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The University of Southampton
Human Resources

Organisational development & design explained

Organisational design

Organisational design is the process of aligning the structure of an organisation with its objectives, with the ultimate aim of improving efficiency and effectiveness. Work can be triggered by the need to improve service delivery or specific business processes, or as a result of a new mandate.

More than designing a structure, it involves:

Organisational development

Organisational development is the planned, comprehensive and systematic process aimed at improving the overall effectiveness of an organisation.

It involves intervening in its processes, structure and culture; there is a strong emphasis on organisational behaviour, human resource development and organisational change.

Organisational design can be viewed as an organisational development intervention.

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