April 4, 2010

Does your Organization Structure Serve the Customer?

How many levels in your organization separate the executives from the customer? Too many I suspect.

BE DiFFERENT organizations have a specific objective to minimize the number of layers between those that serve customers and those that are in leadership positions.

Amazing things happen when these structural filters are removed:

- leadership is better informed about market - both customers and competitors- behavior since communication lines are more direct and fewer numbers of managers are in a position to filter any market news that could be helpful in executing the organization’s strategy.
- the frontline gets heard in terms of the barriers to their performance; leaders have a better chance to cleanse the internal environment and make it easier for customer serving employees to do a better job.
- managers in the organization are forced to actually DO MORE than manage. A flatter structure requires managers to perform tasks rather than delegate.
- response times to customer problems improve as leaders are made aware of problems in a timely manner.
- the organization’s customer learning abilities improve as information within the organization flows more freely.
- decisions are made faster as leaders are informed of performance levels in real time mode.
- operating expenses are reduced without impacting the customer.
- the ability to respond to unanticipated events in the environment is dramatically improved. Feedback on events happens quicker; reaction time shortens.

Organization structure is the vehicle to allocate resources to execute a Strategic Game Plan. It will encumber Plan execution if it is too vertical and bureaucratic; it will facilitate it if it is flat.

Structures don’t serve management; they should serve the customer. Does yours?

Cheers,
Roy Osing

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Leadership | Permalink
Posted 4.4.10 at 08:00 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (0) | Leave a Comment