1. Overview – Organization Structure
The Organization Structure component defines the implications of the transition for the organization structure and aligns the organization to the future operational needs. The organization structure is made up of the following components: roles and responsibilities, positions, reporting relationships, team divisions, and management layers.
Purpose
Ensure that the new organization structure supports the CO
Allocate work activities efficiently and effectively among program support
Maximize capacity while maintaining local flexibility by defining Atlanta, RMU, CO, and SO roles and responsibilities
Clarity in roles will increase accountability and ownership
Align performance criteria to promote continuous staff development
Ensure strong link between program and program support
Roles & Responsibilities
The person accountable for the unit should own the organization structure. For example, if the organization structure changes only apply to finance, the finance manager should own the organization structure. However, if the changes are larger and apply across CO operations, the CD and/or the ACD-Program Support should own the organization structure although the area leads may be responsible for defining their unit structure.
CARE Resources
CARE Tajikistan – Sylvia Francis (ACD-Program Support)
CARE Angola – Kenny Ihanjika
CARE Peru – Milo Stanojevich (CD)
Inputs
Project support requirements
Processes
Policies
Benchmarks (Coming in FY07)
Templates
Organization Structure
Samples
Tajikistan
Angola
Peru
Timeframe & Dependencies
Organization structure should be reviewed under the following conditions:
The organization structure is currently not documented
Program support requirements change
New process is defined or updated
A new system is being implemented
This is done in close collaboration with the ‘Processes’ component. If changes are made to ‘Processes’ ensure that the corresponding changes, if necessary, are also made to the organization structure.
Implementation of the future organization structure is highly dependent on the ‘Staff Development’ and ‘Change Management’ components.
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

2. Guide – Organization Structure
High-Level Process Flow:
1 Getting started
2 Determine positions
3 Determine org structure
4 Validate with future state vision. Make adjustments.
5 Update job description
6 Develop selection process for new jobs
7 Monitor and maintain the organization structure
Step
Description
How do I do it?
1 Getting started
Before starting organization structure changes, first determine if the impact of the change requires organization structure changes. Refer to Table 1 below for guidelines.
Gather information related to the current organization structure to understand how it currently functions.
Understanding the demographics of the current staff (skills, competencies, level, aptitude to change) and retention patterns can help determine the appropriate inputs for the ‘Change Management’ component.
Need to work closely with HR to gather all information related to the current organization structure.
Information should include:
Organigrams
Job descriptions
Any defined interaction between roles and/or teams
Salaries and salary structure
Tenure
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

3. Guide – Organization Structure
Table 1 The Organization Structure changes depend on the level of impact.
Level of Impact
Potential Organization Structure Considerations
Low
Minor system and process changes
Minor workload changes
Organization Structure work probably not required
Focus on training and communications (refer to ‘Change Management’ component)
Medium
Significant changes to systems or processes
Major change in program workload
Organization Structure work may be required
Consider changes to roles and responsibilities, performance objectives and measures
Consider changes to management and team structures
High focus on training and communications and change management (refer to ‘Change Management’ component)
High
The way they work fundamentally will change
Major change in program requirements
Organization Structure work will be required
Consider changes to roles and responsibilities, team structures, performance objectives and measures, and recognition schemes, work flow, management of work.
Emphasize focus on leadership as well as the remaining change management components (refer to ‘Change Management’ component)
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

4. Guide – Organization Structure
Step
Description
How do I do it?
2 Determine roles and responsibilities
Based on the policies and processes, determine what roles are necessary and document the responsibilities/accountabilities. Ensure that tasks done by a system are distinguished from those tasks done by people.
Combine the roles into positions. Determine # of positions based on program support requirements. Determine the knowledge, skills and behaviors required to perform the position.
The organization structure owner should complete these activities. The owner should seek input as necessary.
(1) First determine if the roles need to change.
(2) Define and document the roles needed to complete the work using the processes as input. Determine responsibility and accountability. Guidelines:
There must be only one person accountable, with the right authority.
Place accountability and responsibility closest to the work.
Place accountability and responsibility at the lowest level feasible.
Same person can be accountable and responsible.
Define roles to encourage teamwork.
(3) Combine roles into positions. The combination of roles into positions is driven by the objective of the organization structure efforts. If the organization structure is intended to ensure higher specialization in a certain area, one position may be assigned only one primary role (ex. Procurement). On the other hand, if the organization structure is intended to ensure flexibility and adaptability, one position may be assigned two or more roles (ex. Procurement and Logistics). Consider the overall view of a position – determine if the position is overloaded.
(Continued)
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

