Mechanistic and organic are two common management style adopted in modern management. In my point of view, organic management style is better than mechanistic management style.
Organic management style is defined by Rowan (1990) as “a shift away from conventional, hierarchical patterns of bureaucratic control toward what has been referred to as a network pattern of control”. Also, Sebastian pointed out some characteristics of organic management style such as: Flexible task definition; lateral communication; low degrees of formalisation; expertise-based influence; decentralised control; simple differentiation and low degree of co-ordination. The benefits of organic management style are going to be discussed below.
Benefits
Firstly of all, organic management style is good for empowerment. As Stewart described, empowerment is “simply the effective use of a manger’s authority” and it is “a productive way to maximize all-around work efficiency”. Indeed, empowerment is now more and more important in management field. It encourages employees to involve in organisational decision making, which make final decision much more doable and implement easily. Also, empowerment may make employees feel considered and satisfied which enhance employee loyalty and encourage employees to take responsibility as well.
Secondly, some western countries like Australia, labour cost is one of the largest expend shown in financial statement every year. reducing labour cost is another benefit that brought up by organic management style. Under organic management style, organisational structure is flat and horizontal rather than hierarchical. In that case, the more employees managed by one manager, the less labour cost to implement.
Moreover, organic management style also can enhance employees and departments cooperation. As fewer levels of management, cooperation and communication within hospitality company are much more effective and efficient. Moreover, without too