As global markets continue to rapidly shift and evolve, many companies today find themselves in a near constant state of organizational flux. With more and more organizational shake-ups such as mergers and restructures happening at an accelerated pace, organizations are under increased pressure to adapt quickly to disruptive change.
For many HR departments, the continuous transformation of the business landscape is a challenging experience. It requires a complete reimagining of the HR function and a shift in perspective; viewing and assessing the business in its entirety in order to allow a more strategic focus on organizational structure and its effects.
While the role of the HR professional continues to evolve, one thing remains the same: a robust business structure is vital for organizational growth and long-term success. One of the cornerstones of an effective business structure is thoughtful and effective organizational design. As we know, the key to running a successful business is having the right people, in the right place, doing the right tasks at the right time.
Changing with Change
Organizational design focuses on ensuring that the entire business structure continues to reflect its short and long-term objectives. As businesses evolve and adapt, so must the organizational structure. Whatever the change, organizational design is key to easing the process; whether it’s a more complicated change such as combining merging companies, or simply general restructuring and planning for the future.
For this reason, it’s important not to view organizational design as a singular project, but rather a continuous process required to hone and improve organizational performance. As organizations become more complex, leadership must decide how to manage the business structure to capitalize on efficiencies and create value for shareholders.
Manage the business structure... The concept sounds simple enough, but in practice managing thousands or hundreds of thousands of people across an ever-evolving organization is a mountain of a task. A mountain made more untenable by inconsistent, decentralized, and disconnected data that is often made irrelevant by time it is actually identified and processed.
This problem isn’t simple, though the solution should be. You just need strategic insights on connected data with digital capabilities that match the agility you need, when you need it. That’s not asking for too much, is it?
The Future is (Obviously) Technology
Organizational design has become more precise. It no longer means a list of ten thousand names on a spreadsheet or a PowerPoint org chart. Many organizations struggle to even have full visibility into their headcount, let alone where their people are, and what they are doing. People data is an incredibly important resource in today’s digital space, and it represents a huge opportunity.
New HR technologies can collect and centralize databases from multiple sources. Intuitive organizational design and modeling tools can leverage the live data from existing HCM systems and enable HR leaders to better visualize the people, skills, and expertise within their organization in real-time. This allows for deeper visibility, greater collaboration, and fact-based decision-making. The more focused you are on the future of your organization, the more accurately you can influence and create a workforce which will help you achieve your long-term objectives.
Change is all around us and there are no signs that it will abate. A sweeping ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to HR needs to be replaced by something more tailored, nimble, and inclusive. The speed of technological advancements paired with an unpredictable global marketplace is changing the way we work, forcing us to stretch our understanding of HR functions and reimagine accepted models. Through customized, intuitive automization, you can design the future of your business your way. The question is, what does that future look like?
