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Organizational Cell
How do people remain organized among long periods of time and huge projects?
Remember that the idea of getting organizing is very simple:
People get organized when they know . . .
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what to do
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when to do it
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where to do it
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and how to do it.
To achieve this simple goal, we have learned to make a "Cover" that helps everyone understands the sense of an effort, and we also learned to "make a plan", allowing everyone remains focused on his/her task, at every stage of the project.
But what happens when we need to remain organized over time?
We make an Organization Chart so we can work on standardization, design organizational indicators (metrics) and improve our work/life quality.
Organizational Cell
This is an example of an organizational chart called "Organizational Cell", because its design is so simple that can be easily replicated.
However, you should always have in mind that this model was designed for "Operative Projects", not for companies, or governments, as it doesn´t have a "sales area", for example, or other areas that might be necessary for the life of business or governance.
So why do we teach this model as a Universal Organizational Chart?
For two reasons:
1º Because it is so simple that you can easily attach new areas to it, without modifying the main operative structure. For example: If you need to add a legal department/area, it will be logical to put it inside the Administration and Personnel existing area; or if you need to have strong surveillance, you will add inside this area, audit positions.; or if you want to add a "Sales" department you can easily attach it in the same level of Administration and Communication, at the end remember that the most important part of any organizational project area is the operation one, that will deliver the product or service.
2º Because as is so simple, you can replay it with exactly the same structure, as the project grows (will explain it forward).
During Natural Disasters Scenarios or Pope´s Visits (massive projects) we have organized everyone using this simple model.
"So the main objective of this class, is to give you a starting point to develop your own Organizational Chart"
COORDINATION / COORDINATOR
COLOR: DARK BLUE
OBJECTIVE:
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GENERATE CONDITIONS FOR OTHERS SO THEY CAN WORK.
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COORDINATE THE COMMUNICATION.
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HELP WITH THE SOLUTION OF STRATEGIC PROBLEMS.
DESCRIPTION:
This area is the equivalent of the General Manager in a company or the Governor in a government.
This person is responsible for the whole delivery and operation of a project, so he is the main authority and decision maker.
His/her main job is to generate proper conditions for others to work, and provide them with proper space, tools, training, and resources, so people can make their job.
He/she generates organizational content for the Communication department and gives the order about when to publish it.
When someone has a problem that has tried several ways to solve it and he or she couldn´t find a solution, the coordinator will take the case. Note: It is very important to understand that people working on a project must have skills to solve the problems in their own areas, so the coordinator should be understood as the last resource after trying several solutions. Now, this doesn´t mean that problems should be hidden from him, on the contrary, as soon as something goes different than the plan, the coordinator should be advised by the "Managers" of each area.
RULES:
It can only be ONE coordinator in a project. (Organizational Cells Multiplications will be explained further).
Coordinators are not allowed to assume others' tasks because when they focus on a specific aspect of the project, they lose the perspective, "the whole picture". When they take "an unsolved problem", their task is to explore solutions with the responsible of that problem and help him/her, but not to solve the problem for the,.