Jay Galbraith Ed Lawler Robert Simons David Nadler Rosabeth Moss Kanter Other academics Academic themes Industry themes Delivery approaches Why change?
OD guide
Robert Simons
Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and researches and writes in the three areas of OD, performance measurement and risk management.
Philosophy on OD
He is convinced that the role of OD is the most important determinant of the success of the business strategy of any large organisation and believes it is a critical mistake to leave OD to just evolve rather than consciously plan and design for it.
Important OD publications
Levers of Organisation Design: How Managers Use Accountability Systems for Greater Performance and Commitment 2005
Presents a design theory based on four key inputs to effective OD: customer definition, critical performance variables, creative tension and commitment to vision. There is a step by step process leaders can follow to create organisational structures and discussion of how to manoeuvre four “levers” to support the chosen structure. The four levers are continuums of unit structure, control systems, interaction levels and shared responsibilities. Different employee behaviour results depending on where an organisation sets the level of each of these levers.