Organizational Structure (OS)

Introduction
Organization is a group of people working together cooperatively under
authority toward achieving goals and objectives that mutually benefit the participants and
the organization.
Definition
An organization is a group of individuals coordinate into different levels of
authority and segments of specialization or the purpose of achieving the goals and
objectives of the organization
Organizational Structure (OS) defines the formal system of reporting
mechanism between personnel placed at different positions in the organization.
Organization process
The organization process is the formation of structural inters personal
relationship. This process involves
 Determination of organizational goals or objectives to be strived for.
 Determination of the task requirement i.e. the amount of skills, effort
and knowledge, necessary to achieve the goals.
 Division of task into different jobs to find out how many personnel
will be needed for the complete tasks.
 Integration of jobs into departments of other work groups to take
advantage of the specialization and efficiency.
 Selection of personnel of fill jobs.
 Assignment of work position to the individual.
 Granting the authority to the people to carry but the duties of their
jobs
 Determination of superior subordinate relationships for facilitation
the performance evaluation.
Function of organization
An organization tries to establish an effective behavioral relation ship
among selected employees and in selected work place in order that a group may work
together effectively. There are three kinds of work which must be performed and
organization comes into being.
 Division of labour
 Combination of labour
 Coordination
Division of labour
Since an organization is a structure of human association for the
achievement of common goals, it involves individuals and groups of individuals. When
two or more individuals join together to perform certain tasks, it follows the some
division of work is done.
Combination of labour
With work divided and assigned to the members of an organization, their
activities are grouped together, forming operation, and operations are arranged to
establish system and procedure. From a structural point of view this grouping of activities
results in units departments and divisions of an organization.

1
Coordination
This all inclusive principle emerges because of the need in every
organization for the integration of activities and the coordination of individuals and
groups of individuals performing their tasks. Coordination is achieved through leadership
in the structural sense it involves the fixing of responsibility and the delegation of
authority
Concepts of organization structure
Several fundamental concepts describing the essentials of a sound
organization structure have been presented by the traditional school of thought. There
deal with the following essential
I. Task accomplishment of personnel satisfaction
The emphasis is on organization accomplishment i.e. the structuring of work
relationship should be so planned that both the objectives of the organization and the
individual are released simultaneously.
II. Delegation of authority
It is the delivery by one individual to another the right to act , to make
decisions to requestion resources, to direct other to out and to perform other tasks in order
to fulfill job responsibilities . Authority is ineffective without ability to exercise it.
Individual is given the authority to make it possible for him to fulfill his organizational
obligations.
III. Proper span of supervision
The span of supervision is important because et determines the amount of
attention each supervisor can give to each subordinate and it affect case in
communicating, methods of decision making that can be used and other superior
subordinate relationship.

IV. The degree of specialization

Under specialization, limited duties are preformed regularly and
repetitively, from the individual’s point of view, specialization makes the learning of job
routines easier and makes the worker an expert in his job.
V. Communication channel should be proper
Communication between the subordinates and their bosses should pass
through each rung of the ladder without omission as a message is moved upward or
downward. No manager in the vertical chain should be bypassed as the communication
quere moves its way. When messages are to be conveyed at the horizontal level, they
should move upward vertically from the sender to the point where the sender and the
receiver have common superior then the message can move downward vertically to the
receiver.
Types of organization structure
 Formal organization
 Informal organization
Formal organization
Formal organization means the intentional structure of roles in a formality
organized enterprise. Describing an organization as ‘formal’. How ever, does not mean
there is any thing inherently inflexible or unduly confining about it. Formal organization
must be flexible

2
Merits of formal organization structure
 Available resource will be utilizes in the most effective way
 Directional and operational goals and procedures will be determined clearly and
energies devoted to their achievement.
 Individual responsibilities will be known clearly and the authority to out would be
defined.
 The activities of the individuals and the group will become more rational, stable
and predictable.
Drawbacks
 Very often the fixed relationships and lines of authority seem inflexible and
difficult to adjust to meet changing needs.
 Individual creativity and originality may be suppress by the rather rigid
determination of duties and responsibilities
 Inter personal communication may be slowed or stopped as a result of strict
formal lines of communication
 Workers may become less willing to assume duties that are not formally a part of
their original assignment
 They produce anxiety in individual workers by pressing too heavily for routine
and conformity
 They become too costly in terms of time and human dignity in order to implement
organizational rules and regulations.
The formal organizational structure can be
Vertical structure
The vertical structure clearly states that the lines of authority pass from top
to bottom. The structure is bases upon two traditional principles.
Scale principles which are related to the chain of command and asserts
that authority and responsibility in an organization should flow in a clean unbroken line
from the point of ultimate authority to the workers at the bottom of the hierarchy. The
unity of command which means that no subordinate shall be responsible for more than
one superior principle.

3
 Highest official organization level
I

Organization level II

Organization level III

Organization level IV

Horizontal organization
Horizontal organization authority structure indicates the relation ship
between peers, colleagues, fellow workers across the organization. Individual located on
the same level normally have no authority over each other.

MANAGER

SUBORDINATE SUBORDINATE SUBORDINATE

Horizontal organization

4
 CHIEF NURSING
OFFICER

NURSING NURSING NURSING

RECRUITMENT OFFICER FINANCE

HOSPITAL ORGANIZATION
Functional organization
In this type of organization each department report to a man specially
qualified for a particular function regarding production, sale, financing etc.
The specialist attends to one function in all the departments.

5
 PRESIDENT

GENERAL
MANAGER

PRODUCT MARKITING FINANCE PERSONAL

MANAGER MANGER MANGER MANAGER

WORKERS

Functional organization

II The informal organization

Informal organization work as joint personal activity without conscious
joint purpose, even though contributing to joint results. Informal organization is very
difficult to understand until and unless we examined the role of informal organization
Informal organization arises from the social interaction among the
member of an organization.

6
 Informal organization
Bibliography
 Mamoria C.D. (2003)’Personnel Management’ 1st edition Himalaya
publishing house, Mumbai pp 108-136.
 Weihrich Heinz (2004) Management 10th edition Tater Mc Graw
Hills publication New Delhi pp 243-247
 Kootz Harlod (1993) Essential of Management 5th High Town
pp133-139.