Organisational design: Know your organisation from Coursera

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Syllabus

Organisational alignment

Welcome to your first week of the Know your organisation course. Have you ever wondered what it means to be more strategic as a leader? What differentiates a leader from a strategic leader? Of course, this label can mean all sorts of things; some people seem to have started using it simply because it sounds good! But when it comes to leading an organisation, being "strategic" does have a specific meaning. It is about ensuring that your organisation is fully focused on executing its business strategy. What does this involve exactly? How do you make sure that your organisation can deliver on the business strategy? This week you learn to understand the organisation as consisting of a number of elements: people, structure, culture, and systems. Each of these elements will be covered in depth in weeks 2-5 of the course. In this first week, you will take a broader perspective across them as a basis for understanding the importance of aligning them in such a way that they can enable the execution of the business strategy. This focus on alignment brings us to the central concept for this week: key capabilities. This week you will learn what key capabilities are, why they are so important for strategically focusing your organisation, and how you can identify them. If you learn to master the ability to clearly define a set of key capabilities for any given strategy, and are able to align your organisation to these, you will become a truly effective leader, worthy of the term "strategic".

Organisational culture

What do you think is the most challenging aspect of making sure that your organisation can deliver on its business strategy? Many senior executives would definitely say: "organisational culture". When your organisational culture works to support your business strategy it gives you a huge advantage; when it doesn't it can spell disaster. So what is "organisational culture" exactly and what is so challenging about it? And how do you know if your culture is aligned with your strategy? These are some of the key questions that you will grapple with this week. You will learn to apply a powerful diagnostic tool for identifying your predominant culture type, and for assessing whether you should try to change it or not. You will also learn a number of important change levers that you can influence if you do decide culture change is needed. Be careful though! The road of culture change can be treacherous. This week you will learn how to navigate it better.

Organisational structure

What would you do first if you wanted to fundamentally change the direction of your organisation? Well, if you are like most leaders, you would definitely consider changing the structure of the organisation. But when you dig a bit deeper into this topic, you will quickly discover that there are a huge number of structural options to choose from. So how do you know which option is best? What are the main types of organisational structure, and what are their advantages and disadvantages? How do you make sure that your organisation structure enables your business strategy, instead of making strategy execution more difficult? These are the key questions that you will engage this week. You will learn about the key trade-offs involved in organisational structure decisions, and how to balance these trade-offs in relation to your business strategy. And you will learn to apply a powerful 4-step process for developing an effective organisational structure for your organisation. Even if you are not in a position yet to directly influence the structure of your organisation, wouldn't it be great to at least know what the structure of your organisation should be, theoretically speaking? This week is focused on just that.

Organisational control systems

What are systems for exactly? This can be quite a tricky question because it obviously depends on the particular system we are talking about. Yet, from a management perspective there is a straightforward general answer to this question: systems are there to control performance and risk. This week you will learn what this means exactly, and what the most important implications are for how you design your systems around your business strategy. You will learn to understand systems more broadly than just IT systems, and how to deploy them effectively to manage and control performance and risk. An important part of this involves deciding on the key indicators that you want to track, and how you want to report information that is strategically relevant. Too many business leaders drown in numbers to the point where they can't see the wood from the trees. This week is focused on helping you design systems that can keep you focused on seeing the wood instead of the trees.

Strategic human resource management (HRM)

Is it possible to manage your employees "strategically"? What does that mean, and what would it look like? The key principles of Human Resource Management (HRM) have been around since at least the 1950s. However, since the turn of the 21st century we have seen a distinct move towards making HRM more "strategic". Amongst many other things, this has involved making the Human Resource (HR) function more pro-active, and highlighted its importance for the strategic success of companies. Yet, there is also another way of approaching HRM more strategically: determining what roles are strategically most important, and tailoring your HR practices accordingly. It is this specific approach to strategic HRM that will be the focus of this week. You will learn to question common practices in HRM from a strategic perspective, and develop alternatives to them that better support the business strategy of your organisation. You will also learn to apply a key conceptual framework for strategically differentiating your HRM approach. So this week is all about learning how to align your people practices with your business strategy. This will involve some tough, and possibly controversial choices, which should provide plenty of opportunity for some great discussions.

From organisational alignment diagnosis to solutions

This final week of the course is all about bringing everything you have learnt over the past five weeks together in one powerful framework. This framework will help you move from problem diagnosis to solutions development, and will help you prioritise the key issues that your organisation should be focused on. You will revisit the central topics of this course – key capabilities, structure, culture, people, and systems – as a basis for deciding where the biggest sources of misalignment are in relation to your business strategy. And after deciding on your most critical issues you, will use the key frameworks in the course to develop a set of recommendations that could address these issues. You will then be encouraged to think through the risks associated with your key recommendations and develop risk mitigation strategies. All of this will culminate in a professional report with your organisational recommendations. Some tips on how to approach such a report will also be covered. When you have mastered the skill of determining what the most critical organisational issues that your business should focus on, you will be in a much better position to lead organisations effectively and strategically.

