ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE (4TH ED.)Barbara Senior & Stephen Swailes

Chapter 3: Organizational structure, design and change

LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this chapter, you will be able to: define what is meant by organizational design

and structure; explain the organizational forms that are

commonly found; discuss the relationship between strategy and

structure; evaluate the contingency relationships between

organizational structure, size, technology and the external environment;

assess the extent to which different structures can cope with and adapt to a variety of change processes.

THE DIMENSIONS OF STRUCTURE(PUGH, HICKSON, HININGS & TURNER, 1969)

1.Specialization: Different specialist roles and how they are distributed.

2.Standardization: The extent to which an organization uses regularly occurring procedures that are supported by bureaucratic procedures of invariable rules and processes.

3.Formalization: The extent to which written rules, procedures, instructions and communications are set out for the employees.

4.Centralization: The extent to which authority to make decisions lies with the apex (top) of the organization

5.Configuration: The shape and pattern of authority relationships; how many layers there are and the number of people who typically report to a supervisor.

6.Traditionalism: How many procedures are ‘understood’ in contrast to being written; how commonly accepted is the notion of ‘the way things are done around this organization.’

THE DIMENSIONS OF STRUCTURE(FOUR UNDERLYING DIMENSIONS)

1.Structure of activities: The extent to which there is formal regulation of employee behavior through the processes of specialization, standardization and formalization.

2.Concentration of authority: The extent to which decision making is centralized at the top of the organization.

3.Line control of workforce: The extent to which control of the work is exercised directly by line management rather than through more impersonal procedures.

4.Support component: The relative size of the administrative and other non-work-flow personnel performing activities auxiliary to the main workflow.

MODELS OF STRUCTURE Bureaucratic structure (Weber, 1947)

What are the advantages and disadvantages to the bureaucratic structure?

What is meant by “flatter structures” and how would this be advantageous to the organization?

Flatter Structures

Flatter Structures

MODELS OF STRUCTURE Horizontal differentiation - departmentalization

What factors influence decisions concerning the way in which to departmentalize an organization? Characteristics of the work to be done Size of the organization Physical locations of the activities Need to balance high-level strategic decisions

and low-level operational imperativesWhat are multifunctional structures?Examples: production, marketing, purchasing, finance.

MODELS OF STRUCTURE Horizontal differentiation - departmentalization

What are the advantages and disadvantages of functional structures?

What are “multidivisional structures”?Built around outputs rather than inputs. What are the advantages and disadvantages?

MODELS OF STRUCTURE Matrix organization

The essence of a matrix design is that a typical vertical hierarchy is overlayed with a horizontal structure commonly designed around big projects.What are the potential advantages and disadvantages with this type of structure?

Model 1: The Rigid Bureaucracy

Model 2: The Bureaucracy with a senior “management” team

Model 3: The Bureaucracy with Project Teams and Task Forces

Model 4: The Matrix Organization

Model 5: The Project Organization

Model 6: The Loosely coupled Organic Network

MODELS OF STRUCTURE New Organizational Structures

Internal networks

MODELS OF STRUCTURE New Organizational Structures

Vertical networks

MODELS OF STRUCTURE New Organizational Structures

Dynamic, loosely coupled networks

STRUCTURATION THEORY, ACTOR-NETWORKS AND INSTITUTIONAL THEORY Structuration theory Actor-Network theory (ANT) Institutional theory

Figure 3.7 Actor Network

INFLUENCES ON STRUCTUREThe decision on how to structure is not straightforward. There are various factors influencing the decision: Stability/turbulence of PEST environment Strategy, Technology, Size Culture, Creativity, Politics, Leadership

How can deficient organizational structure affect the organization?

INFLUENCES ON STRUCTURE Strategy-structure fit Chandler’s strategy-structure thesis

INFLUENCES ON STRUCTURE Mintzberg’s forces and forms: Seven forces

1. Force for direction2. Force for efficiency3. Force for proficiency4. Force for concentration5. Force for innovation6. Forces for cooperation7. Forces for competition

INFLUENCES ON STRUCTURE Mintzberg’s forces and forms: Five forms

1. Entrepreneurial form2. Machine form3. Professional form4. The Adhocracy form5. Diversified form

INFLUENCES ON STRUCTURE Mintzberg’s forces and forms

INFLUENCES ON STRUCTURE The influence of size on structure The influence of technology

ICT and structureWhat did Day (1999) mean (or what you think it means to say that “ICT is proving to be one of the ‘levellers’ of hierachy”?

INFLUENCES ON STRUCTURE The influence of the external environment

Environmental stability and turbulenceSocio-cultural influences

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND CHANGE Structural inertia and population ecology

What is meant by the idea that “organizations are adapting to their environments using a form of ‘social Darwinism’”?

What is meant by “structural inertia” and what are some of the factors that create this inertia? (p. 119)

CONCLUSIONS

WEBSITES How to develop a Work Breakdown Structure (W

BS)