Organizations
Alec’s organization diagnostics craft end-to-end business solutions that build competitive advantage and improve strategy execution.
His sharp focus on enterprise performance and alignment increases organizational effectiveness and productivity by aligning the operating model with the talent model and financial model. Alec’s solutions optimize work and company performance through organization design and organizational capability analytics that simultaneously address challenges with individual performance, team performance, business unit performance, and end-to-end enterprise performance. Focused on building organizational capability at the job, unit, and business process levels, his diagnostics address the interdependencies and linkages within and across roles, teams, functions, and business units that create the barriers to industry-leading company performance.
Areas of expertise include:
- Operating models
- Align the operating model with the talent model and financial model
- Organization design
- Strategy execution
- Organizational performance from top to bottom: individual performance, team performance, business unit performance, end-to-end enterprise performance
- Organizational capability analytics
- Innovation
A selection of Alec's projects
Centralization Versus Decentralization Tradeoffs for Consumer Products Company
Accomplishments: Assessed strengths and weaknesses of decentralized decision making under historical operating model. Company used the results to redesign decision rights and leadership roles globally that were more centralized, without losing most of the benefits of their traditional strengths.
Key insights: A company’s legacy orientation (more centralized versus more decentralized) creates challenges that are unique to that way of operating. Overcoming the traditional weaknesses while preserving historical strengths is possible, yet requires careful and detailed work on the system from top-to-bottom and end-to-end.
Measuring the Impact of an Operating System Model Change for Global Company
Accomplishments: Measured the extent of process and cultural change in a large global company that changed its operating model away from decentralized decision making, including introducing stronger central functions and centers of excellence
Key insight: Using behavioral and business measurements to evaluate the bottom line impact of an operating model change.
Customer Teams Optimization for Large Consumer Products Organization
Accomplishments: Designed organization diagnosis framework to evaluate the organization design for division-spanning sales teams that serve the company’s largest customers. The company used the results to restructure the teams and their support systems to improve performance.
Key insight: Ways to optimize customer-facing teams that are embedded in matrix structure that crosses divisions.
Impact of Executive Compensation Design on Strategic Decision-Making for Global Company
Accomplishments: Assessed decision making and strategy execution impacts of current executive compensation system, including the structure of short-term and long-term bonus system design. Identified structural problems that created an over-emphasis on generating cash flow over making strategic growth decisions with longer-term ROI. Company used the results to restructure the compensation system for middle management through the senior leadership team.
Key insight: Importance of striking the right balance between evaluating and rewarding decision makers on short-term versus longer-term KPIs.
Merger Integration Evaluation for Chinese Engineering Firm
Accomplishments: Evaluated merger that created company subsidiary.
Key insight: Identified areas for improvement in management practices and talent management.
Decision Making Optimization for Global Pharmaceuticals Company
Accomplishments: Designed organization diagnosis framework to evaluate the structure of decision making and decision rights throughout the organization and across all functions and divisions globally. The company used the results to clarify roles and responsibilities, realign decision making processes, and improve two-way communication throughout the corporate structure.
Key insight: How to achieve the right balance between top-down vs. bottom-up and center-led vs. geographically dispersed decision making.
How Companies Achieve Success in Times of Adversity for Global Management Consulting Firm
Accomplishments: Identified organizational structures and processes that companies adopt in good times that enable them to weather both macroeconomic and industry tough times.
Key insights: How companies translate strategy into decisions about restructuring, growing and/or eliminating work and lines of business that enable corporate survival and growth in difficult economic environments.
Category Management Optimization for Multinational Food and Beverage Corporation
Accomplishments: Designed organization diagnosis framework to evaluate the job and organization design for roles that provide key analytic support for sales.
Key insights: The value that functional support roles play in driving bottom line performance, and paths to maximizing that value.
Productivity of Globally Distributed Software Development for Fortune 200 Technology Company
Sponsored by Sloan Foundation
Accomplishments: Company used the results to evaluate cost-benefits of moving software development to lower cost labor markets worldwide.
Key insights: Salary costs comparisons alone are insufficient to manage the ROI of spreading work around the globe. The costs and benefits of differentiating and integrating work across time and space are just as important and may dominate labor cost differences.
