ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN
“ Organizational design is particularly important to municipalities since it has a direct impact on the quality of services they offer. And it is the quality of service that determines what people think of their municipal government.”
Size doesn’ t matter Most agreed that the approach to organizational design doesn’ t really vary whether it is the design of all or part of the municipality( other than to accommodate differences in scale and complexity).
If the municipality is only looking at part of the organization, it was felt to be important that the final design align with the overall corporate design. It was also recognized that council might be less engaged and / or interested in the design of part of the organization.
There is no one right approach to design The feedback suggests that there is no standard or commonly accepted approach to the design of municipal organizations.
It was also suggested that there is no single design applicable to every public sector organization and that the context surrounding each organization will determine which design makes the most sense. If this is true, it means that there should be much greater emphasis on the environmental analysis that is typically conducted as part of an organization review.
Even though there may not be a standard approach to organizational design, the feedback suggested several elements that could be considered and potentially included:
• Look at the organization from a“ customer” perspective;
• Understand the operating context through an environmental analysis as noted above;
• Make sure that there is a detailed understanding of the current organization; in particular, how existing services are delivered, roles and responsibilities and perceived issues, gaps and / or opportunities; and
• Conclude on when to consider existing staff in the development and / or assessment of organizational options
This last point, when to consider existing staff, is always contentious. Purists would argue that a design should be driven by strategy and not compromised by personnel considerations, at least at the options stage. The pragmatists would argue that you can’ t just change all existing personnel so you should consider them right up front. Based on experience, both positions are correct – to a degree. The development and evaluation of options should be driven by the organizational strategy and other key design principles, not by considerations of existing personnel. However, once the preferred design has been determined, it then needs to be populated with existing staff and the design potentially adjusted as part of implementation to reflect individual skills and competencies.
There are a number of organizational design principles that could be considered Given that organization design principles are used to help develop and evaluate organizational options, the feedback suggested a number of potential principles:
• Alignment with the overall strategic / corporate direction;
• Enhance or enable improved customer service( residents, clients and businesses);
• Create single points of accountability;
• Balance the scale and scope( of direct reports); and
• Ensure cost efficiency
Other principles that were suggested included“ organizational flexibility” and“ understandability.”
It was also noted that the organization should be clear upfront about the givens or key assumptions that will guide and shape the design effort.
There are commonalities in the thinking around organizational models Given the similarities in the services provided by municipalities, there was not a lot of variability or, as some would say, innovation, in the organizational models that are used.
For the most part, many of those interviewed suggested that a“ functional design” was either most common or most appropriate given the range of services offered by a municipality.
There were some common“ clusters” of services identified – community services, operations or public works, planning and development, corporate services and, where applicable, social / health services. However, some were quick to note that there is not one model that works for all and that the actual design depends on local circumstances, environmental conditions and, potentially, existing staff, as noted earlier.
There are often primary and secondary drivers of design. For example, the overall design of a municipality can be based on functions while the next level down can be based on a different design variable such as geography, customer need or service offering.
The size of the municipality was also identified as an important variable. It was observed that the larger the municipality, the greater the tendency to consolidate services at the most senior level with much broader spans of control and areas of responsibility.
Culture and leadership are important to success Culture and leadership were seen to be critical in the design and the overall success of an organization.
NOMADFRA / SHUTTERSTOCK
MUNICIPAL MONITOR 23