The Elements of an Organization

We compare the model to a gene structure for organizations because, like the genes of living material, the ‘elements’ in our model represent the characteristics which determine what an organization is and how it behaves. The elements can be separately identified, defined and understood. In fact, we define a total of 55 such elements, which can be analyzed and these are present in every organization – they are its genes!

Organization may appear to be very different, for example a supermarket and a school exist for such different purposes that it may seem impossible to make use of the same model to understand and analyze them. In fact, these two organizations are made up of exactly the same basic elements identified by our model.

Each element is assessed using three 'issues' –

• Analysis – what the element is composed of or how it is made up and how well it is defined, understood and quantified.

• Evaluation – how it contributes to the organization (either positively or negatively) and how it compares to a similar element in another organization.

• Strategy – how the organization uses the element and what plans there are for developing it for the future.

The elements of the model, like genes, are always present in every organization. The issues are concerned with the way the elements manifest themselves and how they contribute to making the organization unique.

Elements are not exclusive - an individual could be an owner, manager and customer. Similarly a situation could be both a risk and an opportunity. >>>