5. Guide – Organization Structure
Step
Description
How do I do it?
2 Determine roles and responsibilities (Continued)
(4) Determine # of positions required. There are two approaches. The benchmark approach uses #s from other organizations and other COs to estimate how many positions are required for the same function. The context, size, and maturity of the other organizations need to be taken into account before applying.
The second approach is to review process level estimates through a support requirements analysis. Based on program required processes (refer to ‘Processes’ component step 3), determine number of positions required.
(5) Determine the knowledge, skills and behaviors required to perform the position.
Once these activities have been completed, they should be reviewed and approved by the designated decision making body.
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

6. Guide – Organization Structure
Step
Description
How do I do it?
3 Determine org structure
With the positions identified, determine the organization structure. This includes grouping positions into teams and determining the management layers necessary.
Determine reporting relationships. ‘Aligned to’ (straight line) refers to a reporting relationship and accountability. ‘Deployed to’ (dotted line) refers to an assignment. Consider the situation in which a sub-office accountant reports to the finance manager in the head office. The accountant is aligned to the finance department in the head office, but deployed to the sub-office. In a different scenario, if the sub-office accountant reports to the sub-office manager, then the accountant is aligned to the sub-office and deployed to the sub-office. These are important distinctions because they have major impact on:
incentives and motivation
compliance with policy and procedure
cooperation/collaboration
standardization and flexibility
efficiency
Determine pros and cons of the different org structures scenarios.
The organization structure owner should complete these activities. The activities may vary depending on the extent of the changes. The owner should seek input as necessary.
Group positions into teams. If there are multiple teams, define how teams work together. Similar to the combination of roles into positions, the combination of positions into teams is driven by the objective of the organization structure efforts. Ensure teams are defined to promote flexibility so workload can be distributed across the team. This will prevent one team member from being overloaded and another being under-utilized at the same time.
Confirm appropriate supervisory requirements and number of hierarchical layers to determine management layers
Determine reporting relationships and clarify ‘aligned-to’ versus ‘deployed-to’ roles
Consider sub-office roles and head office roles
Consider roles dedicated to specific projects
Consider shared resources
(4) Determine pros and cons of different structures. Consider the objective of the organization structure efforts as the decision making guide.
(5) Consider if organization structure changes should be implemented in phases. Phase one could be implemented by end of the calendar year and phase two could be implemented by end of the fiscal year.
Once these activities have been completed, they should be reviewed and approved by the designated decision making body based on the identified pros and cons and guided by the objective.
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

7. Guide – Organization Structure
Step
Description
How do I do it?
4 Validate with future state vision identified during financial analysis. Make adjustments.
Validation of the organization structure should consider how much it costs to maintain, how it would affect processes, and interactions. Adjustments to the organization structure should be made as necessary.
The final organization structure needs to balance the following three factors:
Maintaining financial viability.
Maintaining the minimum structure necessary to provide support to programs and to support the office.
Aiming for an ideal structure. This includes nice-to-have, but not absolutely necessary functions like continuous improvement.
If the three factors do not align, which they rarely do, make decisions as necessary.
The organization structure owner should validate the future organization structure by conducting the following activities. The activities may vary depending on the extent of the changes.
(1) To determine the financial viability of the organization structure, work with the finance manager to fully understand how much the structure would cost to maintain. Ensure that any salary adjustments are taken into consideration.
(2) To determine how it would affect processes, work with the process owner to compare the current roles to the future roles. If control mechanisms are compromised, make adjustments to the roles or make adjustments to the process. Work with internal audit to determine possible scenarios considering the structural constraints.
(3) To determine how it would affect interactions, facilitate a workshop with representatives from areas impacted by the organization structure changes. Test a representative sample of scenarios through the organization structure. For example, one scenario could be a project request to procurement for a vehicle.
Once these activities have been completed, they should be reviewed and approved by the designated decision making body.
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

8. Guide – Organization Structure
Step
Description
How do I do it?
5 Update job descriptions
Job descriptions should reflect the FUTURE roles and responsibilities and organization structure. Update job descriptions as necessary.
The organization structure owner should work with HR to determine if the job description needs to be updated. Keep in mind that the intent of a job description is to generally document 80% of the position’s responsibilities. The other 20% is generally at the discretion of the manager. Therefore, if the job does not change significantly, there may not be a need for a change to the job description. However, if there is a significant change, it is very important to ensure the job description reflects that change so that Individual Operating Plans (IOPs) and other performance criteria can be based off of accurate documentation.
Engage HR to determine if salary and benefits need to be changed based on the updated job description.
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

