Organizational structure in institutions: Learn about 7 of its most important types
Organizational structure is very necessary in large organizations, to coordinate large numbers of employees and avoid chaos, but small companies and startups rarely think about designing the organizational structure in the first place, and the lack of organizational structure leads to miscommunication, work delays, poor process flow, and low spirit. Morale, and other serious consequences that hinder business growth. In contrast, a strong organizational structure helps coordinate teamwork, reduce conflicts, and enhance productivity.
How do you build an organizational structure? What types of organizational structure are appropriate for your company? Read on to learn more about this information.
What is the organizational structure?
The organizational structure is known as the backbone of all operating procedures and workflow in any company. It defines the place and role of each employee in the company, and is the key to organizational development.
A clear organizational structure allows every team member to participate, when employees know what they are responsible for and who they report to – which is not the case in many fast-growing companies.
To build an organizational structure, you need to take into account the size, life cycle, goals and location of your business. Aside from the current environment in which your company operates, you should also consider where you want to see the organization in five years – as one of the pillars of organizational health.
DocSuite provides powerful tools for organizing and documenting information related to the organizational structure. You can use it to analyze the main elements to design an appropriate organizational structure for your company.
Basic elements of organizational structure design
The organizational structure depends on a group of elements, including:
Work specialty
Work specializations determine how responsibilities are divided among employees based on job descriptions. It is used to divide projects into smaller work activities and assign easy tasks to single employees. Low efficiency and burnout are the most common results of inappropriate specialization.
You can use DocSuite's built-in analysis tools to study job specializations and determine how to divide responsibilities based on the job description.
Documentation
Documentation is the process responsible for grouping professionals based on job description, skills, location, or other factors that connect them.
The biggest challenge here is choosing management standards. In many cases, it is no longer enough to apply functional management - where employees are grouped based on the tasks they perform. Startups often turn to matrix management that involves combining two types of departments and taking the best results from both. Globally, for example, functional management can be combined with geographic management to better serve customers in different locations.
You can use DocSuite's documentation tools to group specialists based on job descriptions, skills, or other factors.
A series of commands
A chain of command represents a system for passing instructions and reporting within an organization, and ideally, it distributes authority, supports knowledge sharing, and encourages employee accountability.
The traditional chain of command makes the decision-making process more complex and does not allow much flexibility. On the contrary, modern methods seek to enhance the autonomy of employees and avoid micro-management.
Through the Doc Suite system, you can create documents and tables to represent the chain of command, and thus, organize a system for passing instructions and preparing reports within the organization.
Span of control
Span of control regulates the number of direct reports managed by a single supervisor, and it depends largely on the above three elements of organizational structure. Furthermore, to determine the appropriate span of control, you need to evaluate the ability of your leaders, the size of the workplace, and the experience level of employees.
Use DocSuite's drawing and charting tools to assess span of control and determine the number of direct reports for each supervisor.
Centralization and decentralization
Centralization and decentralization are the two concepts that define how managers, as well as employees, give input on a company's goals and strategy. While centralization gives leaders absolute control over decision-making processes, decentralization allows employees to influence business decisions.
You can use DocSuite's collaboration features to interact decentralized, allowing employees to participate in decision-making.
Formalize
Formalization determines the extent to which business processes, policies, and job descriptions are standardized, and may regulate communication between employees and managers, workplace culture, operational procedures, etc.
You can create formal documents that define business processes, policies, and job descriptions using DocSuite's writing tools.
Types of organizational structures
The main purpose of any organizational structure is to make operations clearer, however, there are many ways to achieve this. Let's take a look at the seven common types of organization structures to help you decide how you want to develop your company and its different departments and teams.
Functional structure
The functional structure groups employees into different departments according to work specialization, and each department has a specific leader with high experience in the job tasks of each employee he supervises.
Most often, decision-making is carried out top-down (centralized) with department managers reporting to top management and, ideally, leaders of different teams regularly communicating and coordinating their strategies, while lower-level employees have little idea of operations. that take place outside their departments.
The main challenge faced by companies with a functional structure is the lack of coordination between departments. Employees may lose the context of the larger company when focusing on very specific tasks and failing to interact with members of other departments.
To create an effective organizational structure, you will need to train leaders to enhance cooperation between departments. Examples of organizations with a functional structure include: Amazon, Starbucks.
You can use the Doc Suite system to share documents and reports between different departments, and facilitate internal communication between senior management and department managers via chat or email platforms.
