The Bridge

 

"The Bridge" is an experiential exercise that highlights several fundamental principles of organizational design/structure. Over the course of a 40-45 minute bridge building exercise, students will "see" and "feel" the impact of task complexity, organizational groupings (silos), task interdependence, and scarce resources on the role of the middle manager. In the debrief, students will see that the role of leaders "in the middle" consists of motivating their team members, dealing with task uncertainty, lateral coordination and integration, and trying to secure scarce resources for their team. Key principles of organizational design highlighted in the debrief:

 

• The impact of task complexity on organizational structure.

• How groupings (both team and divisional) facilitate communication and coordination within groups, but create challenges across groupings such as the lack of sharing best practices, coordinating interdependencies, and the (negative) impact of local goals on lateral communication and coordination.

• The impact of scarce resources on the "churn" of communication for middle managers.

• Introduction to the inherent tension between centralized/standardized versus decentralized/customized operations.

• Introduction to the logic of managing on two dimensions where lateral coordination is delegated to team leads, but where resource allocation remains centralized.

 

Details:

• 6 teams of up to 5 individuals each

• 1 general manager, 2 regional managers

• Purchase includes all roles, detailed teaching notes, and Powerpoint slides