PUH 603

Formal Organizations
Basic Organizational Structure:
Application to Health Service
Dr Seun Esan
MPH Regular Class
 Outline
• Definition of an Organization
• Discuss Types of Organizations
• Organizational Environment
• Internal and External Organizational assessment
• Organizational Design & Organizational structure
• Types of organizational structure
• Facts about the organization
• The importance of the understanding of an
organization to a health manager
What is an Organization
• Defined as
• A collection of people working together in
a coordinated and structured fashion to
achieve one or more goals.
• A social unit of people that is structured and
managed to meet a need or to pursue
collective goals.
• Bodies or structures put in place to meet
societal needs
More on Organizations…
• Organizations exist to allow
accomplishment of work that could not be
achieved by people alone.
• As long as the goals of an organization
are appropriate, society will allow them to
exist and they can contribute to society.
Types of organizations
• Degree of Formality
• Formal organizations
• Informal organizations
• Degree of structure
• Highly structured
• Loosely structured
• Interests
• Health organizations
• Non- Health organizations
Types of organizations cont..
• Type of ownership
• Government owned / Public
• Private for profit
• Private Not- for -Profit
• Staff strength
• Small scale ≤ 50 workers
• Medium scale 51-1000 workers
• Large scale >1000 workers

Students should give examples of organizations they

know and say which type of organization it is
Organizational Environment
• This may be viewed as follows
• Objective
• Clear, measurable and definable (eg the natural and
ecological environment)
• Subjective
• Depends on individual perception and interpretation
• Enacted
• As created by the managers of the organization (The
best)

• Organizations respond only to what is noticed

Organizational environment
• Levels of organizational environment
• External environment
• This consists of factors and everything outside the
organization that might affect its operations
• These include
• General environment
• Political –Legal environment
• Economic environment
• Socio-cultural environment
• Technological environment
• Task environment
 • Task environment includes
• Competitors
• Clients
• Suppliers
• Unions outside the organization
• Internal environment
• The internal environment consists of conditions and
forces within the organization
• Board of Directors
• Employees
• Managers
• Unions within the organization
• Organizational culture
Internal and External Organizational assessment

• This can be done through the SWOT Analysis-

(Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)
• A way of conducting an environmental scanning
• In the external environment
• Opportunities and Threats
• May not usually be within the control of the managers
• In the internal environment
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Could be within the control of the managers
Organizational Design & Organizational structure

• Organization design
• A process in which managers develop or
change their organization’s structure
• Organizational structure
• This is the established pattern of
relationships among the various parts of
the organization.
• It reflects the way and manner in which
tasks are divided (differentiated) and how
the activities are coordinated (integration)
Stages of Organizational
Development
• Simple structure
• An organization that is low in specialization
and formalization but high in centralization
• Functional structure
• An organization in which similar and related
occupational specialties are grouped
together
• Divisional structure
• An organization made up of self-contained
units
Types of organizational structure

• According to Burns and Stalker in 1981

• Mechanistic
• Organic
• A mixture of both
• Mechanistic
• Designed to make employees behave in a
predictable standardized way
• Highly specialized tasks
• Centralized decision making
• Use of Standard operating procedures
• Organic structure
• Least hierarchy and least specialization of
functions
• More flexible, no rigid procedures
• React quickly to changes in the environment
• Decentralization of authority
• Mixture of both
• This is an organization that operates on 50%
of both
• Although in practice, it is 80% :20% or 70% :
30% mechanistic to organic
Types of organizational structures

• Tall organizational structures

• More management layers and more hierarchical
controls.
• Narrower span of control
• As hierarchy levels increase, communication
gets difficult creating delays in the time being
taken to implement decisions.
• Communications can also become distorted as
it is repeated through the firm.
• Can become expensive
Types of organizational structure cont.

• Flat organizational structures

• Fewer management layer
• Wider spans of control.
• Decision making closer to the customer
• Structure results in quick communications
• Can lead to overworked managers
Organization Chart

A chart that shows

the structure of the
organization
including the title of
each manager’s
position and, by
means of connecting
lines, who is
accountable to
whom and who has
authority for each
area
 Organizational Chart cont..
In f o r m a tio n S e r v ic e s G r o u p

K n o w le d g e A r c h i t e c t u r e M a n a g e r

K n o w le d g e A r c h i t e c t u r e L e a d S e a r c h /S y s te m s L e a d D e s ig n L e a d

C u s to m e r L ia is o n D e v e lo p e r A s s is ta n t D e s ig n e r

D e v e lo p e r
C a ta lo g e r
S y s t e m s A d m in
C a ta lo g e r

T a x o n o m y D e s ig n e r
Organizations in Reality

• In an organization, everyone is there to achieve

his or her personal goals

• Many times, these goals are in conflict with the

organizational goals

• These are issues a manager must learn to

contend with
The importance of the understanding of an organization to a health manager

• To the students:

• From what has been learnt today, how would

these help you to become a better health
manager-
• Discuss