Organisational design

Let’s face it: a call for change in a company’s organisation design is not always made because the company is in trouble. Of course, such demands often do arise when a company is having problems. But it doesn't need to be so: management might have realigned, or even redefined, its strategic goals and sees that it must now reorganise the company to achieve those new objectives. For instance, your company might want to expand regionally, even globally; or you may be planning to introduce innovative products that require new support systems and marketing approaches; you might even be downsizing or outsourcing some of your non-core operations. On the other hand, if your company is experiencing persistent—and seemingly—intractable problems, then reorganisation may well be a matter of sheer survival. Once again, a company can get into trouble for a number of reasons—poor cash flow management; producing outdated, or superseded products; clinging to a business model that no longer reflects the realities of the marketplace; deviating from core competencies and being distracted by so-called “diversification” strategies; failure to gain new market share; and so on. The list is virtually endless, but you get the point. However, before you tread the path of organisation redesign, be sure that you’re not dealing in short-term, quick-fix remedies that ignore the long-term picture. In fact, before you take any definitive steps, you should seriously consider using an outside organisation that has broad experience—and demonstrable success—in bringing about company-wide change.

If this is your situation

• You need to change the way you identify, and handle, the risks that are inherent in your company’s financials and tax strategies.
• You now do business in the US and need to institute the internal changes that will make your company Sarbanes-Oxley compliant.
• Your company is experiencing a higher-than-average revenue loss and you suspect employee theft. You require help identifying the guilty parties.
• You have a viable change program ready to go, but you would like help developing and implementing a communications plan that reaches employees and shareholders alike.
• You are a long-established company that is experiencing a wide variety of problems—out of date products; low employee productivity; confusion about the company’s core competencies; and a seeming inability to retain market share.
• Your company is seeing a much higher employee turnover than is usual in your industry and you need to totally revamp you company’s HR operations—from recruitment and candidate evaluation to pension, payroll, and benefits—to reverse that trend.
• You have redefined your company's goals and direction, but you are hampered by a lack of capital. You would like help negotiating with your creditors and finding new investment sources.

What PwC can do for you

At PwC we no longer subscribe to the traditional change management approach of unfreeze-change-refreeze, i.e., a company "unfreezes", it makes the needed changes, then “refreezes” so that it can return to its steady-state mode of doing business. In fact, our experienced professionals operate on the belief that it is not companies which adapt to change—it’s their people who change. We also believe that people only resist change when it is imposed upon them. At PwC we will work with your people—from upper management on down—to eliminate the adversarial atmosphere that major organisational change invariably brings with it. We begin by developing a complete, in-depth understanding of your company, its products and its process—from R&D, product development, manufacturing and sales to internal financial operations, tax and risk control, management processes and HR operations. Then, we devise a plan, designed for your company’s unique needs, to make the needed changes. Together, we can help you with every aspect of your company’s processes, including: benchmarking, business process re-engineering, knowledge management transformation, organisational learning, program evaluation, strategic planning, and total quality management.