The Basics Of Organisational Modelling

Working in an increasingly dynamic environment involves continuous modification of roles, work goals and processes in order to meet the operating conditions and changing requirements of the business. Having a model that integrates the organisational structure, goals, behaviour, and components (both strategic and operational) of the business is beneficial in tackling day-to-day challenges.

Organizational modelling is a technique for describing the roles and reporting structure within a business and ensuring that the structure supports the goals of the business. Organizational models or charts are usually designed by grouping people with a common set of objectives. An organisational model illustrates:

·      The employees that fall within a group

·      The relationship between members of a group

·      The role of each person in a group

Organizational models may be developed by adopting any of the following approaches:

Functional Model: With this approach, employees are grouped based on their shared skills, processes and expertise. Though this model encourages standardization of work and processes, it can quickly lead to the development of silos within the business.

Market Model: This organizational structuring may be based on customer groups, geographical areas, processes or some other mode of organization. It is designed to meet the needs of customers but may not follow any consistent structure in terms of how work is performed.

Matrix Model: With this arrangement, there is a separate supervisor for each functional area as well as each product, service or geographical location. It is a hybrid of the functional and market-based organizational model.

Though organizational models are often criticized for the workload needed to keep them up-to-date and their inability to spot informal lines of authority, they help provide a comprehensive overview of the business for effective planning, restructuring and organization.