Organizational Design
A Step-by-Step Approach
5th Edition
Published on 14. May 2026
Book
Hardback
358 pages
978-1-009-60703-2 (ISBN)
Description
Today's organizations face rapid change, digital disruption, and rising demands for sustainability and resilience. This fifth edition text equips executives, students, and educators with a proven framework for designing effective organizations in complex environments. Built on decades of research, the multi-contingency model provides a step-by-step guide from diagnosis to design and implementation-now expanded to include knowledge interdependence, AI integration, sustainable development, and organizational resilience. Rich with real-world cases from LEGO, Microsoft, Haier, and Blackberry, the book blends theory with practice and offers clear visuals, intuitive 2x2 models, and tools to support hands-on learning and application. It helps readers understand who should do what, talk to whom, and-crucially-know what, in today's increasingly dynamic settings. Whether used in executive education or as a core text in MBA and business school courses, this updated edition is a comprehensive, accessible, and globally trusted guide to modern organizational design.
Reviews / Votes
'Whenever I tackle organization design, I consult this book. Its diagnostic framework pinpoints the elements that must change to align capabilities with enterprise strategy. It belongs on every organization design practitioner's curriculum.' Jesper Sylvest Sorensen, Region Copenhagen 'This book sets the standard for how to think about organization design. By combining a rigorous, multi-contingency framework with a clear, step-by-step methodology and contemporary examples - including AI and digital transformation - it equips students, scholars, and executives with practical tools for diagnosing fit and designing organizations that adapt and excel.' John Joseph, University California, Irvine 'It's great to see this classic in organization design extended thoughtfully to the reality of a world where AI is an active organizational agent. It shows how human and AI capabilities jointly shape task design, coordination, and control.' Phanish Puranam, INSEADMore details
Edition
5th Revised edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Edition type
Revised edition
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 246 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
857 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-60703-2 (9781009607032)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition
Richard M. Burton | Borge Obel | Dorthe Dojbak Hakonsson
Organizational Design
A Step-by-Step Approach
Book
07/2020
4th Edition
Cambridge University Press
€129.24
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Persons
Richard M. Burton is Professor Emeritus at Duke University. In addition, he has an Honorary Doctorate from Aarhus University. He has served as associate editor of Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and Journal of Organization Design. He has written numerous books and articles on organization design and strategy. He is a co-author of Organizational Design: A Step-By-Step Approach (2020). Borge Obel is professor emeritus at Aarhus University and professor at EIASM, Brussels. He has held visiting positions at Duke, Stanford, the University of Ljubljana, and LUISS Business School. He is former rector of Aarhus School of Business and former dean at Aarhus University and Odense University. Obel chairs Zeal Aps, which he founded in 1980. He holds a Ph.D. and Dr. Oecon. from Aarhus University. He has published extensively in leading academic journals and co-authored Organizational Design: A Step-by-Step Approach (Cambridge University Press, 4th ed., 2020), translated into Italian, Chinese, and Vietnamese. He is a founding board member of the Organizational Design Community and was the founding editor of the Journal of Organization Design. Dorthe Dojbak Hakonsson is a Professor of Management within the Department of Management, Aarhus University, where she also serves as Center Leader for the ICOA (Interdisciplinary Center for Organizational Architecture). She is a founding member and current board member of the Organization Design Community (ODC) and serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Organization Design. She teaches Organizational Design and Organizational Behavior across undergraduate, postgraduate, Ph.D., MBA, and executive levels, and delivers executive education both in Denmark and internationally. Her research has been published in leading international journals, including Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and California Management Review.
Content
Part I. Getting Started: 1. The Multi-Contingency Model; 2. Scope and Goals of the Organization; Part II. Strategic Positioning: 3. Strategy; 4. Environment; Part III. The Structure: 5. Traditional Configurations of the Firm; 6. New Ways of Organizing; Part IV. Agents, Workflow and Leadership Dynamics: 7. Work, Task Design and Agents; 8. Leadership and Organizational Climate; Part V. Coordination, Control, and Incentives: 9. Coordination and Control; 10. Incentives; Part VI. Getting the Architecture Right: 11. Designing the Structure and Coordination; 12. Designing the Change Process; Part VII. Implementing the Architecture: 13. Implementing the Change: Who Should Do What When?; 14. Designing for the Future.