what are some of the organizational structures used within organizations? (choose 2) course hero

by Susan O'Conner 6 min read

10 types of organizational structures

  • 1. Hierarchical structure In a hierarchical organizational structure, employees are grouped and assigned a supervisor. ...
  • 2. Functional structure In a functional structure, the organization is divided into groups by roles, responsibilities or specialties. ...
  • 3. Matrix structure ...
  • 4. Flat structure ...
  • 5. Divisional structure ...
  • 6. Network structure ...
  • 7. Line structure ...
  • 8. Team-based structure ...
More items

Full Answer

What are the different types of organizational structures?

Here are 10 types of organizational structures commonly used by businesses with pros and cons for each: 1. Hierarchical structure In a hierarchical organizational structure, employees are grouped and assigned a supervisor. It is the most common type of organizational structure.

What are the benefits of a company's organizational structure?

Benefits of this type of structure include: 1 Establishing clearly defined levels of authority 2 Promoting teamwork and department loyalty 3 Fostering employee development and promotion opportunities

What is a team-based organizational structure?

In a team-based organizational structure, employees are grouped into skills-based teams to work on specific tasks while all working toward a common goal. Often, this is a flexible structure that allows employees to move from team to team as they complete projects. This structure focuses on problem-solving and employee cooperation.

What are the key elements that contribute to a proper organizational structure?

The key elements that contribute to a proper organizational structure are as follows: 1. Organic or Simple Organization This type of organization is very flexible and able to adapt well to market changes. This structure is characterized by having few rules, regulations and management layers and a decentralized decision-making layout.

What are the 2 organizational structure?

Hierarchical structure (also known as line structure) Functional structure. Divisional structure (also known as multidivisional structure)

What are the 4 types of organizational structures?

The four types of organizational structures are functional, multi-divisional, flat, and matrix structures. Others include circular, team-based, and network structures.

What are the types of organizational structure?

7 types of organizational structures (+ org charts for implementation)Hierarchical org structure.Functional org structure.Horizontal or flat org structure.Divisional org structures (market-based, product-based, geographic)Matrix org structure.Team-based org structure.Network org structure.

What are the common 3 types of organizational structure you have learned?

There are three main types of organizational structure: functional structure, divisional structure and a blend of the two, called matrix structure.

What is an example of organizational structure?

Organizational structure example – Functional For instance, an employee from the finance department may be called upon by the HR (Human Resource) manager to handle a matter related to this area. The IT (Information Technology) manager may do the same, and so forth.

What is the organizational structure of a company?

Organizational structure is the method by which work flows through an organization. It allows groups to work together within their individual functions to manage tasks.

What is the best Organisational structure?

A traditional line organizational structure is truly the place to start for most companies, especially the smaller ones that don't necessarily comprise a vast number of departments or require a major number of links in the chain of command/communication.

What are the 5 types of organizational structure?

Each of these five types of organizational structures have advantages and disadvantages, so it's important to consider which one may be right for your business.Functional reporting structure. ... Divisional or product reporting structure. ... Process-based structure. ... Matrix structure. ... Flat structure.

What are the 3 types of organizations?

Three forms of organizations describe the organizational structures that are used by most companies today: functional, departmental and matrix. Each of these forms has advantages and disadvantages that owners must consider before deciding which one to implement for their business.

What are the 4 types of organizational structures quizlet?

This includes Simple Structure, Functional Structure, Divisional Structure and Matrix Structure. This is found in the early stages of a firm. The organization is apt to reflect desires of owner.

Which organizational structure is the most widely used?

Functional organizational structure is the most common organization structure companies use. This popular model groups people into teams and departments based on specific functions.

Why are organizational structures important?

Organizational structure is important because it orders your organization to deliver value to a market. Your organization's value chain is the sequence of high-level operations that represents your core value-creating process. It is the translation of competitive strategy into activity.

What is a simple organizational structure?

A simple organizational structure is a basic organizational design structure with low departmentalization, little work specialization, wide spans of control, centralized authority typically with the Founder, and little formalization or rules that govern operations.

How many types of organization are there?

As you might have guessed by now, there exist two types of organisation: Formal Organisation. Informal Organisation.

Which organizational structure is the most widely used?

Functional organizational structure is the most common organization structure companies use. This popular model groups people into teams and departments based on specific functions.

