Structuring organization is an engineering job. The way the structures are used determine the effectiveness of an organization structure.
Organization Design
Decisions
Structuring organization is an
engineering job. The way the structures are used determine the effectiveness of
an organization structure. It implies that the philosophy of management counts.
There are two generic of organizational design followed by the philosophical
factors.
1. Mechanistic
2. Organic
Table 18-3 describes the two
organizational forms. The mechanistic organization is a rigid and tightly
controlled structure. It’s characterized by high specialization, rigid
departmentalization, narrow spans of control, high formalization, a limited
information network (mostly downward communication) and little participation in
decision-making by lower-level employees.
Mechanistic types of
organizational structures tend to be efficiency machines, well oiled by rules,
regulations standardized tasks, and similar controls. This organizational
design tries to minimize the impact of differencing personalities, judgments
and ambiguity because these human traits are seen as inefficient and
inconsistent. Although no pure form of a mechanistic organization exists in
reality, almost all large corporations and governmental agencies have at least
some of these mechanistic characteristics.
In direct contrast to the
mechanistic form of organization is the organic organization, which is as
highly adaptive and flexible, a structure as the mechanistic organization is
rigid and stable. Rather than having standardized jobs and regulation, the organic
organizations is flexible, which allows is to change rapidly as needs require,
Organic organizations have division of labour, but the jobs people do are not
standardized. Employees are highly trained and empowered to handle diverse job
activities and problems, and these organizations frequently use employee teams
The choice of mechanistic or organic structures
depends upon several factors as shown in Table 18-4
British scholar Woodward
categorized organizations based on three distinct technologies The first
category, unit production, described
the production of times in units or small batches. The second category, mass production described large-batch
manufacturing. Finally, the third
and most technically complex group, process production, includedcontinuous-process production. In general, the more
routine the technology, the more standardized and mechanistic the structure can
be. Organizations with more non-routine technology are more likely to have
organics structures.
Boundary less organization
The term was coined by jack
Welch, former chairman of General Electric, who wanted to eliminate vertical
and horizontal boundaries within GE and break down external barriers between
the company and its customers and suppliers. This idea may sound odd, yet many
of today’s most successful organizations are finding that they can most
effectively operate in today’s environment by remaining flexible, not having a
rigid, predefined structure. The boundary less organization seeks to eliminate the
chain of command, to have appropriate spans of control, and to replace
departments with empowered teams.
By removing vertical boundaries
through such structural approaches as cross-hierarchical teams and
participative decision making, the hierarchy is flattened. Managers can remove
horizontal boundaries by using cross-functional teams and organizing work
activities around work processes instead of round functional departments. And
external boundaries can be minimized or eliminated by using strategic alliances
with suppliers, or value chain management.It’s an organization that has developed the
capacity to continuously adapt and change because all members take an active
role in identifying and resolving work-related issues. In a learning
organization, employees are practicing knowledge management
by continuously acquiring and sharing new knowledge and are willing to apply
that knowledge in making decisions or performing their work. Some
organizational design theories even go so far as to say that an organization’s
ability to do this-that is, to learn and to apply that learning as they perform
the organization’s work-may be the only sustainable source of competitive
advantage.
Tags : Strategic Management - Functional Strategy
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