The Star Model

Today's post is dedicated to Jay Galbraith, an American organisational theorist who lives on through his Star Model framework for organisational design.

The Star Model

In reading up on the Star Model one of the main elements I connect with most is it's appreciation that you can't just pick up your desired culture off a shelf and insert it into an organisation. I believe culture is an emergent property of the organisation in which it resides and so what leaders can do instead is build the strategy, structure, processes and reward systems etc which then act as the foundational framework for a culture to form. 

One critical element is the type of people that reside inside the system. People are individuals and act with their own motivations, behaviour, skill sets as well as strengths and weaknesses (relative to the system). Part of picking the right person is 'culture fit' however from Jay's examples below it's clear that there is also a strong element of hard definable skills that contribute to suitability.

Flexible organizations require flexible people. Cross-functional teams require people who are generalists and who can cooperate with each other. Matrix organizations need people who can manage conflict and influence without authority. - Jay Galbraith

When things go wrong (or right!) it can be easy to point directly at a particular structure or process for responsibility however there is merit in considering how those elements exist inside the organisational system as a whole. Perhaps there is more than one element out of alignment or there may be other elements influencing the outcome that on the surface were overlooked. Make sure you take a moment to assess if your energies are being focuses in the right place (or places).

Most design efforts invest far too much time drawing the organization chart and far too little on processes and rewards. Structure is usually overemphasized because it affects status and power, and a change to it is most likely to be reported in the business press and announced throughout the company. However, in a fast-changing business environment, and in matrix organizations, structure is becoming less important, while processes, rewards, and people are becoming more important. - Jay Galbraith

The quotes above were from a whitepaper on the Jay Galbraith website that provides a great, high level summary of the Star Model. Also below is a short video on the model, as well as Kates Kesler's Five Milestone Design process.