Tim Kastelle’s article Hierarchy is Overrated is focused on the relatively new and growing flat organizational structure. He begins with an example of the Second Chance Programme, “a group that raises money to help reduce homelessness among women.” Second Chance Programme is a non-profit organization run by a committee of ten people. When the non-profit was first founded a management consultant predicted its failure because of its decentralized structure, assuming a hierarchical structure is important for success. Ultimately the organization ended up being successful, despite this prediction. The article goes on to cite other highly successful organizations that share this unusual organizational structure. Wordpress manages a platform that …show more content…
Tim believes obstacles to companies adopting this structure include: many people don’t believe in democracy in the workplace, it is difficult to imagine the new structure, fear of the unusual, and because it’s hard to change organizational structures. The success of the flat structure exemplifies that a one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate in the study of management. The contingency viewpoint emphasizes that a manager’s approach should vary according to the individual and the environmental situation. The companies mentioned in this article clearly have found success in using their unconventional structures. The military sciences field of study stands to learn the most from this new structure because militaries have traditionally been the most hierarchical organizations in society. Their hierarchical structure has clear benefits, but also some potential cons. An con of the hierarchical structure found in militaries is that only a select few make decisions that endanger the lives of millions. If the people on the “bottom of the totem poll” were making decisions, there would likely more wariness of
The primary problem would be the structure of the organization. This is due to the fact that there are thirteen departments in total which would lead to the failure of the ability to concentrate on long term viability of the business.
The United States Army is an important subculture within our society. It has many uniquely defining attributes, which separate it from the general culture and from the subcultures of the other branches of the military. The Army’s subculture is critical to the effective operation and discipline of the Army. The Army is critical to the survival of our country, our society, and our way of life. Only certain individuals are willing to accept the demands of this subculture to be soldiers in order to preserve our freedoms for their own, and future, generations.
Top-level managers in bureaucratic organizational structures exercise a great deal of control over organizational strategy decisions, which is ideal for business owners with a command and control style. As for the disadvantages, bureaucratic structures can discourage creativity and innovation throughout the organization. No matter how ingenious a business owner is, it is virtually impossible for a single individual to generate the range of strategic ideas possible in a large, interdisciplinary
Companies tend to have two very different business models. In Michael Lewis’s “Pyramids and Pancakes”, Lewis talks about how Askme.com found distinctions between the two business structures. There is the first, which is a pyramid. Lewis states that, “In pyramid-shaped, hierarchical organizations, the bosses tended to appoint themselves or a few select subordinates as the ‘experts’. Questions rose up from the bottom of the organization, the answers flowed down from the top, and original hierarchy was preserved, even reinforced”(95). The second business model is a pancake. Lewis states that, “In less hierarchical, pancake-shaped companies, the bosses
In the book “Reframing organizations” L.G. Bolman and T.F. Deal (2013) presented “Mintzberg’s fives” as the essential foundation of a structural frame. And the very first design on the list is a simple structure, customarily used in creating of new or startup companies. Thus, divided only into the strategic apex as an owner and operating level as the employees, it falls into a flat system category. The best examples of simple leadership probably would be the small bodega stores located almost on every other street corner in New York City. Although, some of the big scale companies could become the simple structure in times of bankruptcy. Being in depth in the early 1990s International Business Machines Corp (IBM) Company became a simple structure for more than a year. When newly hired CEO set the company into survival mode by cutting back $9 billion in expenses and incorporated as it was referred the “benevolent dictatorship”- extremely centralized, autocratic organizational style. Ergo, the strength of the structure, the simplicity and clear accountability rescued the
We can identify three major cultural dimensions that help us to understand what leaders must focus on as they guide the transition of the Army. First, professional Identity, which is guided by Soldiers at all levels who are striving for excellence in their functional specialty, i.e., HR Sergeants. Soldiers who have goals and ideals of the Army to ethically put service and duty first. HR Sergeants are trained and well educated in their field. They are taught to put Soldiers first and have great customer support skills. Second, community, the sense in which Soldiers stop thinking about “I” and start thinking “we”. The bond among units who not only believe in cohesion with Soldiers, but their families too. The HR Sergeants are there to take care of Soldiers when financial issues arise with them or their families and don’t back down until the situation is solved. Last, hierarchy, which leads to order and control and provides Soldiers with moral reference and a sense of direction. The HR Sergeant has the mentality of mission first, knowing who to contact at the next level for assistance helps get the mission
Finally, we have to admit that there are no blade edge differences in organizational structures. A highly mechanistic organization may adopt some organic structure if it needs. For example, an organization may have a strictly formalized finance and human resources divisions while having an innovative marketing and product development divisions. Based on changing needs, a balanced between mechanistic structure and organic structure will help organization control its organizational assets, devise its tactical and strategic plans, and as a result, increase market share while gaining competitive advantage over its competitors.
