"Every company has two organizational structures: The formal one is written on the charts; the other is the everyday relationship of the men and women in the organization" - Harold S.Geneen
the pressures of today
Nowadays, traditional organization structures are facing
pressure to change so that they can keep up with a rapidly-advancing global
economy and the demands to outdo competition. The following are just a few of
the current performance demands that organization structures are pressured to
meet today:
- Speed to market
- Greater consumer orientation
- Constant productivity improvements
- Better technology utilization
Due to the pressures on traditional organizational structures to change, managers are constantly attempting to modify the way they set up their companies.
Although traditional organizational structures such as vertical and control-oriented structures are under scrutiny, forcing them to change, this change is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, in order for a company to reach productivity, improvement, and have a competitive advantage over other businesses, innovations in organizational structures must take place. Businesses should keep in mind what is and what is not a good organizational structure when assessing their own and deciding whether or not to implement a new one or change the one they already have. A good rule of thumb is that a positive organizational structure is one that assists the performance of workers in a company, not one that is a performance liability. The reason that traditional structures are being pressured to change is because they are becoming less and less able to get workers in a company to master daily tasks that are an essential component of their jobs. A huge movement is now taking place to influence a transformation from vertical organizational structures to horizontal organizational structures, or structures that limit hierarchy with a company, increase empowerment, and better utilize technology and employees' talents and abilities.
The following are steps that businesses can take towards achieving the implementation of a horizontal organizational structure:
- Focusing the organization on processes, not functions.
- Making people in control of core processes.
- Encouraging employees to make decisions important to the overall performance of the company.
- Utilizing information technology.
- Teaching people how to work in teams.
- Letting workers know the importance of being skilled at more than just one thing.
- Building culture of freedom, teamwork, and dedication to work.
- Speed to market
- Greater consumer orientation
- Constant productivity improvements
- Better technology utilization
Due to the pressures on traditional organizational structures to change, managers are constantly attempting to modify the way they set up their companies.
Although traditional organizational structures such as vertical and control-oriented structures are under scrutiny, forcing them to change, this change is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, in order for a company to reach productivity, improvement, and have a competitive advantage over other businesses, innovations in organizational structures must take place. Businesses should keep in mind what is and what is not a good organizational structure when assessing their own and deciding whether or not to implement a new one or change the one they already have. A good rule of thumb is that a positive organizational structure is one that assists the performance of workers in a company, not one that is a performance liability. The reason that traditional structures are being pressured to change is because they are becoming less and less able to get workers in a company to master daily tasks that are an essential component of their jobs. A huge movement is now taking place to influence a transformation from vertical organizational structures to horizontal organizational structures, or structures that limit hierarchy with a company, increase empowerment, and better utilize technology and employees' talents and abilities.
The following are steps that businesses can take towards achieving the implementation of a horizontal organizational structure:
- Focusing the organization on processes, not functions.
- Making people in control of core processes.
- Encouraging employees to make decisions important to the overall performance of the company.
- Utilizing information technology.
- Teaching people how to work in teams.
- Letting workers know the importance of being skilled at more than just one thing.
- Building culture of freedom, teamwork, and dedication to work.
Below is a video dedicated to informing viewers about how companies use matrix management to break through traditional organizational structures and improve flexibility and problem solving through enhanced cross-functional integration.