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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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