- What is Organisation Design?
- Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework
- Consistency and Intentional Design. Building the Organisation of the Future.
- Building the Intentional Organisation
- Business Models: the theory and practice
- Strategy Frameworks: The Theory and the Practice
- Organisation Models: a Reasoned List between Old and New
- Operating Models: the theory and the practice.
- Leadership Models: The Theory and the Practice
- Purpose: The Theory and the Practice
- Corporate Culture: The Theory and the Practice
- Organisation Ecosystem: The Theory and the Practice
I have dedicated a lot of time over the past month to research current theories and models of Organisation Design and its building blocks. But I needed to have a “Map” that could condense the entire view into a single visual. So I’m happy to present the first release of what I have called “Organisation Evolution Framework“.
Evolution because I think that all the “building blocks” of this framework are in dynamic relationship with each other. Framework because all these elements are similar to a Canvas, where Intentional Design needs to happen.
I’m happy to announce that the Framework is now in its Version 2, thanks to all the feedback generated. It’s mostly minor tweaks and corrections, plus the fact that the tool is now embedded also in the concept of the Intentional Organisation that I am developing.
I tried to keep this visual as simple as possible, with the primary objective to collect feedback on it and on its components.
The Organisation Evolution Framework Components
We have already encountered the building blocks of this visual, and I have dedicated (or am in the process of doing so) at least one post to each item. But I also wanted to start showing the working definitions of each component in a slideshow format.
For each element, you will find a tentative definition as well as the identification of what I have called “Critical Element“. In my view, each of the Building Blocks delivers many elements that are critical for the organisation existence and prosperity, but there is one that is more important than the others in guaranteeing the effectiveness of the organisation construct.
The dynamism of the framework.
Whenever you work with a visual, the risk is that you give the idea of a static reality. As I’ve underlined multiple times in the different detailed posts, the reality is that Organisations are dynamic organisms. Thus, all these building blocks live in a dynamic relationship with each other. This is the reason why I have used circles and rounded figures, to stress the fact that there is not a hierarchy between the elements. And I have used circular arrow clipart in the centre to stress the dynamic role of Leadership in having all the components “evolve”.
In a separate post, I have tried to explain how these elements interact together in the context of Digital Transformation, which I consider truly being the major evolution for our organisations today.
I have now further expanded this concept in the long article Building the Intentional Organisation where I explain a few of the features of the relationship between the components.
The detailed analysis of the components.
I have already written several posts that cover some of the components. As soon as the feedback of this model becomes consistent, I will create some more consistency across the different posts. And possibly create a short eBook which collects the various elements. Two areas are notably absent from the list below: Purpose (although I have written about this topic before) and Ecosystems. I will cover these topics in the coming month.
Business Model:
the theory and practice
A review of recent and old theories about Business Models, and what their impact is on Innovation.
Strategy Frameworks: The Theory and the Practice
A review of old and recent models for definition of Strategy, seen in the context of the establishment of priorities.
Operating Models: the theory and the practice
A review of Operating Models frameworks and tools, both from academia and from consulting. With a reference to the concept of Enterprise Architecture.
Organisation Models:
a Reasoned List between Old and New
A reasoned list of old and new organisation models, with a particular focus on Human-Centric ones.
Leadership Models:
The Theory and The Practice
A long list with 120+ theoretical and application models on Leadership.
Purpose: The Theory and the Practice
A review of the definition of Purpose through management literature, and its importance as the cornerstone for design.
Corporate Culture: The Theory and the Practice
A review of the most important definitions of Organisational Cultures, and the most widespread approaches and toolkit on the subject.
Ecosystem
Coming Soon
There are also a few other posts that relate to the Design of the Organisation model (I already wrote about the concept of Intentional Design), and about Execution within the model. Here are the most important ones. Again, I will try to harmonize the articles over time.
Building the Intentional Organisation
A work-in-progress article about the concept of Intentional Organisation. This is not a new model, but rather an approach to build dedicated, consistent and innovative organisations.
Consistency and intentional Design
A post about Consistency in the organisation, and how this should be a primary driver in building organisation, through Intentional Design
Design Thinking for HR
A high-level guideline on the importance of Design Thinking for HR Professionals.
Operational Governance
Governance is a key attribute for a successful design, as it bridges Strategy and Execution.
How to Develop a Creative Culture
Based on the experience and suggestions of Pixar, this article explores how we can support the development of a Creative Culture.
Your precious feedback on the Organisation Evolution Framework.
As I am still figuring out how this visual framework can really support the overall understanding of an organisation, I would truly welcome your feedback on it. Please feel free to use the Comment Section below, or post your feedback on Linkedin or Medium.
Thank you for your support!
Cover Photo based on iMac Pro Mockup by Anthony Boyd.
Thanks for your post! I like the simplicity of the visual framework. I have three remarks:
1) why are purpose and culture not connected to Leadership?
2) where is the talent of the organisation?
3) what about the organisation stakeholders? Does ecosystem cover them all?
Probably some of these comments are more linked to the visual than to the concept, but thanks a lot for your synthetic approach.
Hi John,
Thanks a lot for your (quick) reply. Coming to your point:
1) Currently, it’s purely a graphical issue, I’ve tried to connect everything, but it became messy, and I wanted to keep a clean style. But will probably review this further.
2) Talent is everywhere… in the sense that people are a key component of each building blocks. Because all of these blocks are formal elements, I did not want to represent people outside of each.
3) I mentioned that I need to detail more the concept of Ecosystems, and will cover Stakeholder there. Let’s see if it is sastisfactory.
Thanks again for the valid comments!
Nice and illustrative. The key elements that I see missing are the broader Capabilities that the organisation needs to develop, and the network of relationship with stakeholders (I doubt that Ecosystem can cover them all).
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
I would suggest some changes to current “Ecosystem Definition: The system of external relationships that the organisations lives in.” as we are now living in the era of digital business ecosystems where boundaries are not so clearly defined and where sometime we are competing and sometimes we are in co-opetition and we are using often common platforms where we could be providing addditional capabilities as one of the strategic partners to that ecosystem.
As one of the examples, have a look at https://inform.tmforum.org/insights/2018/09/minimumviable-ecosystem-mve-key-milestone-initial-problem-scalable-solution/
Mark Stilton’s definition in his book on digital ecosystems is “Digital ecosystem Definition: a connected convergence of technologies in a market and business activity that enable new consumer, business, and market performance and user experience.” however it’s much more narrower than a general definition of an ecosystem.
But I agree with you that sustainability is the critical element as without it the ecosystem will collapse (like our humanity that caused climate change and is engaged in unsustainable use of Earth resources).
Thank you for sharing with us your ideas 🙂
Thanks a lot Aleksander. I am currently exploring more the concept of “Ecosystem”, and will come back with more content soon, that will help fine tune the definition.
Thanks for the hint, highly appreciated.
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] Introducing the Organisation Evolution Framework […]
[…] I’ve created a framework of reference of the critical components of an organisation system that can be accessed under my Organisation Design Framework blog post: https://sergiocaredda.eu/organisation/organisation-design/introducing-the-organisation-evolution-fra… ↩︎ […]