What is a functional structure?

A functional structure is a business structure that is based on the function of each position within the business and the knowledge and skills of the team members that perform each role.

What is the structure of an organization?

The organization is typically divided into departments that are overseen and controlled by a general manager, and each department has its own manager with authority over its staff. The departments work independently to support the organization's primary goal.

What is organizational structure?

An organizational structure, also known as “organogram structure” or “org structure,” outlines the hierarchy within an organization and describes the roles, responsibilities and lines of command that exist to achieve the organization's business goals. By establishing clear relationships between departments, organizational structures provide ...

What are the different types of organizational structures?

Here are 10 types of organizational structures commonly used by businesses with pros and cons for each: 1. Hierarchical structure. In a hierarchical organizational structure, employees are grouped and assigned a supervisor. It is the most common type of organizational structure. Employees may be grouped together by their role or function, ...

Why is organizational structure important?

To ensure operations are running smoothly, many businesses follow an organizational structure that best supports their size and business goals. Having and communicating a clear organizational structure helps your employees understand their roles and corresponding expectations and informs goal-setting. In this article, we define 10 common types of organizational structures along with their pros and cons to help you choose the right one for your business.

What is circular structure?

Circular structure. A circular organizational structure relies on hierarchy to depict higher-level employees within the inner rings of a circle and the lower-level employees along the outer rings. Seated at the center of the organization, leaders do not send orders down the chain of command, but rather outward.

What is a team based organization?

In a team-based organizational structure, employees are grouped into skills-based teams to work on specific tasks while all working toward a common goal. Often, this is a flexible structure that allows employees to move from team to team as they complete projects. This structure focuses on problem-solving and employee cooperation.

Why are employees given more responsibility and decision making power without the usual hierarchical pressures or supervision?

This type of structure is mostly used by small companies and early-stage start-ups because they often have fewer employees and projects to manage.

What are the elements of organizational structure?

What exactly do we mean by organizational structure? Which elements of a company’s structure make a difference in how we behave and how work is coordinated? We will review four aspects of structure that have been frequently studied in the literature: centralization, formalization, hierarchical levels, and departmentalization . We view these four elements as the building blocks, or elements, making up a company’s structure. Then we will examine how these building blocks come together to form two different configurations of structures.

How are organizations structured?

In reality, many organizations are structured according to a mixture of functional and divisional forms. For example, if the company has multiple product lines, departmentalizing by product may increase innovativeness and reduce response times. Each of these departments may have dedicated marketing, manufacturing, and customer service employees serving the specific product; yet, the company may also find that centralizing some operations and retaining the functional structure makes sense and is more cost effective for roles such as human resources management and information technology. The same organization may also create geographic departments if it is serving different countries.

What are the elements of a company's structure?

The degree to which a company is centralized and formalized, the number of levels in the company hierarchy, and the type of departmentalization the company uses are key elements of a company’s structure. These elements of structure affect the degree to which the company is effective and innovative as well as employee attitudes and behaviors at work. These elements come together to create mechanistic and organic structures. Mechanistic structures are rigid and bureaucratic and help companies achieve efficiency, while organic structures are decentralized, flexible, and aid companies in achieving innovativeness.

Why are functional structures more effective than product divisions?

Each type of departmentalization has its advantages. Functional structures tend to be effective when an organization does not have a large number of products and services requiring special attention. When a company has a diverse product line, each product will have unique demands, deeming divisional (or product-specific) structures more useful for promptly addressing customer demands and anticipating market changes. Functional structures are more effective in stable environments that are slower to change. In contrast, organizations using product divisions are more agile and can perform better in turbulent environments. The type of employee who will succeed under each structure is also different. Research shows that when employees work in product divisions in turbulent environments, because activities are diverse and complex, their performance depends on their general mental abilities (Hollenbeck, et. al., 2002).

Why are mechanistic structures beneficial?

The main advantage of a mechanistic structure is its efficiency. Therefore, in organizations that are trying to maximize efficiency and minimize costs, mechanistic structures provide advantages. For example, McDonald’s has a famously bureaucratic structure where employee jobs are highly formalized, with clear lines of communication and specific job descriptions. This structure is an advantage for them because it allows McDonald’s to produce a uniform product around the world at minimum cost. Mechanistic structures can also be advantageous when a company is new. New businesses often suffer from a lack of structure, role ambiguity, and uncertainty. The presence of a mechanistic structure has been shown to be related to firm performance in new ventures (Sine & Kirsch, 2006).

