Business Plans For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 16

Shaping and Shape-Shifting Your Organization

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding why organizational structure matters

Designing an organizational structure that works

Building dynamic capabilities into your organization

Congratulations — you should be close to completing your business plan! You’ve already done the vision thing and data digging to flesh out the details of the many parts of your plan. Now you need to figure out how to organize the parts so they work together as a unified whole. If you need a little nudge, go to Chapter 1 for a refresher on why you started your plan in the first place and the Appendix for an example of a business plan.

Recognizing That Form Follows Function

Your next big step is arranging (or re-arranging) all your company’s resources to put your plan into action. If you wanted to design a house, office, or specialized facility, rather than your company, you likely would consider the words of the famed American architect Louis Sullivan:

Form follows function.

Just because structures are all meant to hold people doesn’t mean that all structures have a similar design. This is why hospitals don’t look like hotels, and hotels aren’t like prisons. ...