Evolving Structures

Organizational Design Simulation

Simulation Overview

The Evolving Structures Organizational Design Simulation challenges learners to align structure, talent, and strategy as they lead a fast-growing company through multiple stages of development. Acting as a senior leader, learners must make decisions about departmental structure, reporting relationships, and coordination mechanisms while managing growth, efficiency, and innovation.


Grounded in classic and contemporary organizational theory—including principles of contingency design, coordination and control, and strategic alignment—the simulation demonstrates how design choices shape communication, culture, and execution. Learners experience firsthand how evolving business environments demand agility, cross-functional collaboration, and thoughtful tradeoffs between centralization and autonomy.


This simulation focuses on organizational design, strategy, human resource management, general management, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

Players

tag

Multiplayer

Single Player


Languages

tag

English


Simulation Time

tag

Total Time: 1-1.5 hours

Intro 10 minutes, Gameplay 30-45 minutes, Debrief 30-45 minutes


Accessibility

tag

WCAG 2.0 Compliance


Price

tag

$165 per person

The Story

1
1
3

Your company is growing fast—perhaps too fast. What began as a small startup is now a complex organization with new challenges: misaligned teams, duplicated efforts, and slowing innovation. As the CEO of Ecotripp, an online travel agency, you must redesign the organization for scalability and success. Should you centralize functions for efficiency, empower teams for speed, or find a hybrid that keeps both alignment and creativity intact? Every choice reshapes how your people work, communicate, and deliver results.


In this simulation, learners face the real-world challenges of structuring organizations for performance, learning that great design isn’t static—it evolves with strategy.

Core Competencies

Organizational Transformation

Strategic Decision Making

Cross Functional Alignment

Building Strong Teams

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Entrepreneurship

Learning Objectives

Align organizational structure with strategy to drive efficiency, innovation, and long-term success.
Understand the pros and cons of various organizational methods that can be applied at different stages of the business life cycle.
Evaluate tradeoffs between centralization and autonomy to balance coordination and flexibility.
Adapt organizational design to growth and change in dynamic business environments.

Resources to Power Your Simulation

Each simulation comes with a Facilitation Guide along with 1:1 facilitator training and free trials.

Available with this simulation

Facilitation Guide

lock icon

Debrief Slides

lock icon

Author Video

lock icon

Free Trial & Demo

lock icon

Check Out Similar Forio Sims

Change Management

Power and Influence

Chess board with person moving a piece

A Harvard Business simulation, where the learners lead organizational transformation at a sunglasses manufacturing company as a change leader—build credibility, manage resistance, and use influence strategically to drive meaningful, lasting change.

Check It Out

Organizational Behavior

Leveraging Networks

person looking at phone

The Leveraging Networks simulation explores key concepts like network structures and dynamics, social capital, reciprocity, power and influence, and the strategic value of building strong professional networks.

Check It Out

Entrepreneurship

Honey Heritage Simulation

Honeycomb and Jar

Learners manage a honey business across multiple generations. They must balance business growth and profitability with family relationships and ownership goals to achieve long-term survival.

Check It Out

Strategy

Coffee Shop Inc.

Coffee Art in Barista Hands

Learners manage the strategy and operations of a coffee shop, progressing from a single store to a global chain, making decisions on strategy, operations, marketing, and HR.

Check It Out

Entrepreneurship

Food Truck

Food Truck

In this Harvard Business simulation, learners act as entrepreneurs launching a food venture in a dynamic market. Through rapid experimentation and data-driven decisions, they explore the power of prototyping and customer feedback to drive innovation and maximize revenue.

Check It Out

Entrepreneurship

The Balanced Scorecard

printed papers on desk

In this multi-player asynchronous simulation from Harvard, learners can experience the pros and cons of using a balanced scorecard to implement strategic ideas and monitor the company’s performance.

Check It Out

Organizational Behavior

Judgment in a Crisis

People moving sticky notes

This simulation explores issues related to human judgment, cognitive bias, and decision-making during a product launch crisis. The learners receive information to determine the cause of the issue and make recommendations for how the company should respond.

Check It Out

Human Resource Management

People Analytics

PA Small

The HR Management People Analytics simulation provides learners with the opportunity to take on the role of an HR Director with the goal of enhancing customer satisfaction while controlling costs.

Check It Out

Project Management

Project Management Simulation

desktop

In this Project Management simulation from Harvard Business Impact, participants learn how to successfully complete a project initiative while managing cost, time, and realistic challenges that are often faced by project managers in a highly competitive industry.

Check It Out