Introduction to

Organizations
 What is an Organization?
 Social entities that are goal-directed
 Designed as deliberately structured and coordinated activity systems
 Linked to the external environment
 Includes large multinational corporations, family owned businesses as well
as nonprofits

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Traditional Structures

 The traditional model of organizational

structure is easily represented in a
graphical form.
 President/other executive at the top - a
small number of VPs - several layers of
management - majority of employees at the
bottom of the pyramid.
 Jobs usually grouped by functional
departments such as accounting, sales,
human resources etc.
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Hierarchy Pyramid
Traditional Organizational Design

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Flat Organizational Structure

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 Dimensions of
Organization Design

II I

Structural Dimensions Contextual Dimensions

 Formalization  Organizational technology
 Specialization of work  Environment
 Hierarchy of Authority  Size
 Centralization  Goals and strategy
 Professionalism  Culture
 Personnel Ratios

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Interacting Structural Dimensions
of Design and Contingency Factors

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Characteristics of Three Organizations

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Mitzberg’s Organizational
Types

 Mintzberg proposed that the five parts could fit

together in any type of organization
 In real-life organizations, the five parts are
interrelated and often serve more than one function
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Mintzberg;s Organizational Types

 The Entrepreneurial
Organization
 Machine Bureaucracy
 Professional Bureaucracy
 Divisionalized Form
 Adhocracy
Organic vs. Mechanistic

 Mechanistic – characterized by machine-like standard rules and

procedures with clear authority
 Organic – design of organization is loose, free-flowing, and adaptive

Depends upon:
 Structure
 Tasks/Roles
 System Formality
 Communication
 Hierarchy