ORGANIZATIO N MANAGEMEN T the basics
What is an organization? An organization is a group of individuals who collaborate together to reach a certain goal. Every organization has a management structure which determines the roles and the relationships among the various members.
What is the difference between a company and an organization? A company is an organization whose purpose is economical profit. For example, there are organizations which are voluntary associations, where the earnings are not distributed among the various members. Instead, these usually get invested into achieving the organization’s objective.
How is an organization structured? Nowadays most organizations’ hierarchy is based off Mintzberg’s Organizational Configurations model, which divides an organization’s structure into 5 main groups: The strategic apex The middle line The technostructure The support staff The operating core
Which are the roles of these The figures who are responsible for the organization and whose task is groups? to decide the strategies to adopt to reach the goal are found in the strategic apex. Below this group there is the middle line, which has an intermediary role between the top management and the operating core. This group is found between the technostructure, whose role is to increase the organization’s efficiency, and the support staf, which is engaged into indirected tasks for the company, that also aren’t always related to the organization’s mission. The last group is the operating core, usually the largest, which is composed by the staff that works directly on the production of goods and services.
Which are the main roles involved in an organization? There are several figures in an organization and it would be impossible to describe them all, so let’s focus on the prominent ones: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) : The head of the top-management in an organization, which he is responsible for. Chief Technology Officer (CTO or CIO): The current technology’s overseer in an organization. Chief Financial Officer (CFO): The person who manages the organization’s financial balance. Chief Organization Officer (COO): The responsible of the day to day operations in an organization.
How can we represent an To logically represent an organization’s structure we organization? usually resort to the use of a R.A.C.I. matrix or an organizational chart.
What is a R.A.C.I. matrix? As the name suggests, the R.A.C.I. matrix is a table used to immediately represent the role of a certain individual in a determined activity. The acronym stands for the 4 roles that can get assigned: Responsible: the business unit this role gets assigned to is actively involved in a determined activity. This role might be shared. Accountable: the unit this role is assigned to is responsible for the activity and has to approve the work of the R units. Usually, this role is not shared. Consulted: the unit who gets this role assigned is consulted about the execution of the activity. Informed: this role indicates that the unit it gets assigned to has to be informed about the status of the activity.
What is an organization chart? Once again, the name says it all: an organization chart (also known as org chart) is a diagram used to represent the hierarchical relationship among the various units. These relationship are usually of 3 kinds: subordinate, collaborator and assistant. There are 4 different types of structures that an org chart can assume: 1.the simple structure 2.the functional structure 3.the divisional structure 4.the multi-divisional structure Let’s take a look on each of these structures.
What does the simple structure In the simple structure, a single unit usually gathers itself the top consist management,in? the technostructure and most of the staf. The operating core is usually composed by an highly limited number of units and it communicates directly with the general director. The coordination is carried out through direct supervision.
What does the functional structure consist in? This structure usually provides that the 5 fundamental parts of an organization are represented in it. Any organizational change has an impact on every sector.
What does the divisional structure consist in? Several profit centers are to be found in this structure, unlike in the functional one, where there is only one. A coordination reshaping might be carried out without involving the other sectors, but as a consequence the coordination activity is more complex.
What does the multi-divisional structure This structure gathers the advantages of both the functional and consist in? the divisional ones. It offers a certain autonomy for what regards the organizational lines. At the same time, it provides better working relationships among the various activities. As a drawback, this structure has a certain level of clumsiness in coordination.
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