Boje, D. M. , Luhman, J. T. , and Cunliffe, A. L. “ A Dialectic Perspective on the Organization
The Army is a growing organization that has been evolving since 1775 (Celebrating Army History, 1999). With the constant evolution of the Army profession and the last ten years of the current conflict, the view of the Army as a profession has changed and will continue to change based on four key concepts. The concepts are typology for the Army profession, the Army professional certification programs, the uniqueness of the United States Army, and the Army leader requirements. The purpose of the profession of arms white paper is to initiate and facilitate a dialog and collaboration between military organizations, the private sector, and academia, to analyze the key attributes between Army profession
If there was a problem in a hierarchical structure it would move up through the structure again from one person to another until it gets to where it is supported to be. Strengths of a Hierarchical structure In a hierarchical structure there is a close control of workers. Workers in ASDA will know exactly what they have to do so they don’t wait around until they are told what they have to
Longenecker, J. & Longenecker, J. & Pringle, C. (1978), “The Illusion of Contingency Theory as a General Theory”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 3 Issue 3, pp. 113-114. 679 - 682. Lorsch, J. W. (1987), “Organisation Design: A Situational Perspective”, Academy of Management Review, January Issue, pp.
Simple Management Structures is also known as owner/manager structure. Simple management structure is when “the owner is the top manager, and the business is runs a sole proprietorship while the owner makes all important decisions and directs the efforts to all employees” (Enz, 2010). This works great for small businesses. Once business expands hierarchy develops between departments. A popular ski resort such as the Wait Till Monday Lodge in central Colorado that has 50 employees needs to have an organizational system of hierarchy to run smoother. Jose the owner has always believed in a “do-the-right-thing” mentality but overtime the teams’ productivity has declines and new structure is necessary to continue the success of the popular ski resort.
Simple structure is widely used by small businesses in which the owner directly manages the day to day operations. The benefit of using the simple structure is that it is simple. One person normally calls the shots and takes full responsibility for the businesses success and failure. “It’s fast, flexible, and inexpensive to maintain, and accountability is clear” (Judge & Robbins, 2007, p.546). Unfortunately, using simple structure as an organizational design limits the business of its full potential, as it grows, it becomes more difficult for one individual to oversee the daily operation and make quick executive decisions. Once an organization reaches this point, it must change its organizational design in order to remain competitive within its market.
Organizational structure is the way that an organization arranges people and jobs so that work can be performed and goals can be achieved. Good organizational design helps communications, productivity, and innovation. Many organization structures have been created based on organizational strategy, size, technology, and environment. Robbins and Judge (2011, p. 504) listed three common structures: simple, bureaucracy, and matrix. In this post the author will describe the matrix structure, and discuss its advantages and disadvantages.
Organizations must operate within structures that allow them to perform at their best within their given environments. According to theorists T. Burns and G.M Stalker (1961), organizations require structures that will allow them to adapt and react to changes in the environment (Mechanistic vs Organic Structures, 2009). Toyota Company’s corporate structure is spelt out as one where the management team and employees conduct operations and make decisions through a system of checks and balances.