Introduction
In the context of management, organisation structure is a backbone of an organisation. Mintzberg (1980) suggested five general types of organisation configuration, constituted by coordinating different elements of organisation (basic parts of organisation, coordinating mechanisms, design parameters and contingency factors), which will be illustrated indirectly as preferring to present in different version to describe Mintzberg’s configurations in this essay. In effect, his suggested structures are related to scientific management in some senses. This essay will reveal the abstract of Mintzberg’s five configurations with arguments, and personal perspectives of how his work help us gain more understanding beyond scientific management in terms of contingency factors and standardization.
1.Mintzberg’s five organisational configurations
a. Simple structure
Mintzberg (1980,pp.331-332) suggested this comparatively flat and informal architecture has minimal hierarchy, which only consists of top managers and operation, coordinating through direct command. Task allocation, work instructions and training are unnecessary due to the simple mechanism. The importance of this structure is organism, because of little hierarchy and decision centralization on chief executives that provides flexibility and adaptability, enable quick reaction and response to emergent environment as an advantage. Success heavily depends on executives’ capacity to operate. However, Dewar
According to Alfred Chandler (1977), the structure involved ‘administrative coordination’ can bring higher profit, productive and lower cost. He describes it as “The visible hand”. He believe the traditional will be gradually replaced by the multi-unit ‘modern business enterprise’ The top of the mine-and-staff structure based organization is the top management, then middle management, lower management and foremen, supervisors and so forth. (See figure 1) The command send from the top manager to the middle manager, then the mission will be allocated to the lower level until to the front-line staff. A person in a line position is directly involved in achieving the basic objectives of the organization. A person in a staff position, by
The transformed organizational model is quite different and the operating process is quite different. Figure below gives us insight into why interconnecting the stovepipes is a better option. We redisplay the organization in 'link patterns' and we see a totally new perspective. By adding the horizontal ties we have transformed a simple hierarchy into an interconnected group. Recent research by psychologist Patrick Laughlin of the University of Illinois shows that groups outperform even the best individuals in decision making. Intelligence information is rarely clear or complete -- a key reason for having many perspectives and diverse experiences for cross-pollination and sense-making. (Organizational Hierarchy, page 1 para. 10)
Holden company is a worldwide producer and wholesaler of engine vehicle, motors, accessories and parts. Company and GM all inclusive, seeing Australia as configuration focus of magnificence and a critical springboard into the developing Asian markets.In spite of their Australian market victories, Company understood that to finish on the worldwide sytage they have to move to a higher plane of initiative and coordinated effort. Basically, Company wished to have an extraordinary official group, with astounding individual abilities additionally the systems to draw in viably as a group, to acknowledge vital business goals.
a. How was the Hoosier Burger project identified and selected? What focus will the new system have?
The organizational structure shows the chain of a command in an origination. It shows the administration choices that the management makes for the betterment of the company. Notably, people have different preferences and styles of management. Therefore, their choices vary from one organization to another. Some companies choose a long chain of command while others prefer a shorter chain with departments brought together. Even in the same organization, the options will vary when new management takes over. This paper compares and contrasts the organizational structure of New York Police Department and Walmart Company.
Once a hierarchy is established, there is less challenging by the subordinates. “Having a strong leader also makes any group more effective at coordinating action toward some clearly stated goal” (Conniff, 2005,p.78). Although we may resent the hierarchy, we tend to find it comforting and feel safe within it.
The organization has a tall structure with many hierarchical levels, resembling a system with a vertical functional design. There is a fairly narrow span of management with most important decisions being by either the board of trustees or the CEO. See Figure A in Appendix
The elements of design were created by Arthur Wesley Dow to help people see, describe, and create visual qualities in a systematic way. It consists of 7 elements: line, shape, form, colour, value, texture and space.
Hierarchy in an organization is seen as reflecting inherent inequalities, centralization is popular, subordinates expect to be told what to do and the ideal boss is a benevolent autocrat.
Organizations tend to adopt three major theoretical perspectives that form the basis of their systems. The three include the open, rational and the closed systems (Scott, 2003). There is the crucial need to ensure one can understand these perspectives to understand how the organizations operate. The three perspectives are a representation of the scientific development of the organizations.
As president of the National Association of Safety Regulators, Solomon Alvi, had booked a hotel stay for his convention. This was the hotels first convention in 30 years. What seem to be a pleasurable stay ended up to be a catastrophe!
As seen from figure 2, the matrix organisational structure is complex and aligns functional and divisional organisational structures merged into a hierarchical structure. The student observes that with this comes the potential to on the one hand, improve interdepartmental collaboration through avoiding silo-functioning and yet, on the other hand, blur the unity of command structure in an organisation that can be counterproductive. A critical analysis of two major advantages and disadvantages of this organisational structure here
Effective organizational structures define how job tasks are subdivided, grouped, coordinated, and managed. Six key components of organizational structures include division of labor, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control, centralization, and formalization (Remme, Jones, Van der Heijden, & De Bono, 2008, p. 79). Each element influence how employees interact with each other to reach organizational goals. Different structures are common in similar organizations among high performing organizations (Reimann, 1974, p. 707). The most appropriate structure will depend on the unique needs and culture of the organization.
According to Miles et al. (1978, p. 547), an organization is both its purpose and the mechanism constructed to achieve the purpose. It means that the concept of organization is embracing both goals and all the elements that represent unique combination. Miles et al. (1978, p. 553) draws the conclusion that structure and the processes taking place inside the organization are closely aligned; it is hard to speak about one without mentioning the other. It is important to understand the conclusion drawn by Miles et al. (1978). It illustrates how the
In the early 1980s, Henry Mintzberg’s, constructed the organizational archetypes. In this model Mintzbeg introduces five types of organization structure and how they influence the functions of organizations. On the organizational model there are five categories which are: Entrepreneurial, Machine (Bureaucracy), Professional bureaucracy, The Divisional (Diversified), and Adhocracy. Entrepreneurial organization consists of one large unit with one or a few top managers. The organization is relatively unstructured and informal compared with other types of organization, and the lack of standardized systems allows the organization to be flexible.