Organizational Archetypes
Organizational Archetypes
Grantham University
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine Mintzberg’s organizational archetypes and to explain why an organizational template is a good idea. It will also explore briefly, the subject of teamwork and leadership and why there are not enough true leaders today.
Organizational Archetypes To be successful, an organization has to be made up of quality people. It also has to be structured in such a way as to promote success. Successful businesses today are based on structural archetypes that were products of the work of Henry Mintzberg, a renowned management theorist. Henry Mintzberg graduated from McGill University and has written 15 books and about 150 articles all dealing with organizational structure. According to him, an organization 's structure comes from its strategy, the environmental forces it experiences, and the way the organization itself is built. When all of these work well together the organization will be successful, but if they do not interplay nicely the organization will not be successful (Markgraf, 2014). To better illustrate the idea he was promoting Mintzberg came up with basically five different structural archetypes. A couple of them may be referred to by different names but the five included are 1) the simple or entrepreneurial archetype, 2) the machine bureaucracy archetype, 3) the professional archetype, 4) the divisional archetype, and 5) the innovative (also known as adhocracy) archetype (Mintzberg 's Organizational Configurations, 2014). Each of these archetypes demonstrate a different way that a business can be structured and each of them are like an umbrella, encompassing a number of different types of businesses within each. But together, they represent the organizational structure of pretty much every business that has any type of success. So this begs the question: What are the key features of each
Grantham University
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine Mintzberg’s organizational archetypes and to explain why an organizational template is a good idea. It will also explore briefly, the subject of teamwork and leadership and why there are not enough true leaders today.
Organizational Archetypes To be successful, an organization has to be made up of quality people. It also has to be structured in such a way as to promote success. Successful businesses today are based on structural archetypes that were products of the work of Henry Mintzberg, a renowned management theorist. Henry Mintzberg graduated from McGill University and has written 15 books and about 150 articles all dealing with organizational structure. According to him, an organization 's structure comes from its strategy, the environmental forces it experiences, and the way the organization itself is built. When all of these work well together the organization will be successful, but if they do not interplay nicely the organization will not be successful (Markgraf, 2014). To better illustrate the idea he was promoting Mintzberg came up with basically five different structural archetypes. A couple of them may be referred to by different names but the five included are 1) the simple or entrepreneurial archetype, 2) the machine bureaucracy archetype, 3) the professional archetype, 4) the divisional archetype, and 5) the innovative (also known as adhocracy) archetype (Mintzberg 's Organizational Configurations, 2014). Each of these archetypes demonstrate a different way that a business can be structured and each of them are like an umbrella, encompassing a number of different types of businesses within each. But together, they represent the organizational structure of pretty much every business that has any type of success. So this begs the question: What are the key features of each
References: Kokemuller, N. (2014). Mintzberg 's Five Types of Organizational Structure. Retrieved August 16, 2014, from Houston Chronicles: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/mintzbergs-five-types-organizational-structure-60119.html Markgraf, B. (2014). Mintzberg 's Five Types of Organizational Structure. Retrieved August 16, 2014, from azCentral: http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/mintzbergs-five-types-organizational-structure-2705.html Microsoft. (n.d.). Business organizational chart. Retrieved August 16, 2014, from Microsoft.com Templates: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/business-organizational-chart-TC006088976.aspx Mintzberg 's Organizational Configurations. (2014). Retrieved August 16, 2014, from mindtools.com: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_54.htm Peshawaria, R. (2003, May 19). Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders. Retrieved August 16, 2014, from LeadershipNow.com: http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2011/09/too_many_bosses_too_few_leader.html