Organizational Structure and Design

Response 1)Kiona O.

Organizations Structure & Design

Organizational structure as defined by Minterzberg (1972), “is the framework of the relations on jobs, systems, operating process, people and groups making efforts to achieve the goals. Organizational structure is a set of methods dividing the task to determine duties and coordinates them” (Ahmady, Mehrpour, Nikoorvesh, 2016, p. 456). Mintzberg’s definition highlights that organizational structure relies on a combination of factors that work as a collective to make an organization what it is and what it wants to be. There are various organizational structures and designs, that fall into two categories, physical and social.

An organization chooses a structure on the basis that best fits their organization, it can be based on factors such as organization’s complexity, number of members, company size and management. Once an organization’s structure and design is chosen, the next obstacle is communication. Communication within organizations is often facilitated by organizational leaders.The structure of an organization greatly influences and impacts organizational leaders. Spaho stated, “Managers spend majority of their time communication in several forms: meeting, face-to-face discussion, letters, emails etc” (2012, p.309). Managers are constantly communicating, every manager communicates differently not only due to their own personal style but, due to an organization’s structure and design.

The way communication flows in every organization is dependent upon the structure of management and this in turn impacts the organizational leaders. Most organizations hope to utilize various directions of communication. This impacts organizational leaders because often they are tasked with being a sender and receiver of communication and the dispersion of communication, whether it be correct or not will impact an organization.

Organizational structure and design is important in that it sets the tone for organizational leaders, which in turn sets the tone for other employees as well. The structure will determine the direction of communication whether that be downward, upward, horizontal or diagonal. Most importantly organizations structure and design impacts every aspect of an organization but the most important has and continues to be communication. As Spaho (2012) stated, “communication is required not only for human relations but for a good and successful business”(p.309).

References

Ahmady, G. A., Mehrpour, M., & Nikooravesh, A. (2016). Organizational structure.

Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 230, 455-462

Kenan Spaho. (2012). Organizational communication process. Ekonomski Vjesnik,

XXV(2), 309-317.

Response 2)Samridhi C.

Organizational Structure and Design

Organizational structure serves as one of the fundamental components of dictating how communication is facilitated within an entity. It is the framework by which task, duty, and role distribution is determined (Ahmady, Mehrpour & Nikooravesh, 2016). It is imperative that these structures are set up in a manner that promote decision making, conflict resolution, and a truly conducive learning environment.

There are several factors that can impact how organizational structures are created and are some of the underlying reasons why each organization differs from the next. These factors can include organization goals, strategies, environment, technology, size, etc. For instance, a family run business will have a very different organizational structure than a pharmaceutical company. This is largely due to the differences in the aforementioned factors for each of the two businesses. By evaluating them, we are able to lay a framework that best allows us to meet the needs of our specific organization.

While these structures can be classified in a number of ways, the two that are largely used are organic and mechanistic structures (Ahmady, Mehropour & Nikooravesh, 2016). Organic structures contain less horizontal differentiation, have high collaboration, flexible tasks, and informal communication. This structure might be more prevalent among startup companies where there isn’t a strict hierarchical set up. Meanwhile, a mechanistic structure is one in which there is more formal communication, centralized decision making and more inflexible relations. This might be more common amongst well established entities such as law firms or banks where there are multiple levels of authority and levels of expertise.

An organization can be further broken down into five main sections. The first section is the operative core which consists of workers that are responsible for carrying out the organization’s tasks. It is followed by the strategic apex which refers to the top level management and its support staff. Next is the middle line which includes the managers that exist between the operating core and top management. Finally, there is a techno structure which includes analysts who carry out the duties or standards of the organization and the support staff which aids in linking with organizational activities.

Ultimately, while it may seem as though organization structure is simply the skeleton of a business, it is crucial for effective communication within any organization. As such, communication is very dynamic and new ideas and meanings are created everyday. This eventually develops into a language that becomes unique to the culture of the particular organization. There are various types and methodologies of organizational communication. One example includes span of control which refers to the number of persons who report to a superior within an organization (Spaho, 2012). As the span of control widens, a communication barrier begins to develop and the effectiveness of the communication channels begins to weaken. This communication can be either informal or formal. This is entirely dependent on the organizational structure and dynamics of a particular organization. The two notions are interdependent and play a fundamental role in determining the success of an organization.

Works Cited

Ahmady, G. A., Mehrpour, M., & Nikooravesh, A. (2016). Organizational structure. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 230, 455-462.

Kenan Spaho. (2012). Organizational communication process. Ekonomski Vjesnik, XXV(2), 309-317.