Conclusion

This chapter contains an overview of the book, arranged in three blocks: the normative, the ontological and the dual-level organizational designing block. The normative bock is about the MCP (morality-collaboration-purpose) triad. Using it as a conceptual tool, organization design(ing) is about embedding the values and principles implicit or explicit in the organization’s purpose into the organization’s fabric. The MCP triad hinges around the notion of organizational morality and represents a chain of causes and effects working at individual level. The ontological block is about the hypothesis of organization design-as-meaning. It proposes that organization design, as perceived and experienced by internal and external stakeholders, is always the outcome of sensemaking, in a process that aggregates from the level of intersubjective meanings to the cultural level of the design gestalt. It defines organization design as an evolving process of understanding, not only for organizational members as they organize around common tasks, routines or practices, but also for external stakeholders as they try to make sense of the organization and its peculiarities. The last block considers organization design(ing) from a managerial viewpoint and suggests that it should be split into two sub-topics: (i) the design of local operational artefacts, which includes the design, implementation, updating and/or maintenance of artefacts from all functional areas; and (ii) the holistic design of the organization as a quasi-natural sociomaterial artefact.