What Is Organisation Design? A Practical Template for Businesses

Posted June 17, 2025

What is organisation design? It’s a question many leaders ask when trying to create clarity, structure, and alignment across their business. Organisation design is more than an org chart — it’s about shaping your business to deliver its strategy effectively, ensuring the right people are doing the right work, in the right way.

In this article, we’ll break down what organisation design is, why it matters, and how to get started — with a simple template to guide your own organisational design process.

What Is Organisation Design?

This is the process of aligning a company’s structure, roles, systems, and people with its business goals. Think beyond job titles and reporting lines. It’s about creating a fit-for-purpose operating model that supports performance, clarity, and agility.

At its core, organisation design answers three big questions:

Who does what?
How is work structured and managed?
What systems and behaviours support the strategy?

So when we ask what is organisation design, we’re really asking how an organisation functions at every level — and how that can be improved.

Why Is Organisation Design Important?

Understanding what is organisation design matters because structure affects everything — from decision-making and accountability to culture and results. Poor design leads to confusion, duplication, silos, and inefficiency.

Well-executed organisation design creates:

Clear roles and responsibilities
Efficient workflows and communication
Better alignment between teams and strategy
A more agile, responsive business
Improved employee engagement and performance

When people understand how they fit into the bigger picture, they’re more likely to succeed — and so is the business.

What Is Organisation Design vs. Organisation Development?

Many confuse the terms, but they’re not the same.

Organisation design is about structure — aligning roles, reporting lines, and systems.
Organisation development is about people — behaviours, skills, leadership, and culture.

So if you’re asking what is organisation design in relation to OD, think of it as the framework that holds your business together, while OD brings it to life through people.

Key Elements of Organisation Design

If you’re still wondering what is organisation design, these core components should give you a clearer picture:

1. Strategy

Everything starts with strategy. Your design must reflect your business goals and operating model.

2. Structure

This includes your hierarchy, reporting lines, team groupings, and spans of control.

3. Roles & Responsibilities

Each position should have a clear purpose and defined accountabilities to avoid confusion or overlap.

4. Processes

Well-designed processes ensure work flows efficiently across functions and levels.

5. Governance & Decision-Making

Who makes which decisions? Organisation design defines levels of authority and accountability.

6. Culture & Behaviour

Your structure must support the culture you want — whether that’s collaborative, autonomous, innovative, or fast-moving.

When all of these elements are aligned, organisation design becomes a competitive advantage.

Organisation Design Template

Now that we’ve answered what is organisation design, let’s look at a simple organisation design template to help you get started.

✅ Organisation Design Template (Basic Structure)

1. Purpose & Strategy

What is the business trying to achieve?
What must the organisation be great at?

2. Current State Assessment

What structure is currently in place?
What’s working and what’s not?

3. Future Design Principles

E.g. “Customer-first”, “Lean and agile”, “Clear accountability”
Use 3–5 principles to guide your design decisions

4. Proposed Structure

Outline the high-level org structure (functions, teams, reporting)
Identify role changes, new roles, or redundancies

5. Role Clarity

Define the key roles and responsibilities
Ensure alignment with strategic priorities

6. Governance

Define who decides what, and how decisions flow across the organisation

7. Implementation Plan

Timelines, communication, consultation process, and change management

You can adapt this template to suit your business size and complexity. Whether you’re restructuring a department or designing a new division from scratch, this gives you a practical, step-by-step guide.

Final Thoughts: What Is Organisation Design?

So, what is organisation design? It’s a powerful business tool for aligning people, processes, and structure with strategy. When done well, organisation design removes confusion, increases accountability, and helps teams work together more effectively.

Whether you’re scaling up, responding to market changes, or just trying to streamline how your teams work — understanding and applying organisation design can be the key to unlocking long-term performance.

Need Help With Organisation Design?

At The People Factor, we help businesses of all sizes answer the question: what is organisation design — and how do we get it right?

From structural reviews to full-scale redesigns, our experienced consultants work with you to align your people and structure to strategy. If you’re facing complexity, growth, or change — we’re here to help you design with purpose.

Let’s build an organisation that works.
Contact us today to talk about your goals.