Achieving Meaningful Results With Change

CC Pace uses the Organizational Component Model as a framework for ensuring optimal results are achieved in our projects.  The model highlights the inter-dependencies of process, technology, and organizational roles and responsibilities, and how that interaction is critical for optimizing the benefits of change within the enterprise.

Ideally, these three components work in harmony to support achievement of the strategic plan and in reaction to the business environment. The critical point of viewing business structure in terms of these three components is the realization that you can’t introduce change in one component without affecting the others. Importantly, the realization of the intended positive benefits of introducing change into any aspect of the business can in fact only be realized by considering the resulting effects on the three components and adjusting each to embrace the change. A brief discussion of the individual pieces of the model is helpful to understanding this paradigm.

A company’s business environment is best understood as those external influences whose very existence requires the company to operate in a certain way to succeed.  Unable to change or control the environment in which it operates, a company must find ways to operate within its parameters. This is typically done in the context of a Strategic Plan, the documented direction and goals of the firm that take into consideration both the corporate vision and the effects of the environment within which it operates.

The operational processes the company employs serve to establish an effective and efficient means to accomplish the operating needs expressed in the plan.  These processes are typically designed by analyzing inputs and desired outputs, and mapping out the process logic and business rules, initially with only limited consideration of supporting technologies or the people in the organization.

With the optimal operational structure documented, the next consideration—the second component of the model—is to develop suitable technological solutions that serve to enable the operating processes.  The objective of this component is typically to automate those processes that rely on a “do” mentality (versus a human “think” mentality).   In some cases, companies can utilize existing technology solutions already in place to accomplish this objective.  In other instances, technology solutions need to be developed and implemented over time to enable achievement of the desired operational results.

The final component of the model is the company’s organizational structure, along with the roles and responsibilities of management and staff.   Bringing the operation to “life” depends on creating the necessary structure and hiring and training the right people to make the organization run effectively.

Successfully effecting operational change of any magnitude requires that companies understand the inter-dependencies intrinsic in this model.  Attempting to introduce meaningful change by revising only one of the components is too often viewed as an easy means to an end, but this approach more often yields a high level of disappointment or outright failure.  Understanding that all the components need to work together to support change, and taking the appropriate steps to address the needs of each, increases an organization’s chances of being successful.

This model provides the framework for a rational and effective approach to change. By understanding the company’s environment and desired strategic direction, the interlocking components of Operations, Technology and Organization can be developed to work effectively together to accomplish the corporate objectives.