Good to know

Know what's good

, what to watch for

, and possible dealbreakers

Examines systems and how they work to control performance and risk

Covers a range of topics fundamental to organizational management: culture, structure, human resources, and systems

Taught by Jaco Lok, a respected professor in this field

Provides a framework for diagnosing organizational issues and developing solutions

Analyzes organizational culture and its impact on strategic execution

May require learners to have some foundational knowledge in organizational management

Reviews summary

Organizational design: know your organization

Learners say this course is largely positive with engaging assignments and useful insights coupled with helpful knowledge and strategies regarding organizational design, culture, and behavior. This course is well structured, providing a comprehensive understanding of the key elements of an organization and how they interact to achieve business goals.

Engaging assignments

"What I loved about the course was that it included real-world tasks, focused on case studies, and presented challenging situational scenarios. I will make sure to continue taking courses with Macquarie University."

"I benefitted from this course's unique approach tremendously. The variety of content (lectures, videos, articles, news and talks) allowed me to see different perspectives and broaden my knowledge in the area of management and HRM, in particular."

Easy to access

"I feel that coursera is very good for self-study, especially when online learning is becoming more popular to every one. Many thanks!"

"Currently soy estudiante de una universidad, adicional, trabajo en una aerolínea y tengo un cargo de jefe. Este curso ha descrito todas las problemáticas que pasan en mi empresa y me ha dado las herramientas para poder solucionarlas. Siendo un curso online me ha ayudado muchísimo y estoy pensando seriamente en continuar con estos cursos."

Excellent instructor

"Excellent course and Instructor!!!"

"Excellent course with good required materials and supplemental online materials. I learned a lot that I can apply to my current organization during Strategic Planning. I enjoyed the videos and exercises."

Helpful course materials

"The course is very interesting. It takes a first step to get to know the culture of a company and be able to initiate a change."

"The videos were very informative and I overall really enjoyed the whole course. The topics were very interesting and easy to follow, but at the same time provided valuable insights into how organisations can thrive."

Provides practical applications

"Great course for refreshing your knowledge and skills if you're a seasoned OD practitioner and a fabulous introduction if you're new to the field."

"This course has really helped me broaden my skills and knowledge in Leadership and organisational structures and also how to apply in my field of study, so grateful, but the stress was worth it"

Very well structured course

"Very well structured course."

"Well structured and logical syllabus and delivery."

Good use of real-world examples

"Well-structured and logical syllabus and delivery. I did boarden my perspective and knowledge about key organizational elements and how they interact with each others to achieve business vision &"

"This course prepared me will prepare me how I will tackle challenges and how I can enable my organisation to deliver on its strategy while ensuring it remains sufficiently agile."

Limited peer interaction

"Overall a helpful and interesting course, however I do wish that since we spend so much time in the forums answering questions and reading other's posts that there was some oversight from an actual expert to make sure our thinking was on track, rather than just having the occassional peer review."

"Thank you so much for this course. I have found it very structured, useful, and practical. It's easy to bring gained knowledge to my work experience. However, I do recomend to think about home taks (assignments), utilization of peers interaction, etc. This part of the course is not developed properly, conversations are not practical and interactive. Maybe you can arrange some interactive webinars, or apply some other solutions"

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Organisational design: Know your organisation with these activities:

Review principles of organizational behavior

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Strengthen your understanding of human behavior in organizations to better lead and manage your team.

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Review key concepts of organizational behavior, such as motivation, communication, and conflict management.
Reflect on how these concepts apply to your own experiences in organizations.
Identify areas where you can enhance your leadership and management skills based on your understanding of organizational behavior.

Conduct a SWOT analysis of your organization

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Develop a thorough understanding of your organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

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Identify the internal and external factors that affect your organization.
Analyze the factors to identify the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Develop recommendations for leveraging the strengths, addressing the weaknesses, capitalizing on the opportunities, and mitigating the threats.

Review 'Corporate Culture and Performance'

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Gain a deeper understanding of the impact of organizational culture on performance and strategic alignment.

View Corporate Culture and Performance on Amazon

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Read and summarize the key concepts presented in the book.
Identify the key takeaways that are most relevant to your organization's culture.
Develop a plan for implementing changes to your organization's culture to improve performance.

Four other activities

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Explore case studies on effective organizational restructuring

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Gain insights from real-world examples of successful organizational restructuring to inform your own decision-making.

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Identify case studies of companies that have undergone successful organizational restructuring.
Analyze the case studies to understand the key factors that contributed to the success of the restructuring.
Apply the lessons learned to your own organization's restructuring plans.

Develop a presentation on best practices in strategic leadership

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Enhance your leadership skills by researching and presenting on effective strategic leadership practices.

Browse courses on Strategic Leadership

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Research best practices in strategic leadership.
Identify the key principles and frameworks that underpin effective strategic leadership.
Develop a presentation that clearly communicates these principles and frameworks.
Present your findings to a group of peers or colleagues.

