Organizational structure provides the framework of a business and its style of management. The purpose of structure is department of work and coordination of activities among associates, in order to achieve aims of the organization. The organizational framework directly determines the formal command line system and communication network, which not only influence the move of information and material and utilization efficiency, but also have an impact on the emotional and communal functions inside the organization. Therefore, the appropriate organization structure is very essential to effectively reach goals of the organization. In the following paragraphs, I will make clear the vital impacts of technology and environment on the creation of organizational composition.
An organizational framework is a engineering which directs participants through handling, coordinating and motivation to complete organizational goals. Horizontal department of labour relates to expertise of the labour pressure. The vertical department of labour is associated with handling, monitoring, decision making and program of specialist distribution.
An group has various ways and styles to be organised, due to different goals and conditions. You will find three ideas about which factor affects variation of corporation structure. The first argument in favour of environment condition, which is a very important constraint to select an effective structure form. The rest of the factors which are believed to affect organizational constructions are technology and size.
Technology mainly identifies the procedure from type to outcome within the business. The level of certainty on complex activities of the organization establishes different management and coordination requirements for the organizational structure. A high degree of certainty can improve formalization and centralization of organizational composition. On the other hand, the framework of corporation in this situation will need greater versatility.
Technology is a transformation process of system to complete its responsibilities in an corporation. A crucial issue in technology is interacting with an organizational customers' demand for productivity customization. The rate of which products must be modified relates to this. Once the demand for product change or outcome customization is high, a well balanced organizational composition is unacceptable for controlling the creation process. To be able to efficiently fulfill needs of customization and change, an adaptive framework is more effective and advisable. For example, in the Microsoft, the development of new technology and product is a major quest in the fierce market competition. To attain the goal, employees and departments need to pay more focus on market demand and other challengers. Therefore, flexible structure is essential to take effective methods in terms of environmental changes.
If outputs are standardized, product life-cycles are long, and consumer exceptions are few, more bureaucratic or mechanistic constructions will be appropriate. It is likely that organizations which can be confronted with high demands for outcome customization or change pay higher focus on effective problem solving, while organizations with relatively stable transformation technologies target more on the useful performance. As the task in organizations with routine solutions is standardized, employees are likely to be required less training and education. Employees in business with non-routine technologies need professional training and relevant work experience. In comparison to a worker in the set up line, a costume designer may be needed more professional knowledge and skill training.
Span of control refers to the number of subordinates supervised by way of a supervisor or a supervisor. Period of control is also different in organizations with different types of technology. The more technical the technology, a lot more that the requirement of your supervisor for problem handling. However, it depends on professional employees in an group with non-routine technologies. Professional staffs have expert knowledge and personal experience that is capable of doing well without close supervision, so the span of control can be much larger. The period of control in organizations with non-routine technologies is smaller than that in organizations with daily habit technologies.
Centralization of decision making is also a figure of organizations with tedious technologies. Furthermore, coordination and control are covered within a centralized management framework. The organization's task is usually in the form of memos, accounts and procedures when it is analyzable and the communication is regular. On the other hand, if the duty is less analyzable, information is conveyed by interpersonal communication, for instance, telephone chat and conferences. The opportunity of decision making specialist is prolonged in organizations with non-routine solutions, so are coordination and control activities.
Based on the relationship between technology and organizational composition, we can predict whatever organizational structure is suitable that form of technology. For instance, machine bureaucracies should only be employed to routine technology. Organic composition is sufficient for other types of technologies, though it may work best with non-routine solutions.
There is a technological determinism which argues that technology is the principal force to determine jobs, attitudes, behaviours and organizational buildings. Joan Woodward, James Thompson and Charles Perrow are the representative figures in this institution.
Joan Woodward discovered that an organization framework was related to its performance through technology. She thought that it was the complexity of technology established which composition to be utilized. Woodward discovered that as the technology became more technical, the length of the string demand would increase, so performed the proportion of managers altogether employment. Using the increasing complexity of technology, the management personnel's period of control enlarged.
James Thompson argues that organizational constructions are determined by the type of coordination, which is suggested by interdependence between individuals, communities and divisions. Different varieties of technology create different types of interdependence, so technology indirectly influences the organization composition. It's the pooled activity interdependence when the efforts created by individuals and departments are distinct and independent. When this happens, it is easy to judge the performance of every group member or department, so a bureaucratic organization framework with low coordination costs is modified. Long-linked technology is a technology that requires a series of duties to be performed in a predetermined order. One division or a person cannot perform until the former has completed their duties. It is sequential task interdependence when the performance of a team member or a office is difficult to be evaluated, so different divisions need to attain a consensus through coordination and integration. For instance, in the move process of fruit juice production, fruit juice must be processed before it can be packaged.
Factors, fads and trends of external environment lead to improve in internal organization structure, processes and behaviours. The strategies that an organization uses to manage its environment are mirrored in the framework of the organization. Organizational composition is not static, it will change as the days progress and variation of environment. As the external environment is now increasingly more intricate, organizations have to adjust to the changes. For example, in 2004, Motorola declared reorganization in the platform of company, because the first deficit in the last three years occurred. Motorola attributed the loss to lower demand for highpoint cell phones and continuous drop of market prices. There were only two business departments in the company after reorganization: research and development team and marketing section.
To some extent, the success of an organization's procedure depends upon its responds to environmental conditions. Environmental variability is the primary factor which is taken into account of decision creators. It identifies the degree of change in environmental activities relating to the operation of organizations. The higher the variability and doubt, the structure of organizations should become more adaptable and flexible. Organic framework and mechanistic are two habits of organizational structure that can be created by environmental conditions. Organic structure represents an organizational form with low specialty area and standardization, greater process interdependence and lateral connection. An organic framework is suited to a company operated in a turbulent environment, while the organization with steady surroundings should employ the mechanistic structure. As both of these structures are appropriate for different environment, so that it is difficult to guage which one is better.
Differentiation is the procedure of dividing an organization into different departments and each of them is accountable for different kinds of tasks. As differentiation allows employees to make better response to the environment, many organizations increase their differentiation when their environment becomes more complex. For instance, in a little restaurant, there may be only three employees: a chef, a cashier and a waiter. Together with the expanded range of its business, the restaurant will demand more staffs, such as purchasing agent, accountant and supervisor. However, extreme differentiation of departments can lead to difficulties in cooperation and aggravation of conflicts. To be able to prevent this from happening, organizations must fortify coordination between different departments. It is the reason why the surroundings determinists think that the amount of environment uncertain motivated the organization composition.
Duncan produced the typology of organizational conditions, which is different from the point of view that external environments determine internal constructions. He argues that organizational effect made to environmentally friendly changes is determined by the managers' perception alternatively than objective observer's classification. When a manager never have realised that the surroundings is changing, he will not give a corresponding response. The internal structures and procedures will change with changes inside our understanding. Since different managers focus on different aspects of the surroundings, they get different information and make different decisions about organizational strategy and composition.
Conclusion
In conclusion, selecting organizational structure will depend on largely on the technology and environment it faces. Despite the fact that a great deal of modern theorists of technology do not consider that technological determinism can be an accurate concept to express the relationship between organization structure and technological improvements, it makes a significant contribution to development of organizational theory. Environmental conditions have results on the proper execution of organizations, and the organizational composition employed by an organization reflects the surroundings where it operates. Organizational structure plays an important role in the operation of organizations and development of organizational behavior. The analysis of organization framework can help us understand how to establish successful and efficient form of organizations.
