Relational coordination is not only shaped by personal attributes and individual actions. Relational coordination is also powerfully shaped by the organizational and institutional structures that exist in a particular context. Many of our inherited structures were designed for control rather than for coordination.
See Bolton, Logan & Gittell (2023) Revisiting relational coordination: A systematic review for research findings about the structures that shape relational coordination.
Below are tools for researchers who want to study how organizational structures may be driving relational coordination, and tools for practitioners who want to assess organizational structures for the purpose of changing them.
Researchers: To study what is driving relational coordination, it is helpful to assess organizational structures.
Practitioners: To make changes to support and sustain relational coordination, it is helpful to diagnose the existing structures and strengthen them where they are needed.
You can use the Organizational Structures Assessment Tool (OSAT) for both purposes.
OSAT INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR RESEARCHERS
OSAT Worksheet for orgANIZATION change
RC playbook to use OSAT Worksheet for organization change
