Organizational Realignment Case Study: Adding Value by Analyzing Performance.

Bolin, A. U. (1010). Organizational Realignment Case Study: Adding Value by Analyzing Performance. Performance Improvement, 49(6), 9–14. doi:10:1002/pfi

The Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS) is composed of 5 semi-autonomous organizations faced with a budget short fall of $7 billion over 5 years. To deal with this shortfall it was proposed that the 5 organizations merge their operations in order to cut personnel and expenditures. An adaption of the human performance model (Kaufman’s Mega Thinking model – Kaufman, 2005) was applied to the project. Though the research data showed tremendous gains from a merger of organizations, that option was rejected by senior leadership (who would be affected) and shared services were pursued as an option. Data and processes used were shared and outcomes delineated.

The article is aimed at the practitioner community and serves to showcase the pitfalls that face the HPT practitioner in highly political situations. The data given was insightful but failed to show the overall process (Kaufman’s Mega Thinking model) used. The commentary by the author was insightful and blunt. While the original hypothesis (merge the groups) failed to come to pass, the author showed clearly that the data pointed otherwise. The author does go on to point out that the shared services option still returned a substantial savings. Additionally the savings was a 17-1 return on the original consulting investment.

Overall, a great insight into the world of HPT.