Week 4: Structure
What does it mean?
How an organisation structures itself very often relates to how it chooses to organise its assets and people to respond effectively to the challenges of its external environment.
imagine it as a framework designed to allow members of a business organisation to work effectively with each other and to coordinate their activities.
Types
different departments, each concerned with a particular area of activity.
hierarchical structure, with several layers of responsibility, where members of the organisation do similar things at each level
flat management structure with very few levels between the top and bottom of the organisation
In other business organisations, structure is influenced by physical aspects, such as geographical locations or divisions.
The Three C'S
Communication
Coordination
Control
can help us to define organisational structure as the way of structuring relationships between individuals and groups within an organisation to enhance communication, coordination and control in order to achieve shared objectives.
Organisational forms (See book)
Simple
Functional
Multidivisonal
Matrix
E. Beinhocker whose study of organisations looked at how businesses that have adapted their structures to meet competitive forces are seen as being "adaptive" albeit having "complex but adaptive systems" (E.Beinhocker 2006).
Need to find one that works for the organisation but also meets the needs of customers effectively.
Silo-thinking
Management may identify more with ‘their’ business unit and become blinkered or even uncooperative with the broader organisation. Such attitudes are called ‘silo-thinking’ and are often identified with certain organisational forms
Level of autonomy
Lawrence and Lorsch – alongside differentiation of function and task, the organisation as a system has to be coordinated. Both differentiation (everyone doing their own job) and integration (those jobs coming together within the organisational structure) are required in order for the organisation to perform effectively.
Organisational structures may need to change in response to the external environment