Module 6: Structure and Culture

Organization Structure

• a blueprint for how an organization works

• describes how tasks are formally divided and coordinated across positions, functions, and levels

Chain of command

Number of authority levels in an organization

Span of Control

number of workers that must report to a supervisor (tall and flat)

Tall structure

long chain of command and narrow span of control

Flat structure

short chain of command but wide span of control

Functional Structure

organization is divided into departments based on functions or tasks

Divisional Structure

divides the organization according to types of products or customers

Matrix Structure

Combines functional and divisional structures (expertise & product/service focus).

Centralized

decision making authority is concentrated at the top of the organizational hierarchy

Decentralized

• Authority and decision-making are dispersed throughout the organization.

• Empowers lower-level employees

• Often seen in flat organizations

Line

directly engaged in tasks that achieve the primary goals of the organization

Staff

specialized positions designed to suppor the line

Organization Strategy

• An organization's structure should support its strategic goals

• A simple structure might hinder national expansion for a small business

• Growth often necessitates changes in complexity, control, and specialization

Leadership

Family businesses often structure around the owner's vision and values

Size

• Larger organizations tend to have:

  • More complex structures

  • Increased hierarchy

  • More formalization

• More employees, more complex

Technology

Mechanisms or processes in org’s product or service

Business Environment

• Markets may determine units or departments need to be created

• Structures need to adapt to:

  • Competitive landscape (benchmarking)

  • Regulatory requirements

  • Market demands (creation of new units)

Organization Culture

• A standardized pattern of values, guiding beliefs, understanding, way of thinking and perceiving, behaving and reacting to situations shared by members of an org

  • Can be traced to its founders

  • Developed through its experience with the external environment

Artifacts and Creations

• Visible organizational structure and processes

• The tip of the iceberg or part that we can readily see.

• Tangible aspects of the organization enable an 'outsider' to determine ways of dealing with organization members.

• May not accurately depict how organization members will react to social or environmental cues.

• E.g. Dress code, physical layout, language, manner by which people address each other and company documents etc.

Values

• Strategies, goals, Articulated norms, beliefs, and philosophies about how and why things are done.

• E.g. Work ethic, practice, cooperation, teamwork, innovation, and power structure etc.

Basic Assumptions

• The taken-for-granted, underlying, and usually unconscious.

• Source of perceptions, thought processes, feelings, and behavior(s) of people in organizations.

• Implicitly govern people's attitudes and behaviors that may reflect or contradict artifacts and articulated values.

• E.g. Performance leads to rewards, everyone is treated with respect, values out-of-the-box solutions etc.

Quinn and Rohrbaugh

• categorized organizational cultures into those which are either

  • structurally flexible (organic or stable [mechanistic]) and

  • have internal versus external focus or orientation.

Collaborate

emphasize internal ops, flexibility, and autonomy/discretion

Control

standardization and efficiency, hierarchical, present usually in hierarchical organizations

Compete

competition and stable positioning in the market

Create

concern for differentiation, considers creativity and innovation

Solidarity

A community's ability to pursue shared objectives quickly and effectively

Sociability

Measure of sincere friendliness among members of a community

Power distance

deference to authority

Individualism-Collectivism

group interactions and membership

Masculinity/femininity

competitiveness vs caring for others

Uncertainty avoidance

feeling of threat by ambiguous situations

Long-term orientation

future-oriented perspective

Unfreeze

ensures the employees are ready for change

Change

execute intended change

Refreeze

ensure that the change becomes permanent