The role of people-
centric groups in
organisation design
In this first part of a two-part series looking at
organisation and HR models, JON INGHAM explains
how companies are incorporating new
people-centric groups within their horizontal
Abstract
Companies are increasingly looking to radically transform their
organisations. The two most popular areas of focus are horizontal teams
and reducing or even abolishing hierarchy.
However, this article explains that the greatest opportunities can arise from
melding existing structures with communities and networks. These groups
rely on people coming together to identify the work they are intrinsically
motivated to perform. In addition new opportunities for developing digital
networks arise from utilising platform- or even blockchain-based
for example a project and a
function. Matrices receive a lot
of criticism but if designed well
they can operate fairly simply
and effectively.
Some businesses have also been
adopting other organisational
innovations, in particular aiming
to become flatter by allowing
teams to self organise (Laloux,
2014). Many more specific
organisation models are
adaptations on the above. For
example, holacracy (Robertson,
2015) is at its heart a heavilyformalised
approach to selfmanaged
horizontal organisation.
However, from a business
perspective, hierarchy is not
necessarily a major issue. The
horizontal boundaries between
organisational groups (for
example between functions or
across projects) have much
greater impact on organisational
effectiveness than vertical
boundaries between people
working at different hierarchical
layers (Ernst and Chrobot-
Mason, 2010).
From an employee perspective
hierarchy may not always
contribute towards a positive
experience, but other issues are
generally more important and
easier to fix. In particular, the
most important thing for many
organisations is ensuring that line
managers act as coaches rather
than dictators.
My experience over the past 20
years, based on consulting
projects and conversations with
practitioners, in addition to
research for my latest book
(Ingham, 2017) suggests that the
greatest opportunity lies in the
use of more people-centric
organisational groups.
Key findings
There are three types of peoplecentric
group becoming more
common. These are communities,
distributed networks and
platforms. And they all enable
organisations to bring people
together around things they are
passionate about. Doing this
creates opportunities for people
to identify work they want to do,
rather than simply being allocated
work that needs to be done. It
therefore calls on intrinsic rather
than extrinsic motivation,
enabling people to harness their
full potential for the benefit of
their individual performance and
organisational contribution.
Communities
Communities look inwards at
supporting and enabling
members. They are often
supported by community
managers (really facilitators) who
help connect and cultivate
relationships between members.
‘Community’ is a term used for
many different types of group. For
example, Mark Zuckerberg refers
Strategic HR A different slant
organisation designs
What’s new
Employers have traditionally
organised themselves as
hierarchical functions and
divisions. These structures group
people into similar vertical
categories of activity
(manufacturing, marketing, HR,
etc.) co-ordinated through layered
reporting relationships. This is
generally an efficient way to
organise but does not naturally
prioritise agility, customer focus
or employee satisfaction. As a
result many firms have been
looking at alternative forms.
The most popular alternative is
horizontal teams. These group
people according to horizontal
pieces of work, including
processes, projects and Agile
sprints, which focus on meeting
customer needs or other
forms of organising.
organisational objectives. These
groups generally involve either
people from a mix of functions
working together or people able
to work across functions.
In many sectors, such as
professional services, projects
have always been a core way of
organising. However, the dramatic
shift towards Agile ways of
working in recent years has made
horizontal teams much more
common. Good examples of
horizontal-team-based
organisations are Cleveland Clinic
and ING Bank.
Many companies will want to
organise in a number of different
ways at the same time. This is why
the other popular type of
organisation is the matrix, in
which people work in units
that report to two groups –
36 HR October 2019 hrmagazine.co.uk
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