Designing Organizations: Strategy, Structure, and Process at the Business Unit and Enterprise Levels, 3rd Edition | Jay R. Galbraith

This Third Edition of the groundbreaking book Designing Organizations offers a guide to the process of creating and managing an organization (no matter how complex) that will be positioned to respond effectively and rapidly to customer demands and have the ability to achieve unique competitive advantage. This latest edition includes fresh illustrative examples and references, while the foundation of the book remains the author’s popular and widely used Star Model.

• Includes a comprehensive explanation of the basics of organization design
• Outlines a strategic approach to design that is based on the Star Model, a holistic framework for combining strategy, structure, processes, rewards, and people
• Describes the different types of single-business, functional organizations and focuses on the functional structure and the cross-functional lateral processes that characterize most single-business organizations.
• Features a special section on the effects of big data on organization design, and whether or not it will result in a new dimension of organizational structure

Highlighting the social technologies used to coordinate work flows, products, and services across the company, this new edition of Designing Organizations brings theory to life with a wealth of examples from such well-known companies as Disney, Nike, IBM, and Rovio (Angry Birds) to show how various kinds of organization designs operate differently.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book would be excellent for executives and managers..." (Quality Progress, August 2002)

From the Inside Flap

THIS THIRD EDITION of the groundbreaking book Designing Organizations offers a guide to the process of creating and managing an organization (no matter how complex) that will be positioned to respond effectively and rapidly to customer demands and have the ability to achieve unique competitive advantage. This latest edition includes fresh illustrative examples and references, while the foundation of the book remains the author’s popular and widely used Star Model.

Designing Organizations includes a comprehensive explanation of the basics of organization design and outlines a strategic approach to design that is based on the Star Model, a holistic framework for combining strategy, structure, processes, rewards, and people. The book describes the different types of single-business, functional organizations and focuses on the functional structure and the cross-functional lateral processes that characterize most single-business organizations. This new edition highlights the social technologies used to coordinate work flows, products, and services across the company. The author discusses the network organization and reviews the variations of enterprise strategies and their corresponding organizations. He covers classic portfolio strategy and the continuum spanning from related portfolios to unrelated or conglomerate portfolios, with examples of companies following those strategies. The book also includes a special section on the effects of big data on organization design, and whether or not it will result in a new dimension of organizational structure.

Throughout the book, Jay Galbraith brings theory to life with a wealth of examples from such well-known companies as Disney, Nike, IBM, and Rovio (Angry Birds) to show how various kinds of organization designs operate differently.

From the Back Cover

Praise for DESIGNING ORGANIZATIONS

“Jay Galbraith is the preeminent thought leader in the design and implementation of the organizations necessary to compete at the edge in complex business environments. In Designing Organizations, his many decades of insight and experience are synthesized into a navigation tool of high value to the C-suite.”
—Vincent Roche, president and chief executive officer, Analog Devices Inc.

“At a time when organizations across the globe are evaluating how best to address a fast-changing world, Jay’s experience and insights will provide sure-footed guidance. His fresh look at organizational adaptation provides great counsel to leaders in uncertain times.”
—George S. Barrett, chairman and CEO, Cardinal Health

“Jay Galbraith is without a doubt the world’s leading expert on organization design. His Designing Organizations represents profound and up-to-the-minute advice on grappling with the organizational challenges facing today’s managers as they struggle to achieve and maintain competitive advantage. We heartily recommend the book to practitioners and scholars alike.”
—Danny Miller, chair in strategy and family business, HEC Montreal and University of Alberta, and Isabelle Le Breton-Miller, chair in succession and family enterprise, HEC Montreal; senior research fellow, University of Alberta

“Jay’s ideas have been very helpful in stimulating my thinking and getting me to examine simple and complex structures that enhance culture and behavior.”
—Al Grasso, CEO, The MITRE Corporation

“With its decidedly strategic perspective, the third edition of Jay Galbraith’s Designing Organizations is an outstanding resource for students of organization as well as executives facing complex organizational challenges. The book provides a systematic approach to designing organizations, in which Galbraith builds on his own past work and updates it to address today’s rapidly changing organizational environments. Galbraith combines powerful understanding of organizational theory with decades of practical experience to provide a framework for organizational design that can truly help executives reach their strategic goals.”
—Judith Blumenthal, professor of clinical management and organization, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California

About the Author

JAY R. GALBRAITH is president and founder of Galbraith Management Consultants, an international consulting firm that specializes in solving strategy and organizational design challenges across corporate, business unit, and international levels. He is also an affiliated research scientist at the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California and professor emeritus at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.