'31% firms in India reckon change in organisational structure'

New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) Around 31 per cent of companies in India are considering a different organisational structure, a recent joint study by global advisory firm Willis Towers Watson and Confederation of Indian Industry showed.

"The top five drivers for considering this change include creating a performance-driven culture (49 per cent), meeting changing customer demands (41 per cent), supporting change in strategy (36 per cent), changing the behaviour and mindset of the workforce (34 per cent) and cutting costs (30 per cent)," said the study, released here on Monday.

Titled 'Willis Towers Watson -- CII Study on Organisation Structures in India', the study revealed that respondents of the survey "identified a lack of adequate functional experts, greater focus on meeting functional goals instead of customers' and organisation's wide goals, being middle management heavy and lack of innovation" as the major challenges.

The study further said that organisations plan to make efforts to fix organisational structure-related challenges over the next three years.

Commenting on the study, CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said: "It seems evident that organisations need to get the basics, like their organisational structure, right, to ensure they are well placed to cater to a changing business strategy."

"Temporary fixes will eventually lead to challenges like overstaffing, diluted accountability, role confusion, slow decision making, weak customer focus and increased costs," Sambhav Rakyan, Head of Talent and Rewards, Willis Towers Watson India, said.

He further added: "Organisations are best advised to take a step back and approach this as a strategic exercise with significant long term implications."