non-hierarchical organisations
TRANSCRIPT
DesigninganOrganisation–ManagedProcessorIterativeDevelopment
Article1WhyweneedstructureinourorganisationsOneanalogyisdesigningandconstructingabuilding–weneedastructureinplacethatisfitforpurpose.Thequestionis;dowebuildittowithstandahurricaneorasatemporaryabodethattravelswithusaswemovefromplacetoplace.Whatarethefoundationsthatunderpinthestructureandhowflexibledowewanttheinternalpartitionstobe?Ourdefaultisoftentobuildatopdownhierarchybecausethat’swhatwe’vegrownupwith:Ahierarchicalorganisationisanorganisationalstructurewhereeveryentityintheorganization,exceptone,issubordinatetoasingleotherentity.Thisarrangementisaformofahierarchy.Inan
organisation,thehierarchyusuallyconsistsofasingular/groupofpoweratthetopwithsubsequent
levelsofpowerbeneaththem–WikipediaIfwefollowthisdesignandbuildanalogy,whatweneedisagoodarchitectwhowilltakeourdesignparametersandcreateastructurethatmeetsourdefinedneeds:Organisationdesignorarchitectureofanorganisationasametaphorprovidestheframework
throughwhichanorganisationaimstorealizeitscorequalitiesasspecifiedinitsvisionstatement.–
Wikipedia
AsecondandequallycompellinganalogyproposedbywriterssuchasPeterSengeisthatorganisationsshowmanyofthecharacteristicsoflivingorganisms;theygrow,developandevolve.Organisationsmanifestatypeofhomeostasis–asteadystatethatbyitsnatureisresistanttochange.Whicheverframeofreferencewechoosetoadopt,thekeyquestioniswhetherourorganisationaldesignisfitforpurpose.Thisbegsthequestion–dowehaveabsoluteclaritywhatthatpurposenowis?Ifwelookatourcurrent(predominantlyhierarchical)organisationandlookatourvision,ourvalues–doesthestructurepromoteorblockindividualinitiativeandemployeeengagement?Doesitsupportourpublicallystatedintenttoworkwithandsupportourlocalcommunity,enablinglocalchampionswhowillinglygiveoftheirowntimetosupportthoseinneed?Ordoesitcreatebureaucraticbarriersandanunremittingfocusonshorttermperformancemetricsthatpromoteandsupportmicromanagementandleadersworkingatleastoneandusuallytwolevelsbelowwheretheyarepaidtooperate?Thechallengewithmuchofourorganisationaldesignistwofold:• It’sbasedonahierarchical,compliancebasedwayofthinkingwhereweoperatefromapredict
andcontrolmodel• Itlackstheorganism’sabilitytosenseandrespondtochangesintheexternal(andinternal)
operatingenvironmentHowcanwecreateanorganisationthatisfullyalignedwithourvisionandourvalues;thatisresilientandsustainable–onethatconsistentlymeetsmarketandshareholderexpectationsandismodellingthechangeforgoodthatwewishtoseeintheworld?Abigquestion–onethatisnotgoingtobeansweredinashortpaper,butperhapsafewsmallerquestionsthatmightbuildconfidencetoexperiment:
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1. EnsureabsoluteClarityofPurposeThepurposeofanorganisationisthefundamentalreasonwhytheorganisationexists.Thechallengeisthatyouwillprobablygetverydifferentanswersdependentonwhoyouask;“addshareholdervalue”,“deliverprofitablegrowth”,“meettheneedsofourcustomers”etc.So,that’swhatwedo–butwhydoweexist?Inpractice,thedefinedpurposeofanorganisationisoftenunclearandsometimesevencontested.Differentgroupsbothinsideandoutsidetheorganisationmayhavecompetingviews(withvaryingdegreesofinfluence)ofwhatthatpurposeshouldbe.Tousethemetaphorofthelivingorganisation-thecorepurposeofanorganisationdefinestheboundary,themembranebetweenwhatisandisnot‘theorganisation’Keyquestionstoask(usingtheprinciplesofHolacracy™):- Whatdoestheworldwant/needourorganisationtobe(pullfromoutside–what
customer/clientneedsarewemeeting)- Whatdoweneedtobetotheworld(usingourknowledge,skillsandwisdomwhatgiftscanwe
