Organizational turnaround management: from the “as is” to “to be”

When two enterprises that have different organizational structures and operative processes must be merged into a new single business, then an organizational turnaround is inevitable. The same happens in the context of an acquisition of an enterprise by a larger business or a group, in terms of the rationalization of the efficiency of a business, or the alignment of the latest to new law environment.

   We could define this process with four concrete operative phases. The first phase relies on the analysis of the current structure of the business. Particularly, the analysis of head office organizational structure, focusing on the scope of the current organizational model, the tasks performed in each office, the number of resources for each task, and the potential room for improvement.

   Furthermore, the analysis of network organizational structure ends up with the job role and description, the number of employees for each role, and the diagnosis of all the operative, business, and accounting processes. This is critical in terms of understanding the needs of the business, defining, and considering any risks, strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities.

   The second phase of the organizational turnaround management starts with the design of the future model. In fact, managers are confronted with the creation of a new structure that aims for the optimal number of resources to assign to each branch, office, and employee. New job roles result in a better business structure, that is strong enough to cope with the current and future needs of the organization. It is very important to develop specific and efficient implementation guides, to increase and finally meet business expectations.

   The role of the human resources management department is vital, mainly in the third phase of this process. The adoption of a new organization structure means that human resources managers must publish through internal instruments such as intranet or e-mail the new guidelines and plans for the business to all the employees. It is worth mentioning the possibility of identifying a pilot scheme, to test the model and its execution. The results are crucial for the consistency of the business.

   Finally, the launch of the new model is ready to be approved by the management of the organization. The fourth phase, and the final one, relies on project management. This is a kind of monitoring of the project, as a group of dynamic activities aiming the reorganization of the business structure. The main instruments for the monitoring of the results include the actors involved (project manager, team, etc.), the master plan of activities and interests, any milestones and critical points, deadlines, and an action plan for emergency situations (plan b etc.).

   An organizational turnaround could be managed by internal resources or by external consulting firms. However, it is recommended to be developed by internal resources, by managers with deep knowledge who can contribute the most to the development of the company.