Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Leading Change: A Third Edition

ORGANIZATION DESIGN PRINCIPLES

All good organization design follows a set of core principles. Those that provide the broadest guidance are summarized below:

• Alignment. The idea of alignment is fundamental. Each component of the organization should work to support the strategy. The more that the structure, processes, rewards, and people practices reinforce the desired actions and behaviors, the better positioned the organization is to achieve its goals.

• Reconfigurability. Just as important as initial alignment is the ability to realign as circumstances change. An organization’s internal rate of change has to match the rate of change in its external environment. But the larger the organization, the harder it is to change. Leaders’ first ...