Skip to content

Software support for organization re-design: The next frontier?

by Nicolay Worren on May 14th, 2010
After having participated in about 15 different re-design projects over the years, one key observation is that the complexity of the re-design challenge often exceeds the ability of individual managers and teams. There are simply too many known and unknown variables and too many shifting parameters for the human brain to make logical and consistent decisions. At the same time, I have observed the relative scarcity of analytical tools. Critical decisions affecting thousands of employees are sometimes based largely on intuitive reasoning.

However, new data based methods and analytical tools may change how organization design decisions are made.

In three separate blog posts during the next week and a half, I will focus on three software tools, each representing a particular analytical approach. The tools are relevant in different stages of the design process – from the choice of overall structure to definition of sub-units and transition to the new structure.

The first tool is Organization Weaver, developed by small Norwegian IT company called BrightArch. It supports the implementation phase of organization design project, by greatly improving how people are allocated to the positions created by the new structure. Rather than appointing new people in a “top down” fashion, companies increasingly intend to create a transparent process by announcing the new positions and letting employees indicate their preferences.

image
The founder of BrightArch, Tor Kielland, however, discovered that few companies are prepared for the complexity of the allocation task that such a process entails (see Figure above). He notes that all existing recruitment processes are geared toward selecting one person out of many to one position, not selecting multiple people to multiple jobs. In a large company, one may need to take into account thousands of preferences, as well as sequential dependencies (once a job that is Priority 1 for one person is filled, it is no longer available to others). This creates a data management and analytical problem that is simply intractable without the use of software tools.

Based on various prototypes, developed over the course of several years, Tor and his team of developers developed Organization Weaver, which is a robust system for managing the people allocation process. It imports data from ERP systems and allows the user to create new positions or “drag and drop” old positions into the new structure. It takes into account individual preferences for different positions and uses this to facilitate a staffing process to achieve an optimal allocation.

For more information see their web site:

http://www.brightarch.com/organizationweaver

I will return in about one week to discuss a tool that can be used for grouping (i.e., definition of organizational sub-units). 

From → Software tools, Staffing

No comments yet

Leave a Reply

Note: XHTML is allowed. Your email address will never be published.

Subscribe to this comment feed via RSS