Organisational design and change management

Organisational design and change management in Nigeria

Most restructurings change the organisation chart and little else. People keep working the old way because the roles, decision rights, measures and habits that shaped their behaviour have not changed with it. Carthena Advisory designs organisations around the strategy they must deliver, then manages the change so that the new design becomes how the organisation actually works.

Organisational design

We design structures that fit the strategy: how the organisation is divided, where decisions are made, how many layers it needs, how work flows between units and what each role is accountable for. Every design is tested against the workload, the cost and the capabilities available, so it can be staffed and run.

Operating model design

The operating model defines how the organisation delivers its strategy day to day: its processes, governance, technology, locations and partners. We design operating models for growing businesses, groups bringing subsidiaries together, and organisations adjusting to new markets or regulation, and set out the steps from the current model to the new one.

Roles, accountabilities and decision rights

Confusion over who decides is one of the most common causes of slow organisations. We define each role's purpose, accountabilities and decision rights, the committees that should exist and the ones that should not, and the measures each role is held to.

Change management

A design only delivers value when people adopt it. Our change programmes cover four areas: building awareness of why the change is needed, communicating with every level of staff through the channels they use, anticipating and managing resistance, and supporting managers through implementation. We worked this way with a leading financial services provider through a transformation spanning performance management, process reengineering and culture, as set out in our published case study.

Values, purpose and culture

Culture changes when behaviour changes, and behaviour changes when people understand and believe in what the organisation is for. We help leadership teams articulate purpose and values from the organisation's own experience, rather than imposing them, and turn them into behaviours, measures and communication that staff recognise.

Groups, mergers and integration

Organisations formed by acquisition, or groups bringing subsidiaries under one structure, face two designs at once: the structure of the whole, and how the parts work together. We design group structures, shared services and integration plans that remove duplication without losing what made each part valuable. Where the change follows a transaction, the work runs alongside our M&A practice.

Signs the organisation needs redesign

• Decisions are slow because too many people must agree.
• Managers spend their time on work their teams should do.
• Growth has added layers and costs faster than revenue.
• A new strategy is being run through the old structure.
• Staff describe priorities differently from leadership.

People and capability

New structures need people with the right capabilities in the right roles. We help organisations assess the capabilities their design requires, plan transitions into new roles, and make selection decisions on evidence, supported where needed by Carthena Talent Screening.

How an engagement runs

1. Diagnose. Strategy, structure, workload, culture and capability, through data and interviews.
2. Design. Structure, operating model, roles and decision rights, tested with leadership.
3. Plan the change. Communication, resistance management, transition and timing.
4. Implement. Support for leaders and managers through the transition, with measures of adoption.

Why Carthena

Carthena Advisory has completed more than 70 projects in 12 sectors. Our organisational work is built on our Strategic Synergy Integration approach, which tests whether an organisation's beliefs, its structures and its people's capabilities support the strategy it has chosen, and treats a misfit between them as the cause of most failed change.