Article Writing Homework Help

Compose a 2000 words assignment on organizational design and change recommendation. Needs to be plagiarism free! An organizational structure defines how job tasks are formally divided, grouped and coordinated. The main elements to consider while designing an organizational structure are Work Specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, the span of control, centralization and decentralization and formalization. The most common Organizational designs found in use are:

Simple or Flat structure

The Bureaucracy

The Matrix structure

The Team Structure

The Virtual Organization

The Boundaryless Organization

The simple structure is characterized by a low degree of departmentalization, wide spans of control, authority centralized in a single person, and little formalization. The strength of the simple structure lies in its simplicity. It’s fast, flexible and inexpensive to maintain and accountability is clear. One major weakness is that it is difficult to maintain in anything other than a small organization. The decision making becomes slow as the organization grows in size because of its low formalization and high centralization.

A bureaucracy is characterized by highly routine operating tasks achieved through specialization, much-formalized rules and regulations, tasks that are grouped into functional departments, centralized authority, narrow spans of control, and decision making that follows the chain of command. The primary strength of bureaucracy lies in its ability to perform standardized activities in a highly efficient manner. One of the major weakness of this structure is that it causes departmental conflicts and highly inflexible always following the rules. There is no room for modification.

The Matrix structure is characterized by dual lines of authority and combines product and functional departmentalization. IBM adopts a modified version of the matrix structure in its overall operations. The strength of this structure lies in its ability to facilitate coordination and efficient allocation of specialists. The major disadvantage lies in the confusion it creates, its prosperity to foster power struggles, and the stress it places on individuals.

The Team structure uses teams as the central device to coordinate work activities. Companies like DaimlerChrysler, Saturn, Motorola, and Xerox have made extensive use of self-managed teams to improve productivity at the operational level. In smaller companies, the team structure can define the entire organization. For instance, Imedia, a 30 person marketing firm in New Jersey is completely organized around teams. This structure is highly unsuitable for large companies.

A Virtual organization is a small core organization that outsources major business functions.&nbsp. &nbsp. Hsu and David Ji run a virtual organization. Their firm, California based Apex Digital, is one of the world’s largest producers of DVD Players, yet the company neither owns a factory nor employs an engineer. They contract everything out to firms in China. This is suitable for small and large organizations. The major advantage is the flexibility and the disadvantage is lack of managerial control in key aspects of the business.

&nbsp.