responsible for their part of the work without being managed by their senior workers. Ensure that decisions rights are clear and that information flows speedily and clearly from the executive committee to business units, functions and the departments. 

Standard sparingly, if at all

One common misstep is looking for best practices. Theoretically, it can be helpful to track what competitors are doing, if only to help you make the best use of your own design or uncover issues requiring attention. But practically this approach has some of the problems.

Firstly it disregard your organization’s unique capabilities system – the strengths that only your and only organization has, which produces results that other competitors cannot match.

Secondly even if your strategies are as same as your competitors, who is to say that its organization is a good fit with its. If your competitors have a different value or capabilities system than you do, using it for your own performance will be a big mistake.

Let the lines and boxes fit to your company’s purpose

For each and every company, there is an optimal pattern of hierarchical order of relationship – a golden mean. It is not the same for every company; it should throw back the strategy you have chosen, and it should also support the censorious capabilities that distinguish your company from the other ones. 

That means that the right structure for other company may not be the right one for your company, even if they are of same industry.

Make noticeable the informal

Formal elements like structure and information are attractive to companies, the reason is that they are tangible. They can comfortably define and measure.  

But they only consist of half of the story. Many of the companies reallocate decisions rights, rework the organizational charts or set up the knowledge sharing systems- yet they do not see the results they expect to receive.

The reason is because they have ignored the more informal, intangible building blocks. Norms, commitments, mind-sets and networks are necessary in the process of getting things complete. They represent what people think, feel, communicate and behave. 

When these intangibles are not in coincide with one and another or the more tangible building blocks, the organization lose momentum. 

Rise and build on your own strength 

Maintaining the organization is one of the hardest things for a chief leader to do, but there are toughness to build on in existing practices and in the culture.

Strength is a matter of a made up mind.

It may be that your company has well-defined decisions rights, wherein each person has a well idea of the decisions and actions for which they are responsible but yet they may not be focused towards the right goals. You can use this strong accountability and deflect people to the right decisions to support the new strategy.

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Key Takeaways

• Effective Organization Transformation requires aligning people, processes, and technology towards a common vision.
• Embrace agility and continuous learning to remain adaptable in the face of a dynamic environment.
• Transparent communication and employee engagement are critical to overcoming resistance and achieving sustainable transformation.