Handbook for Strategic HR

CHAPTER 36

Organic Organizational (Org²) Design

Gina Hinrichs

A CORE CONCEPT for design is form follows function. An organization, like any design challenge should be designed to effectively deliver to its function (purpose). Organizational design would be a relatively straightforward task if organizations operated in isolation or if the external environment was stable. Since organizations are open systems that exist within an ever changing and increasingly complex environment, the task of organizational design is an ongoing challenge. To add to the difficulty, organizations are in the midst of moving from an industrial age to a knowledge age (Miles, Snow, Mathews, Miles, & Coleman, 1997) that disrupts existing paradigms and structures.

Despite ...