It’s no surprise that many organizations are experimenting with organizational design today. The world has become more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous than ever. Predictability has been replaced by constant change – driven by shifts in demographics, education, and expectations about work, as well as crises such as war and climate change that affect all sectors.

This high degree of change has led to the rise of new forms of organizational design. The classic bureaucratic model, with its clear chains of command and siloed hierarchies, is increasingly being supplemented by more flexible and fluid forms inspired by humanocracy, teal, holacracy, cells, and circles.

As the term suggests, organizational design is fundamentally about envisioning and designing the most effective way to build an organization. A well-functioning organizational design consists of a structure that defines roles, responsibilities, reporting lines, and the key workflows that support desired behaviors and collective task execution. More specifically, it concerns how tasks are distributed among employees while ensuring that every individual, team, function, and division is sufficiently integrated to move toward shared goals.