bringtotheworld)?2. ReplaceconcernwithCompliancewithafocusonGovernanceGovernanceisawell-definedtermandawell-refinedconceptinthenot-for-profitsector;Governancecanbethoughtofas:‘thesystemsandprocessesconcernedwithensuringtheoverall
direction,effectiveness,supervisionandaccountabilityofanorganisation’.ACEVOSimilarly,fromHolacracy™-‘Governanceisanexplicit,writtensetofrulesandexpectationsincludingtheCircles,Roles,Purposes,Accountabilities,DomainsandPoliciesoftheorganisation’. Ifwehaveabsoluteclarityaboutwhatwearetryingtoachieve,whoistaskedwithdelivery,havestrongandrapidfeedbacksystemswithengagedandmotivatedindividuals;wecanfocusonensuringthesystemsperformeffectivelyandefficiently.Wecanmaintainperspectiveratherthanbeingpulleddownintoalevelofdetailthatisbasedprimarilyonalackoftrust,bothinthereportingsystemsthemselvesandintheteamsengagedwithdelivery.3. ReplaceFocusonStructurewithClarityofrequiredRolesBorrowingfrombuildingdesignagain:'Formfollowsfunction'isaprinciplethatproposesabuilding'spurposeshouldbethestartingpointforitsdesignratherthanitsaesthetics.
Designispredicatedbythecorepurposeofanorganisation–whydoesitexistandwhatisittryingtoachieve.ArticulatedagainbythehistorianAlfredChandleras–‘StructurefollowsStrategy’.Ifwestartwithawell-definedcorepurpose,ournextstepistodefinethekeyrolesthatwillachievethispurpose.Notthedepartments,reportingstructures,organisationalchartsorjobdescriptions–atthisstagejustthekeyroles:Role-anorganisationalentityusedtodefinecertainfunctionsoftheorganization.Thedefinitionofa
RoleincludesaPurposetoexpress,Domain(s)tocontrol,andAccountabilitiestoperform–Holacracydefinition.
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Thisobviatestheneedtoimposestructure.Let’stakeforexampleCommunications–it’safunction,notadepartment.Itwillhaveitsownsubpurposetoexpressinserviceoftheoverallorganisation’spurpose.Itwillhavedeliverablesandaccountabilitycombinedwithresourcesthatwilldefinetherequiredroles.Oncethesearedefined,itmaywellbethatthereisarequirementforstructuretodeliverthespecifiedoutcomes.Oritmaybethatthereisnoneedforastructure–thattherolescanexistinwhatHolacracywoulddefineas‘circles’:
Circle–agroupofRolesthatallcontributetothesamePurpose.ACircleistreatedlikeaRolewith
theadditionalauthoritytobreakitselfdownintosub-Roles.–Holacracydefinition
Wemaytermthisaformofmatrixmanagement;wemaysubsequentlysubsumethisthinkingintoatraditionalorganisationalstructure;orwemaytaketheopportunitytopilotashadownon-hierarchicalstructure,definingourselvesbythesekeyrolesandthesubsequentcirclesthattheycreate:
4. SummarySo,weneedstructuretogiveus‘form’butdoweneedadepartmentalhierarchy?Ifwehave,orfeelweneedthisunderpinningframework,canwesuperimposeorblendadifferentwayofworkingontoourexistingstructure?Canwechooseanareainwhichtoexperiment,isthereanewproject,teamorchangeinitiativethatwecoulddesigndifferently?Thereisguidanceandtemplatesfreelyavailabletostartthisprocess,we’vebeenrunningourbusinessusingtheseprinciplessince2014andaretotallyconvincedthatclarityofroleandpersonalaccountabilitytrumpsreportinglinesandjobtitleeverytime.AndrewPorter,Director
Moonstone Operational Domains Model
Illustrating the fields of accountability
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Moonstone Domains Operational Model KEY:
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DECISION-MAKING: The Lead in any field of responsibility will ratify key decisions with a member of the governance team A Member in any field of responsibility will ‘sign off’ with the appropriate Lead before progressing
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