A picture, a thousand words

This post will be short. It is a kind of extension of a conversation I had a couple of weeks ago.  I was in the office of a Manager and we were talking on the structure of the organization and the complexities surrounding the process of reforming it and how, sometimes, informal structures, the specific task forces and the consultancies end up significantly distorting the original design.

What is the best criterion for organizing the structure? It was an almost mandatory question in the air. By tax, functional, by taxpayer segmentation, regional. On the other hand, should we use mixed criteria?

In our conversation came up the topic of structure based on processes. There is literature that highlights the benefits that such structures would have over a more traditional.  The functional structures can be, according to those articles, deficient from the perspective of the user, since the processes that add value go through various units of the Organization, but the report is always vertical. This may contribute to generating isolated chambers for both knowledge management and information systems and the vision from the perspective of the taxpayer would reach only the top of the hierarchy.

Obviously, in an organization based on processes, the key processes would be the building blocks. The following table compares some elements:

Ultimately, of course, I was asked: Does any administration have a process-based structure? Without thinking too much I replied that, as far I know, no. Another person in the room, a friend of mine, asked about what would be the difference, and how would look the organization chart of a tax administration with process-based structure. We do have for example, the function of control and the control process, don’t we?

Our meeting was abruptly interrupted and the issue was left hanging, or maybe not. Here, with a very simplified diagram, and certainly very incomplete, is an illustration of what could look as a process-based organization structure.

I am certainly not doing an extreme proposal (which probably would be unworkable). I am only trying to answer my friend’s concern and share the answer with you.

Good luck.

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