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25 3. The concept of Single Point of Accountability (SPA) for a given business requirement. This is the concept of organizing along functional lines using a single point of accountability for various requirements. It ensures all of the various areas are aligned with the overall strategy of the organization and attributes that responsibility to a sole person. It i n c l u d e s t h e u s e o f c ro ss - f u n c t i o n a l teams and partnership agreements as needed, along with superordinate goals, to ensure SPAs work together to meet the overall business goals and to avoid a "silo" mentality. Determine what parties should be responsible for each group of areas and move forward from there. For example, production may be accountable for output, quality and on-time delivery, plus for maintenance downtime, repair costs (since they have direct influence on these) and maintenance schedule compliance (the production schedule will include the maintenance schedule). Edgar Schein said in his seminal book Organizational Psychology, "Alignment is critical where task interdependence makes collaboration essential for organizational effectiveness." For example, there is substantial task interdependence between production and maintenance, manufacturing and marketing, manufacturing and procurement, plus other functions. 4. As appropriate, an emphasis on teambased and team-rewarded activities. It's an old maxim that people act in their own self-interest. Incentives and structures must be set up to align and incentivize their self-interests with the company's interests and the optimization of the business as a whole. In his book, The Ascendant Organization, Peter Wickens presents strong evidence that "rewarding results" work significantly better than "paying for performance." This means we should structure our organization and reward people based on the success of the entire organization, not necessarily on the success of any one individual. Profit sharing is often an incentive provided to employees that encourages good work. 5. Making the organization as simple as possible to effectively manage the business. This will facilitate ease of understanding o f ro l e s a n d re s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . G re ate r complexity means greater risk of confusion, poor teamwork, poor communication and ultimately, failure. 6. Consideration of short-term and long-term impacts of any re-organization. A ny re-organization in a particular area must have a positive impact for that area and a positive or neutral impact on the balance of the organization. If the short-term impact is so disruptive that it puts the organization at risk of failure, then it should be reviewed and modified to minimize that risk. Evolution i s g e n e ra l l y a b e t te r a p p ro a c h t h a n revolution. Similarly, it's essential that any re-organization in one area have a positive impact for that area and hopefully a positive or neutral impact on other areas. It must not have a negative impact on the balance of the organization to the overall detriment of the organization. Any other issues specific to the organization. It's difficult to fully align all of these issues. No organizational structure is perfect, and compromises must be made to optimize the overall organization. Most organizational structures will work if people are willing to work together toward a common purpose, but the organizational structure needs to make it easy for them to do so. In general, any re-organization should be evolutionary, not revolutionary, and should be tempered to minimize the total disruption of the organization and the impact on the business. To that end, the fundamental question is: How do we organize the business to assure its success? Remember, organizational structure starts at the strategic level and then moves down through various levels, whether at corporate or plant and facility. It is my hope that these points will help with your thinking and discussion in getting your organization better organized for its success. WWW.SMRP.ORG 10127-4056 SMRP Solutions SE.indd 25 8/22/16 9:43 AM http://WWW.SMRP.ORG

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Maintenance Technology September 2016