“The only difference between a mob and a trained army is organization.”
Ken Robinson has
written much on creativity in the organization. I was reading something by him
the other day where he was talking about how to foster creativity in the
enterprise. It struck me as a very lean way of thinking:
“The
role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas; it’s to create a
culture where everyone can have ideas and feel that they’re valued. So it’s
much more about creating climates. I think it’s a big shift for a lot of
people.”
This is so the key.
Taylorism is such a blow to any creativity in an organization. Rather than
pulling value and innovation from the bottom up, it is the norm in organizations
today where we see strategists at the top, worrying about the future, with
little idea what is really going on outside the glass-walled conference room.
Today, I will be
talking about the aim of learning this POM course. Finally, we all will either
land up in an organization or eventually start of our own. Either way, there
lies an underlying concept which is of prime importance i.e. the structure of
your firm. It paves the way ahead of how the short term goals translate into
future prospects.
Organization Structure:
An organizational
structure consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and
supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims.
It can also be considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which
individuals see their organization and its environment.
Learning Organizational
Structure:
The definition
mentioned above may sound intimidating to some. Also, people have a notion that
such structures are only found in organizations.
Basic elements of
Organization Structure:
a) Span of Control:
Number of people directly reporting to the next level in the hierarchy. Width
of span is affected by:
1. Skills and abilities of the
manager
2. Employee characteristics
3. Characteristics of the work
being done
4. Similarity of tasks
5. Complexity of tasks
6. Physical proximity of
subordinates
7. Standardization of tasks
b)
Centralization: Degree to which formal
decision authority is held in a small group of people, typically those at the
top of the organizational hierarchy.
c)
Decentralization: Organizations in which
decision-making is pushed down to the managers who are closest to the action.
d)
Formalization: Degree to which
organizations standardize behavior through rules, procedures, formal training,
and related mechanisms.
e)
Departmentalization:
Organizational charts that specifies how employees and their activities are
grouped together.
f) Work specialization: The degree to which tasks in the organization are
divided into separate jobs with each step completed by a different
person. However, over specialization can result in
human dis-economies from boredom, fatigue, stress, poor quality,
increased absenteeism, and higher turnover.
g) Chain of Command: The continuous line of authority that extends from upper
levels of an organization to the lowest levels of the organization and
clarifies who reports to whom.
· Authority- The rights inherent in a managerial
position to tell people what to do and to expect them to do it.
· Responsibility- The obligation or expectation
to perform.
· Unity of command- The concept that a person
should have one boss and should report only to that person.
Importance of
Organizational Structure:
Organizational
structure affects organizational action in two big ways.
a) Provides the
foundation on which standard operating procedures and routines rest.
b) Determines which
individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes, and thus to
what extent their views shape the organization’s actions.