"An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims."
The way in which an organization is structured, including departments, teams, reporting lines and management hierarchy.
Types of Organizational Structures: This topic helps you understand the different ways in which an organization can be structured, such as functional, divisional, matrix, etc.
Organizational Design Principles: This topic explains the principles underlying the creation and implementation of an effective organizational structure, including alignment, simplicity, flexibility, and others.
Organizational Culture: This topic helps you understand how an organization's values, norms, and beliefs influence its structure and effectiveness.
Organizational Change: This topic explores the various factors that drive organizational change and how an organization can adapt to changes in the business environment.
Leadership and Management: This topic covers the role of leaders and managers in shaping organizational structure, culture, and effectiveness.
Performance Management and Evaluation: This topic helps you understand how an organization can measure its performance and evaluate its effectiveness.
Communication and Collaboration: This topic addresses the importance of effective communication and collaboration within an organization for achieving its objectives.
Human Resources Management: This topic covers the role of HR in shaping an organization's structure and effectiveness, including areas such as recruitment, training, and talent management.
Organizational Ethics and Responsibility: This topic explores the ethical and social responsibilities of an organization and how they influence its structure and effectiveness.
Organizational Behavior: This topic covers the study of individual and group behavior within an organizational context.
Organizational Effectiveness Models: This topic explains the various models of organizational effectiveness, including the balanced scorecard, the systems model, and others.
Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management: This topic covers how an organization can create a learning culture and manage knowledge effectively to improve its performance.
Organizational Innovation: This topic explores how an organization can foster innovation and creativity to remain competitive and achieve its objectives.
Globalization and Internationalization: This topic covers the challenges and opportunities of managing organizational structure and effectiveness in a global and international context.
Organizational Structure and Technology: This topic examines the relationship between organizational structure and technology and how technology can influence organizational effectiveness.
Functional structure: This is the most common type of organizational structure where departments are grouped based on their specific function such as sales, marketing, finance, HR and operations.
Divisional structure: This type of structure is used in companies with multiple products or services. Divisions are created based on products, services or regional locations, each with its manager and support teams.
Matrix structure: In this type of structure, employees are grouped based on their expertise and assigned to work cross-functionally. For instance, an employee with finance expertise may work with the operations department to develop a budget.
Network structure: This structure is commonly used in startups or companies with lean operations. It involves working with external business partners such as consultants, suppliers and freelancers.
Flat structure: In flat structures, there are few levels of hierarchy between employees and top executives. This allows employees to have more autonomy but also requires them to take on more responsibility.
Holacratic structure: Companies using this structure eliminate traditional management positions and instead organize around self-managed teams that take on specific roles and responsibilities.
Team-based structure: This structure is well-suited for companies that require cross-functional collaborations such as projects or R&D initiatives. Teams are formed around an objective or goal and have distinct roles and responsibilities.
Circular structure: This structure emphasizes collaboration by creating circles or teams around specific functions or projects. Each circle is given autonomy to make decisions, communicate and work independently, with the ability to seek input from other groups when needed.
Inverted pyramid structure: This model, sometimes called the "servant leadership" structure, places the customer at the top and the CEO at the bottom. Leaders focus on providing support to frontline employees who are responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction.
Hybrid structure: This structure combines two or more organizational structures. A company that has acquired another business, for instance, may choose to adopt a hybrid structure to maintain operational efficiencies while retaining the core strengths of both companies.
"Organizational structure affects organizational action and provides the foundation on which standard operating procedures and routines rest."
"It determines which individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes, and thus to what extent their views shape the organization's actions."
"Organizational structure can also be considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which individuals see their organization and its environment."
"Organizations are a variant of clustered entities."
"An organization can be structured in many different ways, depending on its objectives."
"The structure of an organization will determine the modes in which it operates and performs."
"Organizational structure allows the expressed allocation of responsibilities for different functions and processes to different entities such as the branch, department, workgroup, and individual."
"Organizations need to be efficient, flexible, innovative and caring in order to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage."