Our CLAN organisational model was launched in 1991 and is still the approach preferred by high-performing 'group' companies who want to enjoy the best of two worlds: autonomous business units within the group, and an across-the-group connection which ensures that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. In the CLAN model, action takes place in the businesses whilst networking between them is driven from the centre. Without this continuous championing and cajoling, networking falters (see the story in the box).
CLAN's attraction is that it provides a powerful and more stable, yet still flexible, alternative to centralised or de-centralised management of key business functions. Those who are fans of acclaimed business guru Charles Handy will recognise, in the CLAN approach, a practical way of applying the concept of federal 'subsidiarity'. This is described in Charles Handy's excellent book 'The Empty Raincoat.' Initially set in a procurement context, the CLAN model has also been successfully applied to the organisation of other business disciplines.
Traditionally, a company structure is likened to a pyramid. Solid this may be, but one side of the business cannot see across to the other, and the stones at the bottom cannot see where the top is pointing. We prefer the imagery of the light, transparent connected structure of The Louvre, Paris .
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