Divisional organizational structure
A divisional structure organizes employees around a common product or geographic location. Divisional organizations have teams that focus on a specific market or product line.
Examples of companies that apply a segmentation structure include McDonald's and Disney. These brands can only divide the entire organization by location in order to be able to adjust their strategies for audiences that represent different markets.
These small groups are relatively autonomous and essentially follow a decentralized framework, however, the leaders of each division are more likely to work under central management of the company, meaning that the company's culture is dictated by top management, but operational decisions may be made by each division independently.
Giant companies such as McDonald's and Disney also add functional units to their structure to improve control. Examples of organizations with a divisional structure include: Disney, General Motors, McDonald's.
The Doc Suite system helps organize information about products or sites effectively, and also allows documents to be shared between different departments specialized in the same field.
Matrix structure
Within a matrix organizational structure, team members report to several managers simultaneously. Having multiple supervisors allows for company-wide interaction and faster project delivery. For example, when responding to functional managers and project managers, employees have the opportunity to gather expertise outside of their team. While functional managers can help solve function-specific problems, project managers can bring in knowledge or talent from other departments.
If you are pursuing a matrix organizational structure, you will need to find a way to avoid confusion of authority and prevent conflicts between managers.
Examples of organizations with a matrix structure include: Caterpillar, Phillips, and Texas Instruments.
You can use Doc Suite to facilitate collaboration between different managers and teams in a matrix structure. It also supports project management and progress monitoring by sharing documents and tables.
Team structure
A team-based organizational structure creates small teams focused on delivering a single product or service. These teams are able to solve problems and make decisions without involving third parties.
Team members are responsible for managing the workload and have full control over the project. Team-based organizations are characterized by little formality and high flexibility. This organizational structure works well for global organizations and manufacturers.
Examples of organizations with a team-based structure include: Apple, Cisco, Google, and Whatfix.
DocSuite promotes effective communication between team members and provides a collaborative environment for project management, and is used to exchange ideas and motivation via chat groups and collaborate in real time.
Network organizational structure
A network architecture goes far beyond your company's internal structure. It is the combined efforts of two or more organizations with the goal of providing a single product or service. A network organization typically outsources the work to independent contractors or vendors to complete the work.
In networked organizations, teams are built from full-time employees as well as independent specialists – this way, in-house workers can spend most of their time focusing on the work they specialize in. This approach allows companies to adapt to market changes, and quickly pick up missing skills.
Working with individuals who are not integrated into your company culture reduces formality and increases flexibility. Examples of organizations with a network structure include: Dow Chemical, H&M, and IBM
You can use DocSuite to facilitate communication between multiple organizations that collaborate in a network structure, supporting information sharing between external partners and network collaborators.
Hierarchical organizational structure
You should already have an idea of what a hierarchical structure is. It is the most common type of organizational structure that follows a direct chain of command. The chain of command, in this case, goes from top management to public servants through a group of departmental and team-level executives. The highest An executive with the highest authority over the decision-making process.
On the one hand, this organizational structure enables organizations to streamline business processes, develop clear career paths, and reduce conflicts. The corporate hierarchy leaves no room to challenge the authority of managers, which may be a good thing in some cases.
On the other hand, a hierarchical organizational structure slows down decision-making and may hurt employee morale. Examples of organizations with a hierarchical structure include: Amazon and Sony.
DocSuite helps guide the organization and guide the chain of command, and can be used to share policies and procedures between management levels.
Flat organizational structure
In a flat organizational structure, there are few middle managers between employees and senior managers, and the structure requires less supervision, increases employee engagement, and enhances trust in the workplace.
Due to its simple nature, a flat organizational structure, also called a “flat structure,” is typically used by small businesses and startups.
DocSuite is used to promote direct and effective communication between employees and managers, and supports quick interaction and smooth exchange of information in a flat organizational structure environment.
Finally, once the organizational structure is implemented, it is not too late to make adjustments. Along with performance checks, survey your employees to find out how they feel about the new structure. Their input can help you improve the organizational structure without additional cost and effort.
Doc Suite can play an important role in supporting all types of organizational structures mentioned. The Doc Suite system is used to facilitate communication and exchange of information within an organization, whether this information is related to administrative decisions, functional organization, or team projects.
Overall, Doc Suite plays a vital role in improving the efficiency of communication and information management in all types of organizational structures.