Sometimes within the course of a company's lifespan, it becomes necessary to implement a new organizational structure. This may be due to any number of factors, including company growth, a change in management or a merger or acquisition. To change to a new structure, you will want to carefully evaluate the options against your company's needs and goals, ensure that you have capable people in key positions, and clearly communicate the intent and details of the change to employees and, if necessary, clients.
You will want to carefully consider the strengths, weaknesses and goals of your company before you implement a new organizational structure. Ask yourself how the change will alter each area of the company. You will need to consider not only daily operations, but also human resources changes and new technology requirements.
If the new organizational structure will eliminate positions, you have additional factors to consider. You will need to consider how you will go about telling the particular employees that they do not have jobs and decide how you will manage the transitions. This includes both providing severance packages for displaced employees and also shifting work to others. If you must eliminate highly visible positions, or are required to replace the people in those positions with other employees, you should also consider how the change could affect your clients' perceptions of the company and form a plan to counteract as much negative impact as possible. In all cases, you will need to be prepared to manage employee morale.
In many cases, the success of a new organizational structure rests upon the ability of key personnel to manage the change and to manage their employees. In a large organization, this will include C-level executives as well as vice presidents and departmental directors. In smaller organizations, this includes high level managers. In either case, you will want to ensure that key positions are filled by strong leaders who understand the changes about to take place and are prepared to support the new structure.
Perhaps the most important part of implementing a new organizational structure is communication. You will need to determine what level of knowledge each employee requires and ensure that it is clearly provided. For example, high-level managers may need to know more about the reasons and goals behind the change than lower-level employees. Each employee, however, should be provided with adequate information to perform his job. Clear communication can also reduce the negative effects change often has on employee morale.
