By: Joe Iaconis
Organizational Design
As defined in Organizational Behavior by Jason A. Colquitt,
Jeffery A. Lepine, and Michael J. Wesson, Organizational design is the process
of creating, selecting, or changing the structures of an organization. No organization should ever let an
organizational structure design itself.
The organizational design structure needs to be designed to fit the
specific needs of the organization to be a sufficient system. With a lack of productive planning,
some organizations fall into a trap where the organizational structure designs
itself on accident. If that is the
case, the organization is forced to implement a system immediately to would be
a major improvement. The authors also state that there are a number of factors
that influence the process of organizational design. Those factors include the environment in which the
organization does business, its strategy and technology, and the size of the
firm.
Characteristics of
Mechanistic vs. Organic Structures
The authors of Organizational Behavior provide a table that
shows the differences between the mechanistic structured organizations and the
organic structured organizations.
The table provides a lot of information that can be summed up by stating
that mechanistic organizations have a narrow mind as far as performing tasks,
where as organic organizations have a broad view of their tasks. Mechanistic
organizations also have strict authoritative guidelines whereas organic
organizations are more open as far as sharing of responsibilities. Although
organic organizations still have chain-of-command, it is more loosely
associated with authority.
Management handles almost all of the decisions in a mechanistic
structure as well; employees are not to make decisions on their own without a
manager’s consent. As many would
assume, the organic is more free-spirited when it comes to
decision-making. If you feel like
the decision is right and appropriate, then you are encouraged to make the
logical decision. The passing of
information is all done through the chain of command in the mechanistic
organization. Information goes
from the employee up to the supervisor and then the supervision disperses the
information. Organic organizations
are more based on advice and information sharing on all levels. Finally, the knowledge and expertise of
the employees of a mechanistic organization is, what the authors call, “firm
specific”. In other words,
specialization is key. On the flip
side, in organic organizations “employees are encouraged to develop knowledge
and expertise outside of their specialization”. What this table is explaining is that, mechanistic
organizations are bureaucratic and organic organizations are not as structured
and more creative.
The Academy of
Management Review
While doing research I found a lengthy article from The
Academy of Management Review. The
author discussed organizational structure and design and confirmed that an
organizations design is never truly set in stone, it is always changing and
updating itself. Comparing it to technology
would be sufficient (Tushman, 1978). Once you buy
a laptop at a top retailer, within months, your product is out of date. The same goes for organizational
structure and design. As your
organization’s products and systems change, your organizational structure and
design does as well. The article
also talks about the basic goal of any organization, which is to determine the
best organizational structures and designs that are best and most effective
depending on the situations that the organization may face (Tushman, 1978).
Organizational
Structure
Continuing my research, I stumbled upon another article that
agreed and elaborated on the notion of how organizations need to implement the
right structure and design to suit their needs (Scott, 1975). The article states that the better suited the structure is
for the organization, the longer the structure will last and the most
beneficial it will be for the organization. Which for lack of a better word is common sense. One of the headings stuck out to me,
“Structure is a Dependent Variable” and it truly is. Setting a structure up before you set boundaries and
determine your organizations main goals could lead to a quick switch in
structures (Scott, 1975).
Designing an
Effective Organization Structure
I stumbled upon a very well thought-out PowerPoint presentation
on Designing an Effective Organizational Structure. The main point I wanted to touch on is what seems to be a
very effective wheel so to speak that shows the steps of designing an
organizational structure. The
first step involves leadership.
Essentially, laying out the determinants of the structure and your goals
as an organization. In other words, step one is a very rough draft. The second step is decision-making and
structure, followed by people, and work processes and systems. All four of those revolve around
culture (The Bridgespan Group, 2009). The culture is how the
organization is centered around.
They also mention at the end of the PowerPoint a quote that I feel
resonates well with this topic as far as organizational structure. The quote is “Just because you can
change the organization’s structure, doesn’t mean that you should” (The Bridgespan Group, 2009).
Conclusion
After doing my research I’ve come to find a few things in
particular that I plan to use in the workforce now and in the future. Seeing the differences in the strategy
and designs, I’ve decided that I would want to work in an organic structured
organization. If I were to ever
manage an organization in any way I’d do my very best to try and implement both
systems but lean more towards the organic system.
Information
Processing as an Integrating Concept in Organizational Design
Michael L. Tushman and David A. Nadler
The Academy of Management Review, Vol, No. 3 (Jul., 1978),
pp. 613-624
Published by: Academy of Management
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/257550
W. Richard Scott
Annual Review of Sociology , Vol. 1, (1975), pp. 1-20
Published by: Annual Reviews
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2946037
The Bridgespan Group (2009, January), Designing and
effective organization structure, Retrieved from http://www.bridgespan.org/getmedia/b1139597-adfe-4dd7-bbb2-ac8c67883020/Effective-Organizations_-Structural-Design.pdf.aspx
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