# The Reorganization Folly By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2022-12-04 When organizational performance is less than desired there is a tendency to reorganize. Frequently such an approach brings with it initial chaos followed by a relatively quick return to the same undesired level of performance. In short, reorganizations do not tend to fundamentally alter performance. This stands to reason. Combining a few departments here, fragmenting a department into a few smaller ones there, and having this group report to a given person or that group report to somebody else is certainly an approach destined to produce marginal improvements at best in terms of organizational performance. There is little utility in rearranging the deck chairs of a sinking ship. People attempt the half measure of reorganization when what is perhaps needed is restructuring. Unlike reorganizations which redraw departmental boundaries and reporting conventions, restructuring addresses institutional power. If organizational performance is languishing it is useful to assess the degree to which power dynamics limit and constrain those doing client-facing work. Understanding the proportional split of power between line and staff functions is an important step in analyzing organizational performance. If the current split is suboptimal a reorganization is folly as it fails to address this key element. Addressing this split effectively requires restructuring. People with power seldom give it up freely. Perhaps that foundational dynamic explains the observed persistence of reorganizations despite evidence suggesting that the approach seldom works, and the rarity of organizational restructuring. #### Related Items [[Management]] [[Organizational Analytics]] [[Change]] [[Power]]