Back to How We Help Clients

Organization Design

Integrate structure, process, and people for holistic impact
Organization redesign is inevitable—half of organizations have gone through a redesign in the last two years and the other half expect to in the next two years. The benefits of a successful redesign are clear: faster growth, better decision making, and greater efficiency. But fewer than a quarter of redesign efforts actually improve performance. Small structural changes or off-the-shelf approaches for de-layering rarely result in lasting value.
Successful redesigns don’t just fix pain points, they go beyond “boxes and lines” to deliver on a holistic set of design imperatives. We assess strengths and opportunities unique to each business to design a more effective operating model by linking to strategy, ensuring accountability, enabling enterprise-wide collaboration, and addressing behavior change and other barriers holding people back. And we use tech-enabled approaches that deliver more value in up to half the time.

What we do

We approach operating model design holistically, with strategy at the center:

Create the structure to enable the strategy

Establish effective structures, governance, and roles guided by a set of design principles aligned with the strategic priorities of the business.

Build processes that unlock performance

Codify performance management goals with rigor and instill efficient decision making; ensure systems and technology enable—rather than constrain—success.

Empower people to do their best work

Support informal networks and foster a culture of continuous improvement; ensure the right talent and skills thrive within a workforce prepared for the future.

1,150+

clients served

across all industries

10-35%

efficiency gains

typically identified

10x

more likely

to succeed through holistic approach

Featured capabilities

Complementary to our expertise and knowledge, we offer analytics-powered digital solutions and realistic simulations to make redesign efforts more efficient and successful.

Decision Making Simulation: Identifies ways to improve decision making by immersing teams in a collaborative simulation to address a real business problem, supported by expert guidance

OrgLab: Unlocks hidden insights from human resources data, visualizes organization design scenarios, and empowers effective decisions as leaders adapt the operating model – structure, processes, and people – to align with business strategy

O360 Survey: Maps and benchmarks the current operating model against best practices to identify and evaluate strengths and weaknesses across levers

Organizational Health Index: Applies analytical rigor to organizational health management by offering quantitative diagnostics and proven recipes for success, enabling the factors required to sustain long-term performance

Examples of our work

Reorganizing for sales growth

For a power retailer seeking major revenue growth, a new organizational design supported by strategy transformed the sales model, eliminating non-value-added activities and strengthening top management’s role as “super coaches” to the sales team. Profits grew by 25 percent in a year.

Reducing complexity to better serve the customer

A global consumer goods manufacturer eliminated complexity in several regions and functions, halving the time required to make decisions in critical processes. This helped the company bring products to market faster in response to changing customer needs.

Remaking operations for efficiency and savings

At a global consumer goods company, a new CEO reduced the corporate center by 50 percent, redesigned key human resources and finance processes for efficiency, and consolidated fragmented supply chain functions. Savings totaled $500 million over three years.

Featured experts

Aaron De Smet
Senior Partner, New Jersey
Delivers growth, innovation, and organizational agility and is an expert on culture change, leadership development, team effectiveness,...
Gregor Jost
Partner, Vienna
Brings passion and analytical rigor to transformational organization-redesign efforts, fostering stronger business performance,...
Sarah Kleinman
Partner, Washington DC
Designs and leads large-scale performance and health transformations, particularly with government agencies, to ensure that structures,...
J.R. Maxwell
Partner, Washington DC
Guides organizations in the private, public, and social sectors as they put more effective operating models in place and transform...
Patrick Simon
Senior Partner, Munich
Advises companies across industries on a broad array of topics with a focus on organizational transformation and harmonizing a...
Dr. Kirsten Weerda
Partner, Munich
Helps clients in multiple industries pursue enterprise agility and flexible organization models; establishes breakthrough accountability...

Featured insights

Article

How COVID-19 is redefining the next-normal operating model

– With everything disrupted, going back to the same old thing is a losing strategy. The strongest companies are reinventing themselves by embracing pandemic-driven change.
Article

America 2021: Making change happen, against the odds
– To America’s leaders, innovators, and changemakers: knowing how to effect change is just as important as knowing what to change.
Article

Organizing for the future: Nine keys to becoming a future-ready company
– To better organize for a postpandemic future, leaders should embrace nine imperatives that collectively explain “who... we are” as an organization, “how we operate,” and “how we grow.”
Article

Consumer organization and operating models for the next normal
– Many consumer-goods companies and retailers have risen to the challenges presented by the pandemic. Seven core practices can help... them keep what has worked and prepare for what lies ahead.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

The helix organization
– Separating people-leadership tasks from day-to-day business leadership can help organizations strike a better balance between... centralization and decentralization, reduce complexity, and embrace agility.
Article

Bridging the gap between a company’s strategy and operating model
– Four questions can help a company translate business goals into operating-model design.
Article - McKinsey Quarterly

Getting organizational redesign right
– Companies will better integrate their people, processes, and structures by following nine golden rules.

How we Help Clients

Back to practice overview

Connect with our People & Organizational Performance Practice

Contact