What We’re Reading: Reinventing the Organization by Dave Ulrich and Arthur Yeung

Recognised globally as the ‘Father of Modern HR’, Dave Ulrich’s thought-leadership has shaped our profession for decades. His most recent book, Reinventing the Organization – written with Arthur Yeung – maps out how employers can reinvent their organizations to flourish in fast-paced and fast-changing markets.

At OrgShakers we think this book should be on every HR practitioner’s bookshelf. However, being published just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible that some may have missed it during the challenging months that followed.  That’s why, for International Read a Book Day, we wanted to shine the spotlight back on Ulrich and Yeung’s ideas at a time when they have become more relevant than ever.

In brief, Reinventing the Organization explores a six-step framework for leaders to transform their business into a Market-Oriented Ecosystem (MOE) – a fluid, fast-moving organization unified around a compelling, market-oriented purpose.

In order to start reinventing an organization into an MOE, there are six dimensions that need to be considered:

1. Environment – very successful companies will appreciate and anticipate the trends and changes in their business context: social, technical, economic, political, environmental, and demographic.
2. Strategy – simply put, how entrepreneurs aim to grow their businesses and through what paths. Successful leaders don’t just seek market share, they anticipate and create market opportunity.
3. Ecosystem capabilities – companies that are taking advantage of and sharing information about each person’s or team’s knowledge and other strengths and becoming truly customer-centric, innovative, and agile.
4. Morphology – the most successful companies have created new organizational forms that enable their teams to capture market changes, quickly generate ideas, experiment, close unprofitable trials and make big businesses out of the successful ones.
5. Governance mechanisms – the best organizations make their ecosystem truly connected and collaborative by sharing culture, performance accountability, ideas, talent, and information.
6. Leadership (at all levels) – the top leaders redesign the organization’s morphology and set the context and rules for self-driven units to operate, as well as facing the challenge of encouraging a culture that empowers and orients employees.

Ulrich and Yeung take a deep dive into this framework throughout the book and share how organizations across the world are reinventing their workplaces to become Market-Oriented Ecosystems that are able to not only survive in an ever-changing environment – but thrive in it.

If you would like to discuss how we can help support you in structural transformations and organization dynamics, please get in touch with us!