Organisational Design and Analysis - Models comparison
Organisational Design and Analysis - Models comparison
There are many ways to analyse and design an organization. Among the famous models created in the last few decades we can mention the Porter’s Value Chain Analysis, the McKinsey 7s Framework, Galbraith’s Star Method and the Mintzberg Organisational Configurations. These models attempt to represent the companies as systems, with different elements and relations between them and provide tools to improve the firm performance and help it reach its purposes.
The Mckinsey method consists in a framework with 7 internal aspects of an organization that need to be aligned in order to improve its overall performance. Galbraith’s star contains a series of design policies, divided in 5 categories, that are controllable and can influence the employee’s behavior. The Mintzberg configurations try to define what structure is more adequate to each external situation and kind of companies, establishing 5 organizational types that contains factors that must “fit” properly for the organization to function well. Among these, in my opinion, the best model is the Porter’s Value Chain Analysis, because it is simple, objective and take in account the inputs and outputs of the system along with the activities that generate value for the consumer.
The Value Chain analysis was created by Porter and published in the book Competitive Advantage, in 1985. In this book, Porter explains the different strategies that a company can adopt in order to gain advantage against its competitors, which can be trough cost reduction or differentiation. The Value Chain is than a tool used to analyse the sources of competitive advantage of an organization, by disaggregating the firm into strategically relevant activities, each one with its own inputs and outputs. The competitive advantage is obtained when a firm can perform these activities either cheaper or better than its competitors.
The value chain represents the company as a series of
There are many ways to analyse and design an organization. Among the famous models created in the last few decades we can mention the Porter’s Value Chain Analysis, the McKinsey 7s Framework, Galbraith’s Star Method and the Mintzberg Organisational Configurations. These models attempt to represent the companies as systems, with different elements and relations between them and provide tools to improve the firm performance and help it reach its purposes.
The Mckinsey method consists in a framework with 7 internal aspects of an organization that need to be aligned in order to improve its overall performance. Galbraith’s star contains a series of design policies, divided in 5 categories, that are controllable and can influence the employee’s behavior. The Mintzberg configurations try to define what structure is more adequate to each external situation and kind of companies, establishing 5 organizational types that contains factors that must “fit” properly for the organization to function well. Among these, in my opinion, the best model is the Porter’s Value Chain Analysis, because it is simple, objective and take in account the inputs and outputs of the system along with the activities that generate value for the consumer.
The Value Chain analysis was created by Porter and published in the book Competitive Advantage, in 1985. In this book, Porter explains the different strategies that a company can adopt in order to gain advantage against its competitors, which can be trough cost reduction or differentiation. The Value Chain is than a tool used to analyse the sources of competitive advantage of an organization, by disaggregating the firm into strategically relevant activities, each one with its own inputs and outputs. The competitive advantage is obtained when a firm can perform these activities either cheaper or better than its competitors.
The value chain represents the company as a series of
References: Porter, M., 1985. Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. 1st edition. New York: Free Press.