Reference:Glossary of terms/Design Structure and Process
From STS Roundtable
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This glossary of Socio-technical systems terms was published by, and is copyright of, Eli Berniker, May 1983
| Introduction | Systems and Organization | The Means | The Human System | Getting Something Done | The Analysis | Design | Design Concepts | Design Structure and Process | Design Principles |
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Temporary Design Structure
Managing an effective organization design process requires the creation of a temporary organization that coordinates the decisions of internal stakeholders, a design team, organizational and technical consultants and future members of the organization. It consists of a steering committee, a design team, consultants and various technical design groups. A critical member is the future manager of the prospective organization who serves as head of the design team. It is a part-time activity for most people involved until it is "inherited" by the staff of the new organization who will implement the design.
Steering Committee
As the policy-making group, the steering committee includes high level organizational stakeholders representing functions whose cooperation is crucial for the new organization's success. This committee provides: sanction for the design process and philosophy statement; support, such as people, time, money and capital resources; and protection for innovations and departures from past practices and policies. It is informed of design progress and approves its decisions.
It is often appropriate for the steering committee to include union representatives who can contribute significantly to the success of the organization design and implementation process.
Design Team: New Organization
The group charged with designing the new organization usually consists of people expert in various facets of that organization's operations. The team chairman should be the manager of the new organization. As head of the design team, the chairman should be selected early in the process. The design team may establish technical design groups who develop design alternatives for its consideration.
As a new plant is designed, the membership of the design team shifts, replacing experts with those who will be members of the future organization. The design is "completed" and implemented by the people who will have to live with its outcomes.
Design Team: Existing Organization
For analysis in an existing organization, the redesign team may be drawn from among the organization's members using a diagonal slice through the organization to get representation from all levels and all parts of the targeted organization. It may also include union representation at the shop floor level. The redesign team is not a bargaining group but a forum for cooperative improvement of both quality of work life and organizational performance.
Transitional Organization
New organizations must get started and old ones must "grow" into newer designs. Both require transitional organizations. These must be planned to be consistent with the new design. The transitional organization is planned to reach the "steady state operation" through a series of stages using personnel available and guided by organization philosophy.
A common mistake is to desert the design philosophy and principles and revert to the old ways just to get started. Innovations rarely survive such beginnings.
