Organizational theory - tutorial 2- session 03
Question no 01:
Organizational structure helps a company assign a hierarchy that defines roles, responsibility, and
supervision. It’s the plan that outlines who reports to whom and who is responsible for what. It’s
usually recorded and shared as an organizational chart that includes job titles and the reporting
structure.
Organizational structures typically use one of two approaches:
•
A centralized structure gives most of the authority and decision-making power to the team
at the top.
•
A decentralized structure distributes authority and decision-making power at lower levels,
which might include departments, groups, or business units.

A company can be organized by in many ways,

A divisional structure is organized around divisions or business units that are self-contained
entities with their own functional departments such as human resources, marketing, and so
on.

A functional structure is based on job functions often labeled as departments – finance,
purchasing, etc.

A geographical structure is often used when a company has multiple locations. Each
location operates independently.

With a matrix structure, the company is organized around teams assembled for specific
tasks. Team members usually report to more than one person – the team leader, and the
supervisor for the team member’s functional area.
Question no 02 :
An organizational structure and an org chart can often appear similar on the surface, but there are
some profound distinctions:
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
Organizational structure is designed around the functions a business performs (e.g., sales,
marketing, finance, engineering, etc.).

An org chart is built around people and titles.

Organizational structure defines the purpose, accountabilities, and key performance
indicators (KPIs) for each business function and role.

An org chart shows each person’s job title and may include HR stuff like job requirements.
Question no 03:
Matrix structures evolved in response to the rise of large-scale projects in contemporary
organizations. These projects required rapid infusions of technological know-how and efficient
processing of very large amounts of information. Older organizational structures proved to be illequip. The matrix organizational structure provided solutions to these large scale project problems
by allowing for impermanent project structures that co-existed with relatively permanent
functional structures. For a given project, a team might be assembled from several departments in
the functional structure, which was often some form of hierarchical structure.
Instead of disassembling the functional structure to create this temporary project structure, the
matrix structure retains the functional structure and superimposes on it a temporary project
structure. Team members continue to report to functional managers, but also report to project
managers. Effectively, every team member now has two bosses to deal with these very projects
within the necessary time limits.
A matrix organizational structure, by contrast, is everything that a hierarchical structure is not.
There are separate chains of command and employees are generally accountable to more than one
boss. Improved access to shared resources, skills and technologies across the organization
These are the conditions an organization should adopt a matrix;
• Improved cooperation and communication across the old functional and geographic silos.
• Flexibility through faster decisions
• Improved global or regional projects and systems
• Broader and more multi-skilled people development
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• To meet the needs of global or regional customers
Question 04:
Brand manager plays an important role in an organization. The brand manager is responsible for
all product related matters. The brand manager helps in planning, developing and promoting the
product in the market. The managers are involved in production, sales and advertising of the
product. The brand managers should be responsible and innovative. The brand manager should
have good communication skills as his job demands lots of communication with different segments
of people.
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