In business, reorganization refers to when a company restructures part or all of its operations, such as by introducing a new management structure, merging one or more departments together, or by eliminating positions that have become redundant. Reorganizations can help businesses cut costs, streamline communication, boost productivity, and respond to changing market conditions. However, reorganization comes with risks. Employees and managers may resist change, for example, or the reorganization may not be adequately prepared for.
As part of your business management training, you will learn how to plan reorganizations. The knowledge you’ll gain in this area can help businesses navigate the reorganization process seamlessly. Here are just a few tips for helping businesses reorganize after you’ve earned your business management diploma.
1. Identify Why an Organization or Department Needs to Be Reorganized
First, it is important to identify what issues require a company to be reorganized. For example, employees may complain that if they need to communicate with a person in a different department they have to go through a complicated chain of command in order to do so. Some may also express frustration about having too much or too little work to do. These are often indications that a business is not functioning as efficiently as it could be, and that reorganization is necessary. During business management training, you will learn how to research and determine the efficiency of managerial policies and programs. That research can help guide companies as to whether reorganization is necessary and, if so, which departments should be targeted for reorganization.
Your business management training can help companies identify areas that need improvement
2. Communicate with Employees Throughout The Reorganization Process
When employees and staff hear the word ‘reorganization,’ what they’re often hearing is ‘job losses.’ How companies communicate with employees during the reorganization process is crucial. Employees need to understand why the reorganization is necessary and what it means for their future. While no reorganization will make everyone happy, if a business can show why change is needed and how employees can help see it through to completion, then that company is more likely to have the support of its workforce.
During reorganization, keeping communication open with employees can lead to success
For example, in 2006, Ford was posting record-breaking losses and was on the edge of bankruptcy. When Alan Mulally was brought in as CEO to turn the automaker around, he asked to meet with the brightest people in the company and together they hatched a reorganization plan. Crucially, he then made sure everybody—including employees, shareholders, dealers, and the press—knew what that plan was. By doing so, Mulally created a sense that everybody at Ford was on the same team and working together towards a common goal. The strategy worked and not only did Ford return to profitability sooner than expected, but it was the only North American automaker that did not require a bailout during the 2008 Financial Crisis.
3. Use Your Business Management Training to Propose Improvements to a Business
Reorganization should achieve more than just shuffling around a few departments in order to “refresh” a company. Instead, any changes should be put into place with a clear goal in mind. In your business management program, you’ll learn how to assess the methods, systems, and procedures of various areas of a company and then propose improvements. These proposals can be the goals of reorganization, which can provide the company with a sense of direction moving forward.
One real-world example of this strategy occurred at tech giant Google. By 2015, Google, which had started out as a search engine company, had grown into a massive organization with interests in video, artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, GPS, and much more. Co-founder Larry Page realized that the company was becoming too big and unwieldy, which would eventually hurt Google’s ability to innovate. So, he took the controversial step of reorganizing the company into a collection of independent companies under the umbrella of a new company called Alphabet. As a result, each company gained a newfound sense of autonomy and was thus able to pursue its own innovative projects. Similarly, in you’re your business management career, you can find areas for improvement that can serve as goals for the reorganization process.
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