Organization design principles and practicalities for libraries.

1. ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
Rebecca@dysartjones.com
“Damn org review…..”

2. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
•Principles guiding design
•Designing strategically & practically
•Exercise to consider

3. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
Organization Structure
Reflects formal reporting relationships, procedures, controls, authority & decision- making processes
Impacted by organizational dynamics, including governance, political realities, institutional & departmental culture
Provide stability needed to implement strategies & flexibility to seize competitive advantage

4. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
MIT: Best Practices for Organizational Excellence
1.Simultaneous continuous improvement in cost, quality, service and product innovation
2.Breaking down organizational barriers between departments
3.Eliminating layers of management, creating flatter organizational hierarchies
4.Closer relationships with customers and suppliers
5.Intelligent use of new technology
6.Global focus
7.Improving human resource skills
Hm…..telling that 3areas relate to Organizational Structure

5. Factors to consider
Strategies
Services
Processes (including technology) underpinning services & operations
Key roles, skills & mindsets
Rewards

6. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
So why does it take such time & effort to change the org structure?
“It takes a long time for change to happen quickly”
Dr. Gerald Ross @ Faculty of Management, McGill University

7. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
Questions organizations should be asking:
•How should we be organized to best interact with & delight our clients or patrons?
•How should we be organized to make the best decisions in the least amount of time?
•How do we make it easy for people to work together, collaborate, discuss & make decisions?

8. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
Organizational decisions
Good people in a poorly designed organizational structure fail, while average people in a healthy organization succeed.
The Science of Structure by Dean Meyer
Arefundamentally
about making
choices & changes.
Both are scary.

9. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
Organization Design Principles
•Strategy drives structure
•Set them –clearly
•Form follows function
•Functions change quickly
•Form drives behavior, shapes work processes & employee relationships to support your strategic priorities
•Reporting relationships create “ties that bind”
•Collaboration decreases as distance & priorities increase
“First we shape our structures, then our structures shape us”
Winston Churchill

10. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
Organization Structure for Libraries
•Libraries are typically highly bureaucratic, hierarchical and organized by function and / or physical setting
•Teams result in greater engagement if handled well (i.e. clear roles, training, responsibility, accountability)
“Innovation cannot occur without systematic abandonment”
Peter Drucker

11. Hierarchies
pros
&
cons
have

12. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
Structure should create an organizational focus on the right issues at the right time
What IS the library’s main focus for the next few years??

13. Galbraith’s Star Model
Skills
&
Mindsets
Rewards
Processes
Reporting
&
Relationships
Strategic
Direction
Organizational
Structure

14. Technology Impacts
•Work processes
•Communication flows
•–with employees & clients
•Service delivery
•Incentives
•Recognition

15. Structure
Strategy
Size
Technology
Culture
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Design Considerations
People positioned based on their talents
&
Library needs

16. Phase One Phase Two Phase Three Phase Four Phase Five Phase Preparing for change Choosing to re- design Creating the high- level design and the detailed design Handling the transition Reviewing the design Key Questions -Why change? -What are the options? -How do we know we are making the right choices? -What have we let ourselves in for? -How do we scope the work? -Where do we go from here? -How do we get started? -What do we do next? -When have we completed the design? -What are the people implications? -Why are we getting bogged down? -How do we keep things going? -Why should we review? -How should we go about it? -What do we do as a result of it? Main Documents Business case and proposal -Scooping document -Communication Plan -High-level project plans -Detailed project plans Project progress reports on implementation Internal audit review and report Time Scale (weeks) Week 1 Weeks 2-4 Weeks 5 – 8 Weeks 9- 11 Weeks 12 - 16 What (broad Brush) Meetings with Stakeholders -Workshop with senior team -Workshop with operational team -Develop scoping document and communications plan -Appoint project managers -Develop detailed project plans -Assign team members’ tasks -Carry out tasks iterate as necessary -Carry out tasks iterate as necessary -Launch -Review -6 month review

17. Starting decisions
•Centralize?
•For management control
•To increase consistency & reduce costs
•Decentralize?
•To empower units, branches, sections
•Because of size &/or diversity of services

18. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
•Ad hoc arrangements to get work done, or duplicate processes
•Too many committees
•Strategic work
•isn’t being addressed
•takes too long
•is done “around the edges”
•New technologies are in are controlled by a few, and others don’t know what to do with the devices or the software
Something’s wrong…..
Warning sign: processes

19. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
•Attempts to regain control that may not be appropriate
•Paralyzed or procrastinated decision-making
•Turf wars
•Power grabs
Warning signs: reporting & relationships

20. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
•Perceived or real lack of direction
•Lots of questions, no answers
•People are unsure of how what they do matters
•People unwilling to make small decisions
•Lots of talk, no action
•Failure to recognize need for new strategies
Warning signs: strategic direction

21. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
•“Bad attitudes” & “personality conflicts”
•Demonization & triangulation
•“Too many meetings”
•Confusion over priorities
•Lots of overtime by a few people
•Perceptions of an “in group”
Warning sign: skills & mindsets

22. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
•Techno pets & prima donnas
•Faded stars
•Technology becomes its own reward
•New competencies not recognized by compensation system
•The “right” behaviours aren’t being rewarded –or there’s no way to reward them
Warning signs: rewards

23. •Every design is a trade-off among desirable choices.
•A major redesign is a two-step process.
#1. Choose a design approach (or approaches).
#2: Mix and match the design elements.
“The negatives are what the leader will have to manage.” Galbraith
Realities of designing the organization

24. Ready yourselves with:
•Strategic plan
•Flip charts, post-its
•Assumptions & principles
•Humouror humor
•The word “Draft”
•Balance the practical
with the potential

25. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
Forms & design involve drawing
Increase & create
econtent
Grow
presence in
specific client groups
Redesign
web
experience
Design new
client support services
Recruit & retain
talent
Design the structure to exploit the library’s uniqueness,
strategies, services & people,
& address issues the library is facing

26. First draft
Strategies drive structure

27. SKETCH OUT YOUR ORGANIZATION’S STRUCTURE (YES, THE CHART)

28. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
Some basics
•Develop a clear and consistent vision
•Identify key success factors
•Build in a way to assess
•Train everyone, starting with those in people management positions
•Develop system-wide knowledge and concern (Central vs. Branches)

29. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
•Phase implementation
•Implement one step at a time
•Develop action plans with clear, doable steps
•This is a project
•Acknowledge & celebrate each step
And once you’ve designed

30. Be prepared:
•Contingencies & Plan B
Work the project:
•Project Manager & CEO: together
Demonstrate:
•That Everyone Will Be Moving & Working Differently
Prepare & train staff
•Both Formal & Informal
Consistently Communicate

31. ORGANIZATIONSTRUCTURES
•Organizations are living systems.
•New work arrangements take time.
•Lack of clarity is the root of most evil.
•85% of “people problems” aren’t caused by people but by process & organizational structure flaws
To successfully implement, remember:

32. •Have a communications plan –& use it
•Stress the why, & each individual’s fit
“What does it mean to me?”
•Talk early, talk often, don’t stop
•Hear
•Focus on formal & informal team leads & early adopters