Shaping the organisation
Organisation design and target operating models.
- Level
- Bitesize
- Learning time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Where
- Strategic Thinking
- Price
- £39
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion
Overview and Outcomes.
Overview
English local government is working through genuinely new strategic terrain. This module treats the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 and the Best Value Duty consultation as live strategic-choice problems rather than compliance updates. It sorts the Act's demands into what is mandated, shaped locally or easily missed, applies Cynefin, Five Forces and the Strategic Choice Approach to it, and contrasts compliance responses with strategic responses. A council or health body can reach a defensible strategic choice and still find, eighteen months later, that little has changed. This module draws on Alfred Chandler's finding that structure follows strategy, explains why the order is so often reversed, and introduces Target Operating Models with five core elements: process, organisation, technology, people and service. It shows how to pressure test a design and keep it traceably tied to Rumelt's kernel.
What you'll develop
In this Bitesize, you will develop the ability to:
- Distinguish what new legislation mandates from what it leaves open to local choice and what is easily missed.
- Apply Cynefin, Five Forces and the Strategic Choice Approach to the same legislative change, explaining what each lens reveals.
- Assess whether your organisation is running a compliance response or a strategic response, and identify the common pitfalls it is most drawn to.
- Explain Chandler's finding that structure follows strategy and identify when a proposed reorganisation reverses that sequence.
- Use the five elements of a Target Operating Model and four pressure tests to assess whether a proposed design holds together.
The Modules.
1 hour 15 minutes of learning.
- 09Strategy in the Public Realm: The Reorganising StateEnglish local government is working through genuinely new strategic terrain. This module treats the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 and the Best Value Duty consultation as live strategic-choice problems rather than compliance updates. It sorts the Act's demands into what is mandated, shaped locally or easily missed, applies Cynefin, Five Forces and the Strategic Choice Approach to it, and contrasts compliance responses with strategic responses.37 min
- 10From Strategy to Structure: Organisational Design and Target Operating ModelsA council or health body can reach a defensible strategic choice and still find, eighteen months later, that little has changed. This module draws on Alfred Chandler's finding that structure follows strategy, explains why the order is so often reversed, and introduces Target Operating Models with five core elements: process, organisation, technology, people and service. It shows how to pressure test a design and keep it traceably tied to Rumelt's kernel.36 min
Keep going.
Part of the Strategic Thinking topic, also sold whole as The strategic mind.
Go deeper, and pay only the difference
- You are hereBitesize, 1 hour 15 minutes, £39
- Next stepFocus, From plan to practice, 2 hours 30 minutes, £69. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £30.
- Explore, Strategy into action, 4 hours, £129. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £90.
- The whole topicImmerse, The strategic mind, 7 hours 30 minutes, £249. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £210.
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Prices per person. Read the full terms
Also part of: Building the new council
Other Bitesize in the Strategic Thinking topic
- Seeing the bigger pictureStrategic thinking and environmental scanning1 hour 15 minutes£39
- Knowing where you standStrategic analysis: context, position and choice1 hour 15 minutes£39
- Choices under uncertaintyStrategic choice models and decisions under risk1 hour 15 minutes£39
- Judgement in a changing worldCognitive bias, judgement and AI in strategy1 hour 15 minutes£39
- Making it stickStrategy implementation and delivery1 hour 15 minutes£39
