Designing Collateral Organizations

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kilmann, Ralph H.

Affiliations: Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, U.S.A.

Abstract: A number of different design alternatives are distinguished according to whether each is best for addressing a well-defined or an ill-defined problem. The latter is reserved for a collateral design, one that coexists with the formal, operational design but is structured as a flexibile, open, loose, “organic-adaptive” system of problem-solving groups. A number of key steps are presented for designing such a collateral organization so that the operational design and the collateral design will combine to sense problems, define problems, derive solutions, and implement solutions, effectively. The paper concludes with suggestions for researching some of the major ideas and principles that were offered.

Keywords: Organization design, organization structure, problem defining, problem solving, collateral organization

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-1982-3203

Journal: Human Systems Management, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 66-76, 1982