The McKinsey 7S Framework
What do you consider to be the best way in which to analyse and design organisations and why?
When it comes to analysing and designing organisations, the main issue is to decide which factors should be studied in order to get the best feedback possible. This kind of study is extremely important to every company, since its architecture will determine the path that the company will go through to reach their goals.
Many ways to do this kind of analysis exist and are used world widely, but the ones that are able to give the best results are, in my opinion, McKinsey 7s model and Galbraith`s Star model. Both models are useful because they describe very important organisational elements and recognise the interaction between them. Both also require organisations to use a chosen strategy to inform structure decisions.
The two methods show critical limitations, especially regarding input and output elements and the external environment. A company`s organisational design has the role of arranging its process in a way that they are successful and realize the main qualities defined in their visions and values. Hence, I think that the best way to analyse it is using McKinsey 7S model. In this model, the shared values of the company are in the core of the system which they use to design the structure of the relations inside a company.
As different models focus on different aspects, the 7S model focus on internal aspects and it was chosen considering that this is the focus of the analysis. The seven elements (S`s) considered are: Strategy, or the plan and directions to build competitive advantage;
Structure, who reports to whom; Systems, daily procedures done by the workers; Skills, the abilities of the employees; Staff, the employees themselves; Style, the kind of leadership used within the company; and Shared values, core values of the corporation. I think these are great ones to internally analyse an organisation. The model is based on the premise that
When it comes to analysing and designing organisations, the main issue is to decide which factors should be studied in order to get the best feedback possible. This kind of study is extremely important to every company, since its architecture will determine the path that the company will go through to reach their goals.
Many ways to do this kind of analysis exist and are used world widely, but the ones that are able to give the best results are, in my opinion, McKinsey 7s model and Galbraith`s Star model. Both models are useful because they describe very important organisational elements and recognise the interaction between them. Both also require organisations to use a chosen strategy to inform structure decisions.
The two methods show critical limitations, especially regarding input and output elements and the external environment. A company`s organisational design has the role of arranging its process in a way that they are successful and realize the main qualities defined in their visions and values. Hence, I think that the best way to analyse it is using McKinsey 7S model. In this model, the shared values of the company are in the core of the system which they use to design the structure of the relations inside a company.
As different models focus on different aspects, the 7S model focus on internal aspects and it was chosen considering that this is the focus of the analysis. The seven elements (S`s) considered are: Strategy, or the plan and directions to build competitive advantage;
Structure, who reports to whom; Systems, daily procedures done by the workers; Skills, the abilities of the employees; Staff, the employees themselves; Style, the kind of leadership used within the company; and Shared values, core values of the corporation. I think these are great ones to internally analyse an organisation. The model is based on the premise that
References: 1. Fleisher, Craig S. and Babette E. Bensoussan (2007). Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press. 2. J. Galbraith (1995). Designing Organizations . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. 3. (2012). The McKinsey 7S Framework. Available: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_91.htm. Last accessed 15th Nov 2013. 3