Case Study The organization design of the Valves and Controls business unit of Tyco Flow Control had outlived its time. The company decided to focus its attention on its core customer groups and to organize by the key industry segments that purchased its products, such as the oil and gas, mining, and water and chemical industries. The challenge was to develop an integrated global organization that could work together across significant geographic boundaries rather than relying on a distant headquarters organization to make all decisions. With 8,000 employees in more than 300 global locations, this was no small feat. A core team was identified (including HR, OD, strategy and line leadership) to manage the organization design process, and a broader expanded team was created to make design decisions. The expanded team's members represented a diverse group of skills and backgrounds as well as layers across the hierarchy. This decision to include broad involvement in the design was intended to role model what was expected out of the organization in the end, namely the ability to work in a collaborative and matrixed environment. The expanded team made several early foundational design decisions and decided to increase involvement even more. In a 3-day organization design workshop, 75 employees debated design alternatives and models. They discussed sensitive subjects of authority, power, and control while avoiding moving forward with decisions that might be politically attractive but wrong for the company. New leaders were identified of the new units, and the units were staffed through an open process over the following months that matched employees to the skill needs of the roles rather than the leaders' personal preferences or friendships. Six months into the new design, leaders came together to share problems and challenges with the actual versus the imagined design. This allowed leaders to work out problems of power and governance between regional and global roles and to assess and adjust the design as appropriate. Several significant results were achieved in the 3 years since the initial design discussions took place. An important customer who had wanted a global contract for 5 years (but had never been able to get Tyco to accommodate them) finally was able to negotiate a global agreement. A global product roadmap was created. The new global manufacturing operations saw increased efficiencies in facilities usage. Perhaps the most lasting impact was the development of the leaders who participated in the design work. Through a collaborative process, leaders were involved in changes that affected them as they learned how to engage in the process of strategic redesign (Rice & Nash, 2011). Questions What are some of the special challenges in large-scale changes like this one? What practices made this organization design project a success?
Case Study The organization design of the Valves and Controls business unit of Tyco Flow Control had outlived its time. The company decided to focus its attention on its core customer groups and to organize by the key industry segments that purchased its products, such as the oil and gas, mining, and water and chemical industries. The challenge was to develop an integrated global organization that could work together across significant geographic boundaries rather than relying on a distant headquarters organization to make all decisions. With 8,000 employees in more than 300 global locations, this was no small feat. A core team was identified (including HR, OD, strategy and line leadership) to manage the organization design process, and a broader expanded team was created to make design decisions. The expanded team's members represented a diverse group of skills and backgrounds as well as layers across the hierarchy. This decision to include broad involvement in the design was intended to role model what was expected out of the organization in the end, namely the ability to work in a collaborative and matrixed environment. The expanded team made several early foundational design decisions and decided to increase involvement even more. In a 3-day organization design workshop, 75 employees debated design alternatives and models. They discussed sensitive subjects of authority, power, and control while avoiding moving forward with decisions that might be politically attractive but wrong for the company. New leaders were identified of the new units, and the units were staffed through an open process over the following months that matched employees to the skill needs of the roles rather than the leaders' personal preferences or friendships. Six months into the new design, leaders came together to share problems and challenges with the actual versus the imagined design. This allowed leaders to work out problems of power and governance between regional and global roles and to assess and adjust the design as appropriate. Several significant results were achieved in the 3 years since the initial design discussions took place. An important customer who had wanted a global contract for 5 years (but had never been able to get Tyco to accommodate them) finally was able to negotiate a global agreement. A global product roadmap was created. The new global manufacturing operations saw increased efficiencies in facilities usage. Perhaps the most lasting impact was the development of the leaders who participated in the design work. Through a collaborative process, leaders were involved in changes that affected them as they learned how to engage in the process of strategic redesign (Rice & Nash, 2011). Questions What are some of the special challenges in large-scale changes like this one? What practices made this organization design project a success?
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