Operating Model & Organizational Design

Business capability architecture is the structured model of what an organization must be able to do to deliver its strategy, organizing capabilities into a stable, layered hierarchy that stays consistent even as processes, teams, and technology change beneath it.

Capability-based planning is an approach that organizes investment, change, and resource decisions around the capabilities an organization needs to deliver its strategy, rather than around functions, projects, or technologies, so priorities map directly to what the business must be able to do.

Decision rights are the explicit assignment of who has the authority to make, approve, be consulted on, or be informed about specific decisions within an organization, defining where each type of decision sits so that authority and accountability are clear rather than assumed.

A governance model is the defined framework of decision rights, accountabilities, forums, and escalation paths that determines who decides what within an organization, how decisions are made and reviewed, and how the organization stays aligned and accountable as it executes.

An operating model blueprint is a detailed, connected specification of how an organization will run, translating the target operating model into concrete capabilities, processes, roles, governance, data, and technology so that teams have a clear, actionable picture to build and operate from.

An operating model canvas is a single-page visual template that lays out the core elements of how an organization delivers value — value proposition, processes, organization, locations, information, suppliers, and management — so leaders can design and align the operating model on one shared page.

Operating model transformation is the coordinated program of change that moves an organization from its current way of running to a new target operating model, redesigning capabilities, processes, structure, governance, and technology together so the enterprise can deliver a shifted strategy.

Organizational design is the discipline of shaping an organization's structure, roles, reporting lines, decision rights, and coordination mechanisms so that people and work are arranged to deliver the strategy and operating model effectively.

A shared services model is an operating-model pattern in which common support activities — such as finance, HR, IT, or procurement — are consolidated into a dedicated internal unit that serves multiple business areas, standardizing processes to improve consistency, efficiency, and service quality.

Span of control is the number of direct reports a manager oversees, a core organizational-design measure that shapes how many layers a structure has, how decisions flow, and how much coordination, oversight, and autonomy exist at each level of the organization.

A target operating model is the intended future-state description of how an organization will run to deliver its strategy, connecting the capabilities, processes, people, structure, technology, and governance that turn strategic intent into repeatable day-to-day work.

Ways of working are the shared practices, behaviors, routines, and norms that shape how people in an organization collaborate, make decisions, and deliver work day to day, forming the practical layer of the operating model that determines how designed processes are actually carried out.