Mixing these functional building blocks within a job definition inevitably creates impossible requisite variety and conflicts of interests that will lower performance. Reserving inevitable conflicts of interests for the highest possible level of the organization has a number of advantages. It ensures that the most seasoned leaders, those with the broadest strategic purview, deal with the difficult balancing acts involved in paradoxical objectives. It also separates conflicting forces so that the executive can explicitly adjust the balances amongst them. Focusing jobs on a single functional building block also sends a clear message to everybody in the organization about their roles and their relationships to each other and to clients.
Excellence comes from focusing on one subject area in great depth.
Clearly focused jobs also help people understand what others in the organization offer, creating a basis for collaboration. In a small organization, some combinations of building blocks are inevitable. When they are, combinations should be made within the same family of building blocks. It is easier to serve as a Technologist for a few different technologies than as both a Technologist and a Service Bureau. A healthy structure keeps all aspects of each building block together.