September 27, 1984

A stern restructuring is under way at Newsweek as the magazine searches for leaner operations and higher profits. After a decade of repeated management changes that left a legacy of a swollen corporate structure and depressed profits, Newsweek has been systematically streamlining itself in recent months under the close scrutiny of the the Washington Post Company, Newsweek's owner. In late July, tightened cost controls and new operating procedures were installed for the magazine's editorial staff, which had largely escaped the companywide effort at improving profits and efficiency. Changes in Character Seen Although Newsweek executives insist that the magazine's quality will not be affected, some staff members say the relatively free-wheeling and independent character of Newsweek Inc. - the corporate body that publishes the magazine - is changing for the worse as it responds to the Post Company's heightened pressure for an improved bottom line. The goal, both Post and Newsweek officials say, is to maintain the quality of the magazine while increasing a disappointing profit margin of 5.1 percent in 1983 to 12 percent in several years.

acre formal garden she designed in the classical style in the Taconic foothills in upstate New York, she might be describing the construction of an elaborate house. ''The local people who built it were fine craftsmen working from a medieval point of view,'' Mrs. Poehler, a landscape architect, said of the privately owned garden, rarely open to the public. ''There are four different kinds of stone - granite, bluestone, shale and red dog, a kind of rosy slag - in the design.'' Purely in the classical style, after the Italian villas of the 17th century, the garden is unusual in America. To transform the bucolic New York landscape into lush greensward, clipped hedges and topiary forms, punctuated by stone balustrades, urns and obelisks meant starting from scratch. Mrs. Poehler, who lives in Sharon, Conn., created the garden's dazzling serenity and formal order over 25 years beginning in 1947 on commission for the owner.

The Governor of Hong Kong came back from Peking today bringing the people of this British colony their first detailed glimpse of their future under Chinese rule after 1997. There was no rejoicing here tonight as the Governor, Sir Edward Youde, revealed details of the accord initialed today in Peking in a report to Hong Kong's Legislative Council while a dismal rain fell over the city. Instead, there seemed to be a sense of resignation tempered with relief among the colony's 5.5 million people. ''The destiny of Hong Kong is now the same as the destiny of China,'' the political commentator T. L. Tsim said. ''There is no escaping.''

I.B.M. announced that it would acquire Rolm, one of Silicon Valley's leading makers of telephone switching equipment, for $1.25 billion in securities. The acquisition, I.B.M.'s largest ever and its first since 1962, would place the computer giant in direct competition with A.T.& T. and several Japanese companies in the market for complex telephone equipment. (Page A1.) Continental Illinois expects to nearly break even in the third quarter, the chairman of the beleaguered bank said. The executive, William S. Ogden, also said that the bank would soon release a strategic plan, detailing where it would make cuts in its operations. Shareholders, meanwhile, overwhelmingly approved the $4.5 billion rescue plan for the bank put together by the F.D.I.C., the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve. (D1.)

William S. Ogden, chairman and chief executive of the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company, predicted today that the beleaguered bank would be ''in the neighborhood of breaking even'' in the third quarter. In the second quarter, the bank's holding company, the Continental Illinois Corporation, reported a loss of $1.16 billion, primarily because of charges taken for bad loans. Speaking at special shareholders meeting, Mr. Ogden also said that in the next few weeks the bank would release a strategic plan under which it would probably close some offices, lay off people, move out of certain activities and concentrate on others. Credibility in Marketplace Mr. Ogden, who declined to specify details of the plan, said its chief purpose was to restore confidence in the bank, which suffered a withering run of deposits last May.