Michael Page - eBook - Adapting is Thriving | Page 6

People
Rethinking
your
organisation’s
form, function
and people
requirements
post-COVID
It’s time to select
the appropriate
model to future-proof
your organisation,
writes Saïd Business
School’s Professor
Jonathan Trevor.
It’s tempting to think of the global COVID-19 pandemic as posing an
unprecedented challenge to the form and function of enterprises –
and requiring an equally unprecedented solution.
However, while it is true that over the medium to long term, business
leaders, across sectors, will need to make a number of critical choices
around form and function, many of these were already high on the
agenda pre-coronavirus. The pandemic has simply served to accelerate
an existing need for change.
Elements to consider
The first step is to identify your enterprise’s purpose – its raison d’être as
a business. It is not ‘making a profit’. Profit is a measure of commercial
enterprises performing their purpose well. Consider what you do as an
enterprise (and what you are asking your people to do) and why anyone
should care. Purpose is an enterprise’s enduring north star, and it is
essential to communicate its value and hold fast to it in good times and
bad. Consider further how aligned your people are to your enterprise
purpose in terms of their effort, loyalty and behaviour. What can you do
to strengthen their alignment, especially in this time of remote working?
Next, ask yourself how the enterprise should go about fulfilling its
purpose. This takes the form of the enterprise’s business strategy.
Business strategy is dynamic – it should change in line with the evolving
operating environment.
With an eye to the post-pandemic marketplace, which offerings are
likely to best meet customer demand, or even lead it, while remaining
aligned to your enterprise’s purpose? In which markets? How can you
The pandemic has
simply served
to accelerate
an existing need
for change
differentiate your business from your competitors to ensure you establish
and maintain a market advantage? The answers to these questions
form your enterprise’s strategic priorities and what you are asking your
people to win at. Clarity is paramount.
The third element is to decide on the ideal form of your enterprise
– how to organise it. Unhelpfully, academics provide leaders
with a binary choice: the well-established hierarchy or the newer and
exciting-sounding network.
Hierarchies and networks are polar opposites and good at different
things, by design: where the hierarchy is formal, the network is informal;
where the hierarchy is vertically aligned and seniority-based, the network
is horizontally aligned and flat; where the hierarchy is impersonal (in terms
of the treatment of staff and customers), the network is highly personal;
where the hierarchy relies upon rules, the network relies upon values
to align staff behind its purpose, and where the hierarchy centralises
authority at the top, the network disperses it evenly.
The hierarchy provides us with a robust means of establishing control,
and all things being equal, enables predictable implementation of
rationally determined plans. The network enables us to tap into the
wisdom and creativity of the crowd and provides the flexibility to adapt
to changing circumstances. The network is de rigueur for sure, but the
hierarchy has been experiencing a second lease of life during lockdown,
as business leaders batten down the hatches.
How you organise your enterprise to enable it to deliver its business
strategy defines what you will need from your people. The focus should
be on attracting, retaining and developing only those talented individuals
who best fit the distinctive people requirements of your organisation.
Bespoke ‘architecture’
In truth, both hierarchies and networks will always be required. The
challenge for leaders is to segment their enterprises into their various parts
and choose the appropriate organisational model (and the thousands of
possible iterations of either the hierarchy or the network) that fits best.
Nuance, and not one-size-fits-all, is the order of the day for enterprise
architecture, both to survive the global pandemic and to thrive in future.
Professor Jonathan Trevor is an associate professor of management
practice at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and a
leading expert on strategy and organisation.