9. Guide – Organization Structure
Step
Description
How do I do it?
6 Develop selection process for new jobs
The selection process is the way in which staff from the CURRENT organization structure will be placed into the FUTURE organization structure.
Positions may be handled differently depending on the different categories.
Types of positions:
Completely new position
Merged position
Maintained position
Diminished position
Types of selection processes:
Direct appointments
Competitive selections
Direct outplacement
If the change requires downsizing or outplacement, ensure that the following activities are considered:
Termination policy should be reviewed; Local laws and regulations need to be fully understood.
Outplacement services should be planned: CV writing workshops, providing job posting opportunities, writing references, interview workshops, career consultation, etc.
This step is particularly important to maintain transparency and respect for all staff.
The decision making body needs to determine the type of selection process will be utilized for the different positions and the criteria / guiding principles on which the decision is based. A specific timeframe for the implementation of these activities also need to be defined. This information will be direct input into the ‘Change Management’ component.
For example, in Peru, the following selection criteria were defined:
For direct appointments the following requirements were taken into consideration:
Candidates are fully qualified for the position.
There are no other in-house candidates that specialize in the functions/tasks that the new position entails.
Some of these individuals are in charge of ongoing processes that requires their continuity so as not to create added expense for the CO.
The following taken into consideration for positions open to competitive selection:
There is more than one in-house candidate to fill the position
Some of the reorganized positions include functions from several current posts
Desire for transparency and fairness in the process
(Continued)
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

10. Guide – Organization Structure
Step
Description
How do I do it?
6 Develop selection process for new jobs (Continued)
Peru also provided additional considerations in their staff termination policy:
Advance notice to staff concerned
Health benefits offered
Welfare benefits offered
Terms of leave and use of vacation to seek new employment opportunities
Resignations
7 Monitor the organization structure
The organization structure (roles, positions, teams, reporting relationships, management, etc) should be reviewed to ensure outcomes are as expected. If expectations are not being met, conduct an analysis on root cause and make adjustments as necessary.
Org structure owner should work with HR to review the org structure semi-annually along with the appraisal process (generally, January and July).
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

11. Guide – Organization Structure
Hints & Tips
Inclusive approach is always recommended when changes are being made to the org structure. The management impacted by the org structure changes should be engaged even if it is for informational purposes. Management should be able to understand the org structure changes and the benefits for the change.
Designing a structure should be about the most efficient way to execute the work. Thinking about potential people who will fill these jobs may cause compromises to the design – the roles and structures should be people agnostic as much as feasible.
When using benchmarking as an input to determining the number of positions, be sure to consider the source and the relevant contexts. The intent is not to find another organization that is exactly the same size and has the same context, but to understand the reasoning behind the decisions. It is typical to benchmark against a few different organizations to get a more comprehensive picture.
Challenge
Action
The organization structure does not accurately reflect what is happening in the CO. There is a gap between the documentation and the actual actions of staff (roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, reporting relationships, etc).
Identify the reason for non-compliance. Potential factors:
Org structure is correct, but staff need appropriate training to perform in their new role. ACTION: Identify specific training needs and conduct training session. Refer to ‘Staff Development’ component.
Staff lack the capacity to perform in their new role. ACTION: Re-assess organization structure and workload allocation. Ensure teams are defined such that workload can be dynamically allocated.
Org structure is correct, but staff do not understand or do not know how it works. ACTION: Ensure staff are appropriately informed of org structure updates and/or additions. Conduct a communication campaign to inform users and gain commitment from staff. This process should begin early on in the org structure development process. Refer to the ‘Change Management’ component.
Performance management issues. ACTION: Enforce performance management procedures.
Org structure is not appropriately defined. ACTION: Return to step 2 of the guide. Re-enforce maintenance activities for the org structure.
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

12. Template – Organization Structure
Position
Name
Position
Name
Position
Name
Position
Name
Position
Name
Aligned-to relationship
Team Name
Position
Name
Position
Name
Position
Name
Position
Name
Aligned-to relationship
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

13. Key – Organization Structure
Copy and paste the symbols from this key into the Organization Structure template.
Template
Example
Position
Name
Country Director
Jane Smith
Use the bold border box for management level positions. Indicates supervisory responsibility.
Use the white box for non-management staff positions
Use the yellow box for identifying positions that are deployed-to one unit, but are aligned-to a different unit.
Use the elbow connector to define reporting relationships.
Use the dotted elbow connector to define deployed-to relationships.
Use the bold, shaded font to identify the team names
Position
Name
Position
Name
Position
Name
Aligned-to relationship
Accountant
John Johnson
Finance
Team Name
Finance
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

14. Sample – CARE Tajikistan CURRENT Organization Structure
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.

15. Sample – CARE Tajikistan FUTURE Organization Structure
© 2006 Accenture. All rights reserved.