Title: Organization Design: The Collaborative Approach
Author: Naomi Stanford
Price: £24.95
Pages: 306
Publisher: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann
ISBN: 0 7506 6367 7
This comprehensive and detailed book forms part of a series under the banner ‘The HR Series’, which focuses on strategic HR themes. Designed to plug the gap between theory and implementation, this book is aimed at two audiences working together – the HR practitioner and the line manager (the collaborative approach).
The book works through the phases of organisation design (OD), providing an overview of what each phase is about, and its importance as part of the OD process. The author provides academic references, useful tools to employ during each phase of OD, a checklist to enable the reader to self-assess their skills and understanding before moving on, a list of the key dos and don’ts, and finally a summary of the key points. In fact, it gives so much detail it is easy to suddenly feel you are suffering from information overload.
While it is aimed at two groups of readers – the HR practitioner and line manager – I would have preferred it to focus on one or the other, as this could at times cause confusion.
This is a book you have to persevere with, and it is not a light read. If you like lots of detail, academic references and a good understanding of why you are doing something, this book could be for you. I would recommend it as a suitable read for anyone studying a Master’s programme, anyone new to an OD role or someone who wants to increase productivity, performance and profit in their organisation but does not know where to start.
Useful? 3 stars
Well-written? 3 stars
Practical? 3 stars
Inspirational? 2 stars
Value for money? 3 stars
Overall 3 stars
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All ratings out of 5 stars
Review by Karen Boanas, business consultant with Canada Life
