ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Organisational structure reflects the influence of situational factors such as its culture, strategy and technology



Organisational structure reflects the influence of situational factors such as its culture, strategy and technology

Organisational structure refers to the manner in which people, jobs, and other organisational resources are configured and coordinated. Although organisational structure sounds like a singular characteristic, it is composed of a number of dimensions, because there are multiple ways the employees within an organization and the job tasks that are carried out can be structured. The most commonly studied aspects of organisational structure include formalization, centralisation, and complexity. The term organisational structure denotes the social relations that have consolidated themselves in organisational settings. There are two principal definitions of organisational structure. The more common one has its theoretical origins in the positivism of functionalist and structuralise sociology: Organization is an objective, measurable, and comparable social fact. (Giddens, 2009, 100)

This definition concerns long-lasting social relations, which once they have become consolidated, are autonomous with respect to the people who have created them and act as if they have an existence of their own. The second definition originates in the constructionism of interpretative sociology and symbolic interactionism and views organization as a constant process. It refers to the temporary and ephemeral occurrence of social interactions in organisational settings, which are closely connected to interrelations among organisational actors without ever becoming autonomous and capable of their own action. (Clegg, 2996, 27)

Organisation structure and culture

The connection between organisational structure and culture is hard to define, but the two are inexorably linked. There can not be effective organisational culture without some kind of organisational structure to permit for effective work and effort. Yet, the organisational structure is going to contemplate the larger organisational culture. A powerful culture is more likely to have a powerful and effective organisational structure. A feeble culture is more likely to have an inefficient and less effective organisational structure. Does the feeble culture cause the feeble structure or the feeble structure origin the feeble culture? This is where the problems of dividing the two tend to arrive in. They're conspicuously associated, but it is not as conspicuous how. (Giddens, 2009, 100)

In the end the best way to recount the relationship between organisational structure and culture is rather allegorical. If the organisational culture is the plumbing and the water, then the structure is the actual pipes. If the organisational culture is a football group, the specific advisers and players proceed as the structure. In this way, by utilising metaphors, it becomes much easier to realise what the connection between organisational structure and culture really is. (Gerwin, 2001, 25)

The achievement of a company gathering the goals of its organisational culture is dependant on having an effective set up and apparently characterised relationship between organisational structure and culture. A well considered out and planned form that can apparently distinguish the connection between organisational structure and organisational culture will allow for a more effective administering of both boss and employee efforts towards the company's ultimate ...