Managing the re-design process: A conversation with Amy Kates and Greg Kesler

I recently spoke with Amy Kates and Greg Kesler of Kates Kesler Organization Consulting, a US consulting form specializing in organization design.

Some of the questions we discussed were:

• How do you balance the need for participation and involvement with the need for executive control over the outcome of design processes?
• When do you need a re-design of the formal structure, and when can you improve the organization by more informal means?
• How do you deal with conflicting requirements (e.g., when some say that a unit should be centralized, while others claim that it must be decentralized)?

They also talk about their forthcoming book called Leading Organization Design and their open seminar for internal practitioners in Brussels in March.

Here’s a quote from what Amy said:

“The more that you can help people take the journey [of re-design] with you, the more they become advocates for both the process and for the legitimacy of the decisions that are made…even if they don’t agree with [the decisions]…they understand there was no easy choice here…”

Listen to the podcast by clicking the “play” button below.