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Organisational structure and design - Coggle Diagram
Organisational structure and design
People:
The collection of unique brains, individually and combined, have the ability to envision and drive change
Structure:
The types of organisational culture and systems that enable people to challenge what is happening today and underpin the perceived successes of the future
Company secretaries and governance professionals will often find themselves in a privileged position to be able to step back and think
How does this organisation work?
Why does this organisation work?
Who makes the organisation work?
What is the organisational structure?
Johnson et al. (2017)
suggest that the organisational structure can be seen as the 'skeleton' of of the organisation that provides the basic framework on which everything else is built
Drucker (1968)
goes further by suggesting that the organisational structure is indispensable and the means for achieving the objectives and goals
Carter (1999)
discusses the structure as a framework of relationships recognising the damages of complexity and 'energy loss' where the structure has too many links
Strategy and structure
If the structure is so fundamental to the success of an organisation, how does it relate to the strategy?
Is a strategy required before developing a structure?
Is a structure required before developing a strategy?
The traditional view - strategy before structure - was supported by
Chandler (1962)
. His main conclusion was that to be successful, a company needed to first develop strategy and then develop structure
Quinn (1980)
concluded that the organisational environment was changing rapidly and that Chandler's conclusions needed placing within their historical context. Quinn argued that the strategy than structure model oversimplifies what is required and what actually happens within an organisation. He suggested that strategic change may need to happen incrementally (he called this logical incrementalism) and that the structure will be intertwined with the strategy through the life of an organisation with both needing to lead and follow at different stages
The strategy needs to be designed to shape and deliver the vision as required by the stakeholders
The structure needs to enable the delivery within the constraints of short-term and long-term viability and sustainability
Elements of organisational structure
Robbins and Judge (2016)
describe organisational structure as being the manner in which the required business functions are formally divided, grouped and co-ordinated and suggest that there are six key elements that ought to be considered:
Specialisation
The subdivision of tasks within the organisation into separate jobs to make the most effective use of the differing skills of employees
The development of employees with specific skills that maximise their potential abilities
The building of organisational efficiency through the optimal focus of employees
Departmentalisation
The grouping together of jobs to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of an operation
Alignment of function, product, geography, process or customer can allow greater focus for a range of related jobs within a production process
The bringing together of related specialisations within a supply chain
Chain of command
The hierarchical line of authority that runs from the top to the bottom of an organisation
Clarification of levels of accountability and authority
Unity of command suggests that each individual should have only one person to whom they report and are accountable
Span of control
The number of people that any one person has accountable to them
The optimising of how many subordinates a manager can effectively and efficiently control
Robbins & Judge suggest that the greater the span of control the greater the cost effectiveness, with fewer expensive managers at each level
Levels of centralisation
The degree to which decision-making is concentrated at a single point within an organisatin
A centralised structure will imply that senior management make all or most of the decisions
A decentralised structure will imply that decision making is delegated down throughout the organisation
Formalisation
How the different jobs within the organisation are structured and formalised
The levels of discretion that are or are not given to the people carrying out the jobs
The impact and controlling nature of rules and regulations within an organisation