Designing Effective Organizations: How to Create Structured Networks - Hardcover

Goold, Michael; Campbell, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0787960640 ISBN 13: 9780787960643

Publisher: Wiley, 2002

Synopsis

'Goold and Campbell, leading thinkers on corporate-level strategy, have turned their attention to corporate-level organization design. They bring a rigor to this topic that will help managers wrestling with multiple reporting dimensions, decentralization and cross-unit co-ordination.' Professor Gary Hamel, London Business School. Author of Competing for the Future and Leading the Revolution.
'Campbell and Goold are renowned for discovering entirely new and useful dimensions to seemingly familiar business issues. This book is another shining example. It allows executives to replace politics and personality as the rationales for an organizational design with clear, effective logic and experience.' Thomas H. Davenport, Director, Accenture Institute for Strategic Change. Author of Process Innovation and Working Knowledge.
'A "must read" for managers and consultants. Redesigning the organization is the most powerful and fastest means for aligning decisions and behavior with strategic objectives. Goold and Campbell provide the best and most comprehensive framework for developing and testing the validity of an organizational structure I have seen in recent years. Based on years of research and experience they offer clear principles and a process to guide managers in the many design decisions and trade-offs involved in developing a more effective organization.' Professor Michael Beer, Harvard Business School. Author of The Critical Path to Corporate Renewal.
'Books on organization design tend to fall into one of two categories: those that provide interesting concepts but not help on how to implement them and those that are full of check lists on implementation, based on sterile and over-simplified ideas. Michael Goold and Andrew Campbell have written perhaps the finest example of an exception I have ever seen - a very practical book, with detailed guidelines on implementation, yet based on a rich and sophisticated understanding of the real challenges of organization design. It will be of immense use to all careful readers.' Professor Sumantra Ghoshal, London Business School. Author of The Individualized Corporation and Managing Across Borders.
'As companies search for all sources of competitive advantage, many are discovering that the ability to organize and execute complex strategies is an important one. Campbell and Goold have again provided us with a good process through which leaders can give organizing its deserved focus.' Professor Jay Galbraith, author of Designing the Global Corporation.
'Campbell and Goold bring much needed clarity and precision to the language of organizational design and show how this can help managers avoid the misunderstandings and differing interpretations that frequently undermine new organization structures.' Paul Coombes, Director, Organization Practice Area, McKinsey & Company.
'Organization change is close to the top of many companies' agendas. Goold and Campbell's book equips you with ideas and frameworks to take on the journey. The real-world examples help make it both pragmatic and readable.' Steve Russell, Chief Executive, The Boots Company plc.
'An impressive work. The taxonomy of organizational units and organigram symbols will be especially useful to managers working on structures.' Philip Sadler, Patron, The Centre for Tomorrow's Company. Author of The Seamless Organization.
'Incredibly relevant in helping to pull together a complicated structure based around the dimensions of channels, products, customers and geography - immensely clear and valuable.' David Roberts, Chief Executive, Personal Financial Services, Barclays plc.
'A welcome breakthrough in designing more effective corporate organization structures. The nine design tests of Goold and Campbell are a valuable addition to an otherwise sparse toolkit.' Jim Haymaker, Vice President, Strategy & Business Development, Cargill Inc.
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About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Have you ever struggled to make decisions in organizations where responsibilities are not sufficiently clear? Have you labored in hierarchical structures where senior managers slow down decisions, but add no value? Have you wondered why the organization design so often makes strategies hard to implement? Designing Effective Organizations offers practical help to managers who face these difficulties.

This book provides a rigorous approach to the complex issue of organizational design. Drawing on a wide range of company examples and wealth of personal experience, the authors have produced an innovative new framework for assessing design options.

Using nine tests, and new and more precise terms to convey organizational roles, Goold and Campbell provide managers with the tools needed to create well designed organizations. They emphasize the value of decentralized network-like organizations, but argue for sufficient structure to make them work well.

Although organizational design decisions will never be easy, managers who use the processes outlined in this book are much more likely to arrive at sound choices and increase the overall competitive success of their companies.

If you have always put organizational design in the 'too difficult' box, or struggled to find a better way to restructure your organization, this is the book for you.

About the Author:

Michael Goold and Andrew Campbell are directors of the Ashridge Strategic Management Centre in London and are acknowledged as leading thinkers on issues of corporate strategy and organization.

The Centre conducts research on large divisionalized companies. It is part of the Ashridge Trust, one of the world's top schools for executive education and development. Prior to establishing the Centre in 1987, both authors were Fellows at the Centre for Business Strategy at London Business School. They have written numerous books together including Strategies and Styles, Corporate Level Strategy and Synergy

Educated at Oxford and Stanford, Michael has extensive consulting as well as academic experience. He worked for a number of years with the Boston Consulting Group, becoming Vice President in 1979.

A Baker Scholar and Harkness Fellow from Harvard Business School, Andrew is currently a visiting professor at City University Business School. Previously he was a consultant with McKinsey and Company.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0787960640
• ISBN 13: 9780787960643
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368