More and more companies are struggling to transform their organization into a more lean and agile form. While doing this many companies fail to realize and recognize some fundamental aspects. One of the fundamental aspects is the purpose of the organization (refer to the purpose of why Toyota exists), yet another important aspect is the company’s view of their customer(s).
Those two aspects together (the purpose of the organization and customer focus) is laying the foundation of how a company chooses to organize its organization in order to meet the customers . With the illustration below in mind, I think we would need to consider and ask ourselves a couple of things:
- How well does your company truly understand what really matters to your customer(s)?
- What level of customer focus does your organization (really) have?
- Are the workers working for management, or is management working for the workers in the company?
- Is management using the organization to reach the company’s goals, or is management supporting the organization (and it’s workers) in achieving its goals?
Hello Sasa,
As a consultant I often run into the traditional organizational structure and I have to work with the client in changing the mindset of management to where they empower and support the employees to a greater extent than today.
I think that your article, and especially drawing the different organizational structures, can be of use when discussing this subject with the customer.
Best regards,
Martin