Competing by Design: The Power of Organizational Architecture
Product Description
Gives you the essential blueprint for designing an effective, competitive organization and clearly shows how organizational capabilities represent the last sustainable source of competitive advantage. DLC: Organizational effectiveness. Amazon.com Review
The search for competitive advantage, write management consultants and educators David Nadler and Michael Tushman, is “the defining goal of modern-day business.” Competing by Design: The Power of Organizational Architecture, is their guide to reaching that goal through total integration of corporate structure, workplace culture, and employee motivation. Bringing all such processes together into one unified organization, they contend, is as important to a company’s future as the architectural unity of the building that houses it…. More >>
Competing by Design: The Power of Organizational Architecture
This book is fine if you are interested in a purely academic approach. This offers nothing for practitioners.
Rating: 1 / 5
This is a good book for both practitioners and academics. Full coverage of many topics.
Rating: 5 / 5
A great book providing a broad overview of the various organization design factors and techniques. These techniques are also embellished with good examples; in fact each chapter begins with an example. Many ideas and theories in org design (such as HPWS, Jay Galbraith’s theories, BPR etc) are covered. The authors also give equal if not higher credence to the organization culture, the soft underbelly of organizational design. Several examples of theirs illustrate how even the most well planned designs go completely awry when cultural fit is not taken into consideration in the redesign.
The authors have put their heart and soul into this book and it shows. I own this book and keep referring to it once in a while. The only reason to drop one star is because I would have wished for a little more visuals. It gets pretty dry, especially towards the end.
Rating: 4 / 5
This is a very good start for Org Design consultants. The book correct addresses the key principles in designing an organization (Chap. 3) and explores the key issues that affect the key crucial design issues (Chap. 4). Don’t wait for a “how to” book, this is much more a “what” one.
Rating: 4 / 5
Competing by design is a great source for for anybody who thinks about organizational design. After having read it, you will never consider “cocktail-napkin” designs again, and you will recognize when you see a design created that way. The book doesn’t only explain the basic elements of design, but also the do’s and dont’s of a design project. The structure of the book is very well-conceived, and the level of detail is just right: Focus on the important steps, best practices and lessons, with enough backup examples, and without boring repetitions or lenghthy explanations. I’m not sure you will sleep better after having read the book, as the size of the design project becomes clear, but you will certainly have the tools to make the process a successful one.
Rating: 5 / 5