Function Alignment

In good and bad economies, functions such as HR, Finance, and IT are in a continual cycle of growing then shrinking and centralizing only to decentralize. They are reengineering, downsizing, outsourcing, or creating shared service organizations. Most change efforts focused on support functions have...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Leadership Excellence Essentials 2011-04, Vol.28 (4), p.5
Main Author: Nyman, Mark
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Cost control
Decision making
Functions
Leadership
Skills
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In good and bad economies, functions such as HR, Finance, and IT are in a continual cycle of growing then shrinking and centralizing only to decentralize. They are reengineering, downsizing, outsourcing, or creating shared service organizations. Most change efforts focused on support functions have unintended negative results. Five types of misalignments occur: 1. optimizing the function, 2. standardization versus customization, 3. utilization versus availability, 4. solutions looking for problems, and 5. accountability confusion. Solutions to misalignment involve understanding requirements and determining what responses drive the most value. The most lasting solution comes from understanding business purpose and strategy and aligning all functions to the same end result.
ISSN:8756-2308