Chapter 7
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND DESIGN
-The nature of organization design
-Organization structure, technology, and task
uncertainty
-Organization Structure and the environment
-Organization Structure and People
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I. The nature of organization design
Organization structure, authority and control
If the top manager offer the authority to middle
or first-line manager so they have the authority to
make decision.
In our society , most of them are not like that, top
manager always keeps authority in hand.
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I. The nature of organization design
Evaluation of organization design concepts:
What should we prepare the work groups?
 Centralization: is the process by which the activities
of an organization , particularly those regarding
planning and decision-making, become concentrated
within a particular location and/or group.
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I. The nature of organization design
Decentralization : is the process of dispersing
decision making governance closer to the people
and/or citizens.
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I. The nature of organization design
Environment
Information
process
&Control
Tasks
Environment
Environment
Structure
Human beings
Environment
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I. The nature of organization design
Organizations as processors of information
Need more information
Organization Structure
Mechanistic Structures
Organic Structure
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Organic vs Mechanistic Structures
Mechanistic
-Individual specialization:
Employees work separately
and specialize in one task
-Centralization:
Decision-making kept as high
as possible.
-Much written communication
-Organization is a network of
positions, corresponding to
tasks. Typically each
person corresponds to one
task
Organic
-Joint Specialization:
Employees work together and
coordinate tasks.
-Decentralization:
Authority to control tasks is
delegated.
-Much verbal communication
-Organization is network of
persons or teams. People work in
different capacities
simultaneously and over time
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II. Organization Structure, Technology, and Task
Uncertainty
Influence of organization objectives on task
uncertainty
Task uncertainty: is what we face when dealing
with some new kind of work never done before.
Influence of technology on task uncertainty
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III. Organization Structure and the
environment
Environment uncertainty and task structure:
Environment uncertainty: Situation where the
management of a firm has little information about
its external environment.
Task structure: defines the recursive decomposition
of the major application task into subtasks.
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III. Organization Structure and the
environment
Organization Structure and People: The
framework, typically hierarchical, within which an
organization arranges its lines of authority and
communications, and allocates rights and duties.
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