It’s All About Work. Organizing Your Company To Get Work Done

The central argument of this book is that the most important factor in an organization’s success is proper organizational structure that maximizes productivity. The underlying point is that poor organizational structure means that people working in the organization spend too much time and energy figuring out who should be doing what, instead of, well, doing it.

This book is based heavily on the work of Dr Elliott Jaques, an academic who studied organizational theory and first coined the term ‘Requisite Organization’. As such, the book is quite heavy on theoretical concepts and technical terminology. In the interest of keeping the review accessible, we have avoided using the precise technical terminology.

The Clements begin their work from first principles, by first outlining that the purpose of any organization is to get work done. They continue by stating that almost invariably this work entails the provision of goods or services to a customer; therefore, the organizational structure of any business must be centred around analyzing and fulfilling the customer’s needs above all else.

The authors put forward a framework consisting of 5 basic principles, which they liberally illustrate with examples. The five principles are as follows:

1.  Establish the Correct Number of Organizational Levels. Each ‘level’ within an organization must have a clear value-adding purpose. Too many levels and the organization ends up over-managed; too few and it will lack direction and managers will struggle to keep track of the work being done.
2.  Clearly Define Accountability and Authority: People in the organization should have a clear understanding of what they are responsible for and whom they report to. People in supervisory roles should have authority to, if necessary, compel others to work.
3.  Clearly Define Working Relationships: Relationships that cut across normal organizational boundaries are commonplace and indeed necessary for effective work. These relationships are often ad-hoc. Instead, they should be clearly defined to reduce miscommunications and misunderstandings.
4.  Continually Assess Individual Working Capability: The performance of individuals, and especially leaders and managers, in organizations must be constantly scrutinised to ensure that they improve and that only the best get promoted.
5.  Ensure that Managers Are Competent to Lead: Effective leadership requires 2 conditions – organizational and psychological.

a.  The organizational conditions of leadership are proper structure. It ensures that managers at every level can focus on the managerial tasks that actually provide value, as opposed to bureaucratic ‘turf wars’ and other distractions.

b.    The psychological conditions of leadership essentially come down to ‘how far is this or that individual suited to exercise the functions and duties of the managerial role’. Managers must first and foremost be able to do their own work well, or else others will have no confidence in their leadership, as this will create the impression that their judgment is inadequate.