A Lexicon
of 21st Century
Organization Design Terms
The purpose of this dictionary:
We began capturing the words and phrases you will discover below because words matter. We realized we did not always have a shared understanding of the concepts we were talking to each other about. Out of that realization, came the need for some definitions. This list is not meant to be all inclusive either. We are sure you will look for and not find something you think important. We did not intentionally exclude anything, and we have not pretended to think of everything. So if something is missing, let’s add it! It is intended to be a living resource.
As you know, definitions are imprecise and often open to interpretation. So this lexicon serves two purposes: Generate a repository of words, phrases, and concepts core to organization design and start a conversation regarding what do we mean exactly by these words we bandy about.
The definitions are not a consensus amongst us, but rather a starting place for common understanding and insights. The definitions are sometimes quotes from others, sometimes our feeble attempt to say what we think we mean, and always a springboard for deeper understanding.
Finally, definitions in RED are meant to be works in progress. They identify those concepts still in progress/final “definition” still TBD.
The list grows some each day, as we talk and explore. In some cases, it is just the word and we need to come back to what do we mean by it! There are so many ideas, there is so much “jargon,” and words and concepts matter. We use American English as a convention and English is a ‘sloppy’ language (many words for the same things, many words with multiple meanings). To align and ensure we are talking about the same thing, that we have the same mental constructs, it is important to have a dictionary.
So here is ours. Enjoy!
On behalf of our ODF colleagues – Paul Tolchinsky, Stu Winby, Peter Sorenson, Jagoda Perich-Anderson
Our Living Lexicon
a
- Action Learning A process that involves groups working on real problems, taking action, and learning as individuals, as a team, and as an organization. It helps organizations develop creative, flexible and successful strategies for pressing problems. PDCA, and double-loop are examples. Reflecting and(...)
- Action Research An emergent inquiry process that combines applied behavioral science and organizational knowledge for progressive problem solving or innovation seeking within a community of practice. It is simultaneously concerned with bringing about change in organizations, in developing self-help(...)
- Adaptive Work System A management process or “platform” which operates as a high-performance network structure for identifying, designing, developing, and scaling a variety of innovations and management solutions. Rooted in the principles of socio-technical systems the key processes in AWS are mobilize, act and(...)
- Agile Design A design process that allows the design team to use iterations to deliver an incomplete design to the customer by dividing required functionality into small iterations so that by the end of an iteration, the design is shared with the customer for feedback so adjustments and changes can be(...)
- Ambidexterity A dual simultaneous focus on innovation (exploration) and optimization (exploitation).
- Ambidextrous Organization An organizational model that is designed for simultaneous revenue performance (H1), cost center functional productivity (H1), incubation – innovations to modernize the operating model and product/service extensions (H3); Transformation design – disruptive business model go-to-market (H2).
- Application Programming Interface (API) A standardized set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications that makes it easy for an outside programmer to write code that will connect seamlessly with the platform infrastructure.
- Augmentation The socio-technical design term joint-optimization has been defined in recent digital technology literature as augmentation – the relationship between humans and machines that is mutually empowering and where humans create more value by having the machine’s help, and to personally reap(...)
b
- Boundary Management A form of management, generally for self-managing work systems, that focuses on on-going empowerment, long-term planning, and intergroup alignment rather than immediate operations. “Boundaries” are the time, structure, authority and technology “fences” drawn on organization charts, wire(...)
- Bureaucracy A specific form of organization usually referred to how governments are organized, and defined by complexity, division of labor, permanence, professional management, hierarchical coordination and control, strict chain of command, and legal authority. This traditional form of organizing is(...)
- Business Model A model that describes how an organization creates, delivers and captures value to its customers in economic, social, and/or environmental contexts. At minimum, elements of a business model include the value proposition aligned with its customer base, products/services, delivery methods, cost(...)
c
- Capabilities Organizations are designed to have specific organizational capabilities specific to the execution of their strategy. A capability as anything an organization does well that drives intended business results. Organization capabilities are the collective skills, expertise, and alignment of the(...)
- Community of Practice Any formalized networks of people that encourage everyone with common interests or inter-related functions to learn, share and explore together.
- Complex Adaptive Systems A system that is complex in that it is a dynamic network of interactions. It is adaptive in that the individual and collective behavior will self-organize corresponding to the change-initiating micro-event or collection of events. Consists of elements, whose relationships may be changing all(...)