Preview

The Effect of Organizational Structures on Performance

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3116 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Effect of Organizational Structures on Performance
This essay will give the main points of the effect of organizational structures on performance. It will define the term “organizational structure” and present the positive and negative effects of these structures on performance. This essay will address how structures determine procedures and rules by which are regulated human behaviour, its role in determining relationships in hierarchies and the importance of roles and expectations in directing employee behaviour. It will also underline the distinction between formal and informal company structures and discuss different outcomes of bureaucratic structures. Finally it will examine the sustainability of bureaucratic-classical structures in large corporations and the reasons for their existence.

In the early stages of industrialization, the need to plan and administer work was still at the level where it was hardly needed. Once grown, administrative structures expanded and it was thereon necessary to understand the functionality of it. When someone tries to understand the way an organization works, he asks himself three main questions: What? Why? How? That last question is the one that comprises the domain of organization structure. Organizational structure is the way in which the interrelated groups of an organization are constructed in order to make them work together in the sole purpose of achieving organizational goals. From a managerial point of view the main concerns are ensuring effective communication and coordination. The purpose of organization structure is to divide and allocate organizational activities to different categories of workers and to co-ordinate and control theses activities so that they achieve the aims of the organization (Buchanan and Huczynski, 1985, p.461). Organizational structure is present all around us. It matters because it facilitates control, divides responsibilities, enables to achieve tasks and achieve goals. We build on structure even if we are not necessarily aware of it.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    An organizational structure refers to the way that an organization arranges people and jobs so that its work can be performed and its goals can be met. When a work group is very small and face-to-face communication is frequent, formal structure may be unnecessary, but in a larger organization such as Barnes and Noble, decisions have to be made about the delegation of various tasks. Thus, procedures are established that assign responsibilities for various functions. It is these decisions that determine the organizational structure.…

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    An Organisation’s structure is a network of interdependencies among the people and the tasks that make up the Organisation. It is created and sustained by the basic coordination mechanisms of mutual adjustment, direct supervision and standardization, all of which coordinate inter-dependent relationships among people and groups (Wagner and Hollenbeck 2009). Pugh (1990) simplifies this by defining an organizational structure as consisting of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims.…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Bureaucratic structures stick to a strict hierarchy system when it comes to their management. Pre-bureaucratic structures lack in standards and are found more within small scale, start p companies. This structure is usually centralised and there is only one key decision maker. The communication within this structure is all done in one-to-one conversations; this type of structure can be really helpful for small scale organisations as the founder has full control over all the decisions and operation’s. Bureaucratic structures have a certain degree of standards and are found within organisations…

    • 1940 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bt & Ryanair

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Organizational structure is a system used to define a hierarchy within an organization. It identifies each job, it is function and where it reports to within the organization. This structure is developed to establish how an organization operates and assists an organization in obtaining its goals to allow for future growth. The structure is illustrated using an organizational chart and the Organisational culture is a concept developed by researchers to explain the values, psychology attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of an organization. Generally speaking, it is viewed as the shared norms and values of individuals and groups within an organization. This set of mutual understandings controls the way individuals interact with each other within the organization as well as with customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders existing outside the boundaries of the organization. BT has one of the most common types of organizational structures. This structure is the Bureaucratic structure. Routine, specialization and formal rules and procedures characterize.First of all focus on policy and stringent regulations to improve effectiveness and deliver results. Assign individuals…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Irhr1001 Essay 2

    • 2037 Words
    • 9 Pages

    An organisational structure accurately divides, selects groups and coordinates job tasks. Structure contributes to explain and predict organisational behaviour and organisational design. Managers often change organisational structures due to performance and efficiency being low (Robbins et al 2004), they should also ensure consistency in the structure, scale of operations, tasks at hand, need of stakeholders and strategic decision of the organisation, this distinguishes successful organisation from less successful organisations (Wood et al 2006). When changing the structure of the organisation managers should be aware of the six elements of structure: work specialisation is how tasks are subdivided into separate jobs; for example Ford workers had an assigned specific repetitive job such as installing the right front door of the car. This helped Ford to produce a car every ten seconds. Departmentalisation, groups jobs together in an organisation; such as marketing, human resources and accounting for instance Football organisations, Sydney Swans. Chain of command specifies who reports to whom (supervisor or store manager) and how (electronically or by speech). Span of control determines the amount of staff a manager can direct however it also identifies the amount of levels and managers the organisation will need. Centralisation and decentralisation aid in the decision…

