| A distinction with a difference |
| McKinsey Classics | December 2018 |
 |
| Taming organizational complexity |
| Executives at a multinational consumer-goods manufacturer recognized that it was bedeviled by complexity: rapid growth in one of the company’s regions demanded significant attention and made it hard for the senior team to manage effectively, there or in other geographies. Yet for most of the company’s people, this institutional complexity hardly mattered. They struggled instead with individual complexity: many, for example, disliked how long it took for decisions to filter down to the front line and the amount of work required to implement them. Overlapping and unclear roles exacerbated the problems. Most employees spent too much time struggling with internal processes and not enough understanding and fulfilling the needs of customers. |
| Few top teams really understand how individual complexity affects their own companies. Many executives, like those at the consumer-goods manufacturer, focus on complexity’s institutional manifestations, which they themselves experience. Relatively few consider the forms of individual complexity facing the vast majority of their employees. Once senior executives recognize this distinction, they can start to make their organizations more productive by eliminating bureaucratic folderol and channeling whatever complexity remains to employees who can handle it naturally or learn to cope with it. Read our 2010 classic “Putting organizational complexity in its place.” |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Did you miss our previous McKinsey Classics? |
|
| Why manufacturing matters |
| Competition pushes advanced nations toward higher-skill activities, so to ensure a sufficient supply of suitable employees, governments must improve public education. Read “Manufacturing the future: The next era of global growth and innovation.” |
| Find the way forward → |
|
|
|
| McKinsey Insights - Get our latest thinking on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. |
|
|
|
|
| Copyright © 2018 | McKinsey & Company, 55 East 52nd Street, New York, New York 10022 |
|
|
|
|