Develop a strategic plan for your organization

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Apply the concepts learned in the course to create a comprehensive strategic plan for your organization.

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Define the organization's mission, vision, and values.
Conduct an environmental scan to identify opportunities and threats.
Develop a set of strategic goals and objectives.
Identify the resources and capabilities needed to achieve the strategic goals.
Develop an implementation plan and timeline.

Participate in a non-profit organization related to organizational development

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Gain practical experience in applying organizational development principles to real-world challenges.

Browse courses on Organizational Development

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Identify a non-profit organization that focuses on organizational development.
Contact the organization and express your interest in volunteering.
Participate in projects and initiatives that support the organization's mission.
Reflect on your experiences and identify the lessons learned that can be applied to your own leadership and management roles.

Career center

Learners who complete Organisational design: Know your organisation will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Organizational Development Consultant

As an Organizational Development Consultant, you will work to improve the effectiveness of organizations by studying and improving organizational structures and processes. Organizational design is a vital part of organizational development, and this course will give you the knowledge and skills you need to excel as an Organizational Development Consultant. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve strategic goals. You will also learn how to diagnose organizational problems and develop solutions to improve performance.

See salaries and explore the career path for Organizational Development Consultant

Human Resources Manager

As a Human Resources Manager, you will be responsible for managing the human resources of an organization. This includes recruiting, hiring, training, and developing employees, as well as administering benefits and compensation programs. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization's workforce. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve strategic goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement HR policies and procedures that support the organization's mission and values.

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Management Consultant

As a Management Consultant, you will help organizations improve their performance by providing advice and guidance on a variety of topics, including organizational design and strategy. This course will give you the knowledge and skills you need to excel as a Management Consultant. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve strategic goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement organizational change initiatives.

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Business Analyst

As a Business Analyst, you will work with organizations to analyze their business processes and systems and identify opportunities for improvement. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve strategic goals. You will also learn how to use data analysis techniques to identify and solve business problems.

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Project Manager

As a Project Manager, you will be responsible for planning, executing, and closing projects. This includes developing project plans, managing budgets, and timelines, and communicating with stakeholders. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of a project team. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve project goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement project management plans and budgets.

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Operations Manager

As an Operations Manager, you will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of an organization. This includes managing staff, processes, and budgets. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve operational goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement operational plans and budgets.

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Change Manager

As a Change Manager, you will work with organizations to implement change initiatives. This includes developing change plans, managing stakeholder resistance, and communicating change to employees. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization undergoing change. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve change goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement change management plans and strategies.

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Training and Development Manager

As a Training and Development Manager, you will be responsible for developing and delivering training programs for employees. This includes assessing training needs, developing curriculum, and evaluating training effectiveness. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization's workforce. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve training and development goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement training and development plans and programs.

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Organizational Psychologist

As an Organizational Psychologist, you will work with organizations to improve employee performance and well-being. This includes conducting research on organizational behavior, developing and implementing interventions, and providing consultation to managers. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization's workforce. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve organizational psychology goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement organizational psychology interventions and programs.

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Industrial-Organizational Psychologist

As an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, you will work with organizations to improve employee performance and well-being. This includes conducting research on organizational behavior, developing and implementing interventions, and providing consultation to managers. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization's workforce. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve industrial-organizational psychology goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement industrial-organizational psychology interventions and programs.

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Workforce Planner

As a Workforce Planner, you will work with organizations to develop and implement workforce plans. This includes forecasting labor demand, developing recruitment and retention strategies, and managing workforce costs. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization's workforce. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve workforce planning goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement workforce plans and strategies.

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Compensation and Benefits Manager

As a Compensation and Benefits Manager, you will be responsible for developing and administering compensation and benefits programs for employees. This includes conducting salary surveys, designing compensation plans, and managing employee benefits. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization's workforce. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve compensation and benefits goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement compensation and benefits plans and programs.

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Recruiter

As a Recruiter, you will be responsible for attracting, screening, and hiring new employees. This includes developing recruitment strategies, posting job openings, and conducting interviews. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization's workforce. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve recruitment goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement recruitment strategies and plans.

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Talent Manager

As a Talent Manager, you will be responsible for developing and managing the talent pool of an organization. This includes identifying and attracting top talent, developing employee training and development programs, and managing employee performance. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization's workforce. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve talent management goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement talent management strategies and plans.

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Performance Manager

As a Performance Manager, you will be responsible for developing and implementing performance management systems for employees. This includes setting performance goals, conducting performance reviews, and providing feedback to employees. This course will help you build a strong foundation in organizational design, which is essential for understanding the needs and challenges of an organization's workforce. You will learn about different organizational structures, cultures, and systems, and how to align them to achieve performance management goals. You will also learn how to develop and implement performance management systems and plans.

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