    • 2037 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Organizational structure is a system used to define a hierarchy within an organization. It identifies each job, its function and where it reports to within the organization (Friend, n.d., para.1). The organizational structure is used to determine how a company operates, how it positions its employees, and how the organization carries out job functions to obtain goals presently, and in the future. According to Waters (2006), “An organizational structure divides a whole organization into distinct parts and defines the relationship among them” (p. 923). Large companies thrive from implementing these types of structures because…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the previous week I learned how the organization structure affects organizational functions. From what I have learned in the discussions of this class I can use some of these methods in my everyday life, because I work at a large company that holds different positions such as plant managers, plant supervisors, bookkeeping and human resources. I realize that it takes everyone in these positions to work together in order to have a well structure organizational. Organizational structure and organizational functions must work together to have an organized organization. In this week reading I also learned of the different organizational…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Organizational structure is a group of people working together to achieve goals and objective for the organization. The purpose is to show the reporting relationships of job descriptions within the business. An important tool to report and manage employees working together is structure. There are areas of an organizational structure that will assist the businesses to be profitable and successful. Firstly, the height which pertains to the number of levels from top management to lower level employees.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Organizational structure is described as the establishment of authority and the arrangement of the work group. Classical theorists developed the concept of departmentalization as a means to maintain command, reinforce authority, and provide a formal system for communication (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). The design of an organizational structure can be vertical or horizontal. Work is subsequently divided, and perhaps subdivided further. Tasks are specified and assigned to workers who fit into a plan.…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Assignment4

    • 2062 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Reviewing my reading material I obtain knowledge on the how the structural frame regulates the organization’s communication, competent planes for the organizations growth, and the management structure. The perspective of the Structural frames gives a clear view of, well-understood jobs and relationships. I also learned that the structural frame provides adequate coordination of how well an organization can perform. In addition, organizations were first build using this frame to max the effectiveness of the organization’s model and its employees. Scientific Management founded by Frederick W. Taylor was based on braking jobs and train employees to those tasks in order to maximize their productivity (Bolman & Deal, 2008). Max Weber was also involved on developing an organizational system by introducing norms of rationality called theory of bureaucracy. Bolman and Deal mentioned in their chapter 3 summary, “there is no one best way to organize” an organization (Bolman & Deal, 2008). Some organizations best way of organizing their companies is by using vertical coordination. I learned that these coordinates help control employees work through authority like managers and supervisors. Next, rules and policies aid the organization by specifying the standards to be kept in a quality level. In the other hand, I learned that lateral coordination is like plan be if the vertical coordination is…

    • 2062 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    “An organizations structure defines how job tasks are formally divided, grouped and coordinated. There are six key elements that managers need to address when they design their organizations structure: work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control, centralization and decentralization, and formalization” (Robbins & Judge, 2009, p. 519).…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Organizational Analysis

    • 4664 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Though it is obvious why understanding organizations is critical to business success, nevertheless it is worthwhile to review these reasons. The structure of a firm either enhances or hinders efficiency and productivity. In other words, how information flows and to whom, whether and how many parts of the work process is redundant, how clear and precise is the reporting structure, if and how new ideas and products are promoted - these and many more issues are obvious consequences of structure and profoundly affect the success of the business.…

    • 4664 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Organizational Structure

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Organizational structure plays an important role in day-to-day functions of an organization. The delegation of authority, work specialization, and employee reporting framework are some of the elements that help determine what the organizational structure should be. An efficient structure will facilitate decision making and smooth the span of control or scope managers have over operations.…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay Bureaucracy (1)

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Organizational structure provides a backbone upon which all of a company 's operational policies and work processes are built. It lays out managerial reporting relationships and the flow of ideas, decisions and information of the company. There is no single organizational structure that is inherently better than another. Rather, each structure has unique advantages and disadvantages best suited for specific situations. Here, I would like to discuss on one of the most common organizational structures, Bureaucracy.…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Organisations, like people and societies, have their own “culture” which mostly involves division of labour and a certain managerial style. Hierarchical positions exist in an organisational structure mainly to exercise control over the employees by obtaining maximum output from workers in terms of production. According to this chapter, the different hierarchical relations present in various businesses include complexity, formalisation and centralisation. In basic terms, complexity is about the many layers and divisions in an organisation, i.e. its interrelationships. Formalization is the extent to which work roles are structured in an organisation. It also includes how the activities of the employees are governed by various rules and procedures. Centralisation refers to the…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays