From Complex Organizations with Simple Jobs to Simple Organizations with Complex Jobs

Abstract

Organization redesign has become widely accepted as a regular task for management, recently invigorated by the interest in Business Process Reengineering. In spite of that, it is still a neglected area in organization science. This paper emphasizes the importance of design theory and design-oriented research. The potential role of design theory is exemplified by the description of Integral Organizational Renewal (I0R), a design theory grounded in practical experience in the Netherlands. This approach can be viewed as a Dutch variant of Sociotechnical Systems Design. The essence of this approach lies in the transformation of complex organizations offering simple jobs into simple organizations offering complex jobs. IOR can both be regarded as an expert approach and as a route for self-design. The approach enables the members of the organization to develop and use their own design expertise. IOR is therefore not only a strategy for organization design, but for organization development as well. The paper points to opportunities to make organization research more relevant to organization practice.