In many companies, the problem isn’t a shortage of people, but a lack of clear roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes. It is precisely at this point where organisational chaos begins, hindering the company’s further development.
In many organisations, a period of rapid growth brings not only increased revenues and expanding teams, but also challenges that were previously unseen. Companies are hiring new staff and creating new roles and departments, and yet a growing sense of organisational chaos begins to emerge.
From an HR perspective, and based on our experience working with many companies, we can see that very often this is not a question of people’s skills. A team may be made up of skilled professionals and dedicated managers, and yet the organisation can begin to operate less efficiently than it did just a few years earlier.
Why does this happen?
A lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities
One of the most common challenges in growing companies is the lack of clearly defined roles within the organisation. Over time, scopes of responsibility begin to overlap, decisions are made in several places at once, and accountability for outcomes becomes fragmented.
In practice, this leads to situations where:
- several people are working on the same issue,
- key decisions are put on hold because it is unclear who should make them,
- employees feel they are being asked to perform tasks beyond the scope of their role.
This, in turn, leads to frustration within teams and a decline in productivity. A lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities directly translates into reduced efficiency, longer decision-making processes, and higher operating costs.
Recruitment as an attempt to address the problem
Another common practice is attempting to resolve organisational problems by hiring new staff. The moment a company starts hiring more staff but efficiency fails to improve is often a sign that the problem lies not with the number of employees, but with the organisational structure. Companies assume that the lack of results is due to a shortage of resources, whereas the real cause is the absence of a well-organised structure.
In such situations, even highly capable employees may struggle to find their feet in an organisation where there are no clearly defined decision-making processes or areas of responsibility.
For this reason, the recruitment process should increasingly begin by answering some basic questions:
- What is the true role of this position within the organisation?
- What results will the person in question be accountable for?
- What decisions can they make on their own?
Overloaded managers
Another challenge we observe in many organisations is the growing overload on leaders. As the company grows, managers begin to simultaneously take responsibility for business performance, team management, operational projects, and day-to-day problem solving.
Lack of clear structures and governance processes leads to situations in which leaders operate primarily reactively – putting out day-to-day issues rather than focusing on developing their teams or working on strategy.
Employees’ rising expectations
It is also important to recognise the changes in the labour market. Employees increasingly expect not only competitive compensation, but also a clear career path, transparent rules of collaboration, and a well-organised working environment.
Companies that lack well-defined job structures or coherent remuneration schemes often face difficulties in retaining their top specialists.
From intuition to a system
This is the point at which further organisational growth becomes impossible without putting structure and operating procedures in place. From our perspective, many organisations reach a point where further growth requires a shift from a management model based primarily on intuition to a more structured approach to organisational structure.
In practice, this means, amongst other things:
- designing roles and areas of responsibility,
- building a coherent job structure,
- aligning remuneration schemes with the actual value of work,
- supporting managers in leading their teams.
As a result, the organisation gains greater transparency, and employees have a better understanding of their role and the impact they have on the company’s performance.
Article written by Dagmara Jaśkowska, CFR Global Executive Search Poland
Photo source: Freepik