Reorganization Best Practices
From OrgChart.net
Contents |
Overview
In today’s business environment, organizations can either get crushed or adapt by keeping pace with the business cycle. Both survival and success are contingent on the adaptability of the organization to all kinds of changes. Reorganization has become a necessity and it needs to be done in ways that enhance its ability to perform and aid its progress towards futuristic goals.
Whether a company is in distress or not, reorganization sometimes becomes essential in wake of competition. Organizations need to be dynamic in order to stay ahead of competition. The need for reorganization may also arise out of internal dysfunction or for economic reasons. Whatever the case may be, industry experts concur on adherence to certain best practices if the efforts are to be successful. After all, the statistics are frightening—one study indicates that less than a third of reorganization attempts are able to bring about the intended improvement in performance.
Setting Goals
Any attempt at reorganization must be preceded by arriving at concrete and specific goals. Organizations must carry out a clever decision audit, which is a study of key decisions impacting its success and the levels at which the decisions must be made and executed. It is only after this audit that effective strategy formulation can be carried out. This effort in planning must be bolstered by a well-crafted operations execution move ensuring that all technical, technological and information systems are calibrated suitably to affect the changes to the organization’s advantage.
Best Practices
It is vital that reorganization is managed soundly from its earliest stages. There are a few elements and approaches that are prerequisites for effective realigning of the workforce and meeting objectives.
- Setting up a Transition Management Team: Formulation of this group is essential to a focused reorganization approach. With duties and tasks clearly outlined, this team should ideally chalk out the plan of action, define timelines, foster agreeability to the move across the organization, and take several other decisions related to this effort. This team should ideally draw its members from across functions and departments of the organization.
- Formulation of a Communication Plan: There is no substitute for trust and openness and the role they play in maintaining the confidence of the people. There has to be an all-encompassing, detailed communication plan in place, alleviating fear and explaining the whys and wherefores to all in the organization. There is nothing that does as much damage as mistrust and miscommunication.
- Skill Assessment: Organizations need to have a clear idea of the resources present with them and those that would be required to meet future goals. It must point clearly to what the critical competencies are and also the redundancies that need to be done away with. Organizations today take the help of intelligent software to aid this process of sifting.
- Severance Packages: Reorganization invariably leads to cases of employee separation, whether voluntary or involuntary. What is most important here is the fact that organizations must be just and sensitive to the exiting employee. Efforts at offering suitably designed severance packages or an outplacement consultant to help these individuals find further employment goes a long way in reducing negative consequences, as well as minimizing levels of employee resentment.
- Talent Retention: Employees with critical skills need to be retained and customized individual development programs must be activated. This is crucial for the firm’s success.
- Suitability: Make sure the most effective person for the position is given that position. Suitability needs to be determined objectively, biases kept out and power cliques disbanded.
- Review: Review of reorganization efforts must be carried out periodically, and some degree of flexibility must be maintained in order for the organization to adapt properly as change arises.
