Have you taken a good look at your company’s organizational structure lately? What’s changed? Not a thing? How is that possible?
It is amazing that the hierarchical organizational structures of the past remain intact today, even as the people and the functions they represent continue to change and evolve. New technologies boast full integration of data. Yet in many companies today, there is no cross-functional organizational structure to support such technologies. Hierarchical structures are reliable, but they are also rigid and restrictive.
A More Fluid Structure
To be effective and responsive in the new world of work, an organization’s structure must blend roles and responsibilities across such functions as human resources, procurement, legal, finance and other key departments. This is already beginning to happen. Some companies have created an Enterprise Support Services Department that blends technology support, facilities and other administrative support services under a single entity.
In more contemporary organizational structures, new concepts support a blending of skills and expertise in the following areas:
- Workforce Services. Supports a transition to a total talent management concept.
- Business Intelligence (BI) Services. Supports a transition to blend data analytics, business and financial decision-making.
- Innovation Services. Supports a transition to blend technology, product development and legal.
