Reorganization without tears

In this article—based on the new book ReOrg: How to Get It Right (Harvard Business Review Press, November 2016), which outlines a step-by-step approach to reorganizations—we concentrate on the lessons we have learned about that evergreen but still frequently mishandled and misunderstood topic: commu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The McKinsey quarterly 2016-10
Main Authors: Beauchamp, Rose, Heidari-Robinson, Stephen, Heywood, Suzanne
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Communication
Corporate reorganization
Employees
Employment
Idealism
Leadership
Managers
Unemployment
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In this article—based on the new book ReOrg: How to Get It Right (Harvard Business Review Press, November 2016), which outlines a step-by-step approach to reorganizations—we concentrate on the lessons we have learned about that evergreen but still frequently mishandled and misunderstood topic: communication. Eventually, after the reorg team produces a high-level org chart, the leader announces the new structure and says that some job losses will be necessary, but insists that the changes will help deliver fantastic results. Research shows that employees anxious about their jobs have significantly worse physical and mental health than do those in secure work: one study, published in 2012, of unemployed workers in South Michigan reported almost half experiencing minor to major depression. [...]Lawrence Gosden, the wastewater director of Thames Water, the United Kingdom’s largest water utility, covering London and much of the southeast of England, engaged 60 members of staff from a cross-section of the company, including the front line, in shaping the organizational design: “We put them in a room with a lot of diagnostic material on the external challenges and some great facilitation, with the idea of stretching thinking on how we should solve the challenges of the future.
ISSN:0047-5394