Fundamentals Of Organizational Structure

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All organizations need structure to exist. They apply varying forms of structure to attain their goals, and most organizations re-engineer their structure to respond to either new direction or react to outside exigencies, eg, the environment. Organizational structure is popularly reflected in an organizational chart, which illustrates various parts of an organization and how they are connected. Organizations are typically designed to provide both vertical and horizontal information flow. Vertical linkages are centralized, hierarchical and rules-based. Horizontal linkages are decentralized, collaborative and have few rules. Organizational Design Alternatives The design of organizational structure requires: 1) Required Work Activities: Organizations have “Departments” or “Divisions” to perform strategic tasks; for example, the Canadian Force’s Recruiting Group has several Recruiting Centres across Canada to perform recruiting and processing of prospective applicants. 2) Reporting Relationships: Also known as the Chain of Command; usually a vertical line which identifies who reports to whom. 3) Departmental Grouping Options: Involves sharing a common supervisor as well as common resources. In addition, personnel have the tendency is to collaborate with one another. Organizations have several options from which to choose when designing their overall structure within their organization charts. Which specific structure they use, or indeed which combination of structures they use, will be determined by the needs of the organization. Listed below are several examples of organizational structures: Functional Structure This type of structure flourishes when expertise is critical, control mechanisms are required and efficiency is important. An example of a functional structure may be the Logistics Department onboard a Navy frigate. All
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