Practical Applications of Ingentis org.manager

My career in organizational effectiveness started in the human resources (HR) departments of various private and public sector organizations in which I worked as an interim HR practitioner. Reflecting back on what I learned most during this time, I had a good vantage point as an HR professional to observe what exactly makes an organization work effectively or less effectively than others. I worked closely with leaders and managers, delivered HR services to the organization’s people, and negotiated with trade union representatives. I adopted a commercial, business-focused mindset aligning my work as an HR professional to contribute to the organization’s success e.g. mergers and acquisitions, business transformation programmes, ERP implementation programmes, organization reorganizations and cultural change. I totally immersed myself in the beating heart of the organization or the culture of the organization. Thus I began to form a holistic overview of what makes an organization become truly effective.

There is no standard blueprint or universal view about what makes an effective organization – rather organizations tend to build their own unique solutions to achieve their purpose, mission or objectives and which may be driven by an individual or groups of individuals. Ingentis believes that an organization is truly effective when it is designed in a way that enables every individual to make a real impact. And that happens by creating an environment and structure that enable this to happen. It is crucial for an organization to be both agile and efficient at the same time! An agile organizational structure means being adaptable to changes and market disruptions while ensuring that each individual continues to contribute effectively. And efficient in optimizing the organization – whether by producing high volumes with high quality and strong profitability to fund future innovation.

In a world shaped by constant change, every phase of an organization’s lifecycle requires a balance between efficiency and agility, supported by data-driven decisions. Only those who continuously evolve remain competitive. Ingentis pursues this approach with a combination of Org Charting, Org Analytics and Org Design. Ingentis’ solutions make corporate structures visible, analyzable and actively designable – so that HR professionals, organizational development teams and managers can make informed decisions and future-proof their organizations.

Organizational effectiveness is captured by the interplay of seven basic forces described by Henry Mintzberg. Mintzberg puts five of these around the outside of a pentagon and puts two in the middle, as shown in Figure 1. Each force drives a corresponding organizational effectiveness style shown in the yellow boxes (MIT Sloan Management Review. Mintzberg. H, The Effective Organization: Forces and Forms, January 15, 1991).

So now that we have established a baseline understanding of organizational effectiveness, how does information and data fit in?

Organizational effectiveness using org.manager based on two examples: a public and private sector organization.

Case example 1: Public sector organization. Efficient use of resources-deploy skills to other areas of the organization during the pandemic, added value for the taxpayer.

Case example 2: Global company. Improve profit margins, commercial efficiencies, improves the bottom line, return to greater profit.

Tactical use of org.manager

Situation: Onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Need to make efficient use of resources and continue to provide added value for the taxpayer.

Task: Deploy/move front-line facing staff to other non-public facing roles because of social distancing.

org.manager: Use of org.manager’s simulation tool to visualize new or temporary organization structures.

• The organization initially procured org.manager to produce and visualize organization charts.
• The HR function pivoted to the simulation tool as a result of the pandemic.
• The simulation tool was used to visualize new or temporary teams created by deploying people around the organization to focus on pandemic-related priorities or to meet social distancing obligations.

Use of org.manager to facilitate org effectiveness in terms of:

Direction, Efficiency and Cooperation: the simulation tool enabled the organization to test out different team structures and associated salary costs based on ever changing directions given by the organisation and the government. Based on live data, the simulation visualized scenarios which helped leaders and managers to make quick decisions during a turbulent time. The act of deploying resources away from front line public facing roles transformed a traditionally siloed organization into a collaborative one even just for the pandemic period. The business activities of the organization needed to be integrated to ensure continuity of services provided remotely and in special teams located on site.

Proficiency: based on an understanding of public facing staff’s knowledge, skills and experience, the simulation tool enabled the organization to create agile teams ready to address the significant challenges posed by the pandemic.

Innovation: the simulation tool itself was an act of innovation lying in slumber before the pandemic. However, the pandemic created a burning platform which prompted the organization to use the simulation tool in an innovative way as part of the tactical workforce planning process.

Strategic use of org.manager in an organization redesign context.

Situation: a global organization had a strategic imperative to improve the profit & loss accounts in various countries and business units and therefore return to larger corporate profit margins.

Task: A redesign of the organization structure in various countries across the world.

org.manager: The organization used the tool to visualize the new organization charts developed from in-person workshops.

• The HR team initially used org.manager to visualize the organization structure.
• The HR team pivoted to the simulation tool as an urgent response to the demands of the organization redesign exercise.
• Data gathered during the in person workshop > Data inputted into a spreadsheet > Data visualized using org.manager > Once new structure is approved – data is migrated to SAP SuccessFactors > new structures and design criteria visualized for leaders and managers.

There was a requirement to visualize certain criteria to enable decision-making by executive leaders about whether the new design structures are fit for purpose specifically referring to:

The HR team used org.manager to enable org effectiveness in terms of:

Direction: facilitating strategic discussions about the effectiveness of the organization on a global scale.

Innovation: enabling business change by using a technological tool to set up organisation structures which promote innovation at all levels.

Efficiency, Cooperation: facilitating the cooperation of disparate leadership and management teams across the world to use the same organization design principles.

An effective organization balances its assets (people, processes, structure, technology, culture) with the internal and external forces most effectively – underlying this balance of assets and forces is information or data for decision-making purposes. Questions about the future of the organization’s direction, proficiency, innovation, concentration, and efficiency can be addressed by HR through the provision of accurate and reliable data presented visually. Using the org.manager tool can help HR gain credibility and earn a seat at the decision-making table. The tool can be used in a variety of ways. It has been used in situations where people need to be deployed across the organization to better meet the needs of the customers and in organization redesign activities to better align the company to meet an ever changing global market.