GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Assessment and selection    The processes that ensure that the right people are hired, not only for the work that must be done today, but also for the future.

Assimilation    A process in which new hires acculturate to an organization and in which both the individual and the organization are transformed by the process.

Communities of practice    Formalized networks of employees that encourage people with common organizational interests to learn and share knowledge.

Cross-evaluation    A type of evaluation in which individuals receive feedback from other functions (that are highly dependent on one another for accomplishing a process) regarding their job performance as it relates to meeting customer needs.

Current state assessment    An analysis that defines the gap between the desired future state and where the organization is today, and that provides a snapshot of the strengths and weaknesses of the organization at a point in time.

Customer structure    A structure organized around major market segments, such as client groups, industries, or population groups.

Design criteria    The organizational capabilities that the business needs to have in order to achieve its strategy.

Design phase    The phase that identifies those changes in the organization that need to be made to align the organization to the strategy.

Development phase    The phase in which elements of the design are fleshed out and refined.

Distributed structure    A structure in which a headquarters activity is placed in a field location based on local competence.

Feedback loops    A process by which the organization's leadership gains valuable insight into what is and isn't working, how people feel about the process, and how the implementation is proceeding.

Front-back hybrid structure    A structure that combines elements of both the product and the customer structures in order to provide the benefits of both.

Functional structure    A structure organized around major activity groups, such as operations, research and development, marketing, finance, and human resources.

Geographic structure    A structure organized around physical locations, such as states, countries, or regions.

Governance structure    A set of roles and processes put into place in order to ensure that design and implementation plans are moved forward, activities are coordinated, and the change process is not overwhelmed by current business demands.

Implementation phase    The phase in which the entire organization is involved as the new design is rolled out and put into practice.

Implementation planning    The up-front work required to map and manage the implementation process.

Integrative roles    Managerial, coordinator, or boundary-spanning positions charged with orchestrating work across units, using influence rather than formal authority.

Lateral capability    The ability to build, manage, and reconfigure various coordinating mechanisms to achieve strategic goals.

Lateral organization    All the coordinating mechanisms (networks, processes, roles, teams, and reporting relationships) that augment the structure to create a complete structural design.

Lateral processes    The business and management processes that move decisions and information through the organization in a formalized flow.

Learning aptitude    A measure of a person's desire and ability to draw meaning from past experiences and to utilize these lessons creatively to master new challenges.

Limits    Boundaries that determine what is and what is not part of the design process.

Matrix structures    A system of dual reporting relationships put into place in order to ensure that people focus simultaneously on two or more organizational forces (functional, customer, product, or geographic).

Networks    The interpersonal relationships and communities of practice that underlie all other types of lateral capability and that serve to coordinate work informally.

Organizational capabilities    The skills, processes, technologies, and human abilities that create competitive advantage.

Organizational role    A distinct organizational component defined by a unique outcome and set of responsibilities, such as a business unit, a function, or a type of job.

Organization design    The deliberate process of configuring structures, processes, reward systems, and people practices and policies to create an effective organization capable of achieving the business strategy.

Organization structure    The formal manner by which people and work are grouped into defined units.

Pay for performance    A philosophy of compensation that rewards people for their results and contributions rather than their time and effort.

People practices    The collective human resources systems and policies of the organization, including selection and staffing, performance feedback and management, training, development, careers, and rewards and recognition.

Performance drivers    The components of performance that, if changed positively or negatively, impact outcomes. These are sometimes called leading indicators.

Performance feedback    Mechanisms that provide employees with the information they need in order to understand their own performance and take control of their own learning and development. They are often used as the basis for compensation, rewards, and recognition.

Product structure    A structure organized around product divisions, with each division having its own functional structure to support its product(s).

Reconfigurable organization    An organization that can modify itself to respond quickly and flexibly to changes in the environment.

Reward systems    Pay and recognition systems that define expected behaviors and increase the likelihood that people will demonstrate those behaviors.

Role outcome    An end state or expected result to be achieved by the role within some defined time period.

Role responsibilities    The tasks to be performed that will close the gap between the current state of the work and the desired end states.

Rotational assignments    An organizational strategy for building lateral capability by moving people through the organization at defined intervals, to broaden skills, to promote and reinforce best practices and knowledge transfer, and to embed an enterprisewide perspective.

Skill-based pay or knowledge-based pay    A philosophy of compensation that values the skills and/or knowledge a person is able to contribute to the organization.

Success indicators    Descriptors of the desired future state in terms of the business outcomes    to be achieved.

Teams    Groups of people brought together across business and organizational structures to work interdependently and share collective responsibility for outcomes.

Total compensation    A view of compensation based on a combination of salary, cash payments, and benefits received by an employee.

Value proposition    An organization's unique combination of qualities that the strategy attempts to exploit.

Variable compensation    Compensation comprising performance-based awards that have to be reearned each year, and that don't permanently increase base salaries.?