Galbraith Management Consultants
303 S Broadway Suite 200-403 Denver, Colorado 80209
Telephone: +1.970.389.4107

Designing Dynamic Organizations: A Hands-On Guide for Leaders at All Levels

Designing Dynamic Organizations emerged from frequent requests by middle and senior managers for a workbook – with tools – to help them design their organizations.

This book was written for those who lead an organization and want to be sure that it is aligned to achieve their business strategy.

This book will help you to:

  • Make choices about which organizational forms will best support your business strategy.
  • Understand the trade-offs and impact of each design decision.
  • Introduce flexibility and continuous change without losing the clarity that employees need to function effectively.

The book draws on the extensive consulting experience of Jay Galbraith with his clients around the world, as well as the in-depth work that Diane Downey and Amy Kates have conducted with their clients in organization assessment, design and implementation. The book is written from a practical, consulting-based approach and provides several tools and exercises to aid the manager in assessing options and making design decisions. It was developed to complement the comprehensive theories discussed in Jay Galbraith’s book, Designing Organizations.

“Designing Dynamic Organizations is a veritable survival guide for organizations coping with the demands of uncertain and volatile markets that force businesses to quickly adapt their work processes and structures, and leverage human capital. The authors translate rigorous theories and models into practical step-by-step approaches that can be quickly absorbed and utilized by teams at all levels of the organization.”
— Nancy Bologna, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Best Buy Company, Inc.

“This book offers a comprehensive and easy-to-use approach for creating high-impact organizations in uncertain times. The authors have successfully taken the complexity out of designing complex organizations.”
— Dennis Shiel, Vice President, Human Resources, MetLife

“Galbraith, Downey and Kates have done something delightfully different from the typical treatise on organization design. this book is all about practical tools and instruments, options, and how-to’s. A real find for today’s business practitioner.”
— Reihnart Helmke, Executive Director, UN Office for Project Services.

Getting Started
Organization Design
The Reconfigurable Organization
Deciding When to Redesign
The Design Process
The Case for a Participative Process
2. Determining the Design Framework
Translating the Strategy Into Design Criteria
Clarifying Limits and Assumptions
Assessing the Current State
3. Designing the Structure
Structural Concepts
Organizational Roles
Leadership Roles
Testing the Design
Using a Participative Process: Mapping the Structure
Design and Implementation Governance: Working Through the Details
4. Processes and Lateral Capability
Lateral Capability
Networks
Lateral Processes
Teams
Integrative Roles
Matrix Structures
Building Lateral Capability
5. Defining and Rewarding Success
Metrics
Values and Behaviors
Compensation
Rewards and Recognition
6. People Practices
Staffing the New Organization
Assessing for Learning Aptitude
Performance Feedback
From Training to Learning
7. Implementation
Planning
Managing Skepticism
Assimilating Into the Organization

Contact Galbraith Management Consultants

303 S Broadway Suite 200-403
Denver, Colorado 80209

Telephone: +1.970.389.4107