I've been working with a business unit on redesigning their space. What is harder to get across is the notion that space redesign impacts other elements of the organizational system. In looking for ideas on how to guide the leaders into thinking about their unit as a system I dug out these five rules of thumb from my book on organization design:

1 Design when there is a compelling reason

Without a compelling reason to design it will be very difficult to get people behind any initiative and engaged in it. Business jargon talks about 'the burning platform' needed to drive major change. Part of a decision to design rests on making a very strong, strategic, widely accepted business case for it - based on the operating context. If there is no business case for design or redesign it is not going to work.

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"Emerging" is a word that's I'm hearing a lot right now (emerging leaders, emerging change, emerging strategy, emerging markets, etc) and one that I'm not sure about - this uncertaining is has been highlighted by having just come from a conversation centered on "emerging technologies". It left me wondering - What is 'emerging'? What are these technologies? What, if any are the connections between the various emergings - for example, do more emerging technologies come from emerging markets than from mature markets?

Going back to basics, 'emerging' means "to come forth into view or notice, as from concealment or obscurity" so when yesterday, I was discussing "emerging markets" I meant markets that were coming into view i.e. people were beginning to take notice of them for various reasons. And like the 'emerging markets' there are 'emerging technologies' i.e. those ones that are beginning to hit the mainstream and become noticed.

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Someone just asked me about organization development in emerging markets. Is it the same as in more mature markets? What are the differences? Are new models of organization development emerging from the emerging markets? I thought these were a bunch of interesting questions - particularly since I am facilitating some organization development programs in China. The person asking me wanted me to write a technical report on this topic specifically as it related to retail banking (in emerging markets).

So there's a challenge. First of all I only had a hazy idea of what constituted an 'emerging market'. A bit of digging around suggested that there are different numbers depending on who you're asking. The listings of the World Bank, The FTSE Group, Dow Jones, and Economist all have some countries in common and some different and the numbers of countries on each range from 21 - 35. So that makes it difficult to begin with. Beyond that the World Bank and The FTSE Group strata their listings. The FTSE Group, for example "distinguishes between Advanced and Secondary Emerging markets on the basis of their national income and the development of their market infrastructure. The Advanced Emerging markets are classified as such because they are Upper Middle Income GNI countries with advanced market infrastructures or High Income GNI countries with lesser developed market infrastructures."

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I was amused to read Lucy Kellaway's column in the Financial Times on Monday. It's all about the blurring of the lines between home and office. She wants to know why it is that people eat cereal at their desks. What prevents them from the 90 sec exercise of eating it at home? She suggests that:

"Over the past decade there has been a steady onward march of objects, activities and emotions from hearth to cubicle, so there is now almost nothing left that belongs entirely at home.
Modern office workers can conduct all their most intimate morning rituals at work. They turn up in sweat pants, take a shower, clean their teeth and apply make-up. Offices double as wardrobes and laundry rooms with damp towels, spare clothes and shoes strewn carelessly around the place."

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A fascinating interview in Slate magazine (sent to my by my brother) quotes James Bagian - once a NASA astronaut among other careers - as saying:

You can't change the culture by saying, 'Let's change the culture.' It's not like we're telling people, "Oh, think in a systems way." That doesn't mean anything to them. You change the culture by giving people new tools that actually work. The old culture has tools, too, but they're foolish: "Be more careful," "Be more diligent," "Do a double-check," "Read all the medical literature." Those kinds of tools don't really work.

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Until earlier this week I had not come across an organization that had introduced a formal policy, procedure and guidance note for its organisation design methodology. So it was an interesting read when I received just such a set of information.

The policy document specifies that its main purpose is to ensure that

• Organisation designs (including restructures) take place in a planned, consistent way in line with the Organisational Design methodology.

• The reasons for change are clear and transparent and that the risks of change and doing nothing are demonstrated.

• Design work takes place in partnership with stakeholders, ensuring their involvement at the earliest opportunity.

• Employees and their representatives are fully consulted concerning any changes that impact them throughout the process.

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