Why is McDonald's a bureaucratic company?

This structure is an advantage for them because it allows McDonald’s to produce a uniform product around the world at minimum cost.

What is functional structure?

Organizations using functional structures group jobs based on similarity in functions. Such structures may have departments such as marketing, manufacturing, finance, accounting, human resources, and information technology. In these structures, each person serves a specialized role and handles large volumes of transactions. For example, in a functional structure, an employee in the marketing department may serve as an event planner, planning promotional events for all the products of the company.

What Are the Key Elements of an Organizational Structure?

Key elements of an organizational structure include how certain activities are directed in order to achieve the goals of an organization, such as rules, roles, responsibilities, and how information flows between levels within the company.

What Is an Organizational Structure?

An organizational structure is a system that outlines how certain activities are directed in order to achieve the goals of an organization. These activities can include rules, roles, and responsibilities.

What is the military organization?

The military is an organization famous for its highly centralized structure, with a long and specific hierarchy of superiors and subordinates.

How does organizational structure affect decision making?

For example, in a centralized structure, decisions flow from the top down, while in a decentralized structure, decision-making power is distributed among various levels of the organization.

What is centralized organization?

In a centralized organizational system, there are very clear responsibilities for each role, with subordinate roles defaulting to the guidance of their superiors. There has been a rise in decentralized organizations, as is the case with many technology startups.

How does organizational structure help employees?

In addition, a very clear organizational structure informs employees how best to get their jobs done. For example, in a hierarchical organization, employees will have to work harder at buying favor or courting those with decision-making power. In a decentralized organization, employees must take on more initiative and bring creative problem solving to the table. This can also help set expectations for how employees can track their own growth within a company and emphasize a certain set of skills—as well as for potential employees to gauge if such a company would be a good fit with their own interests and work styles.

Why is it important to put an organizational structure in place?

The structure not only defines a company's hierarchy but also allows the firm to layout the pay structure for its employees . By putting the organizational structure in place, the firm can decide salary grades and ranges for each position.

What is an organizational structure?

An organizational structure is a set of rules and relationships within a company that defines how it operates to meet its goals. It outlines the hierarchy in an organization by defining roles, explaining where each role fits within the business and determining who reports to whom.

Why is organizational structure important?

There are numerous reasons why having an organizational structure is important for a business:

How to choose an organizational structure

Choosing the appropriate organizational structure for a business is an important component in helping it achieve its goals. Because there are numerous structures, it can be useful to have a clearer understanding of each structure and the factors to consider before choosing one.

What is network organizational structure?

Network organizational structure helps visualize both internal and external relationships between managers and top-level management. They are not only less hierarchical but are also more decentralized and more flexible than other structures.

Why is using a network organizational structure a disadvantage?

Using a Network organizational structure is sometimes a disadvantage because of its complexity. The below example of network org chart shows the rapid communication between entities.

What is the most popular organizational chart type?

The hierarchical model is the most popular organizational chart type. There are a few models that are derived from this model. In a hierarchical organization structure , employees are grouped with every employee having one clear supervisor. The grouping is done based on a few factors, hence many models derived from this.

What are the advantages of divisional structure?

The main advantage of the divisional structure is the independent operational flow, that failure of one company does not threaten the existence of the others. It’s not perfect either. There can be operational inefficiencies from separating specialized functions.

What is geography in business?

Geography – employees are grouped based on their region. For example in USA employees might be grouped according to the state. If it’s a global company the grouping could be done according to countries.

What is matrix organization?

In a Matrix organizational structure, the reporting relationships are set up as a grid, or matrix, rather than in the traditional hierarchy. It is a type of organizational management in which people with similar skills are pooled for work assignments, resulting in more than one manager to report to (sometimes referred to as solid line and dotted line reports, in reference to traditional business organization charts).

Why is it important to have a well trained workforce?

This enables employees to make decisions quickly and independently. Thus a well-tr ained workforce can be more productive by directly getting involved in the decision-making process. This works well for small companies because work and effort in a small company are relatively transparent.

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Organizational Structure Explained

  • An organizational structure is the grouping of resources at different levels depending on their responsibilities, power, and position. It helps various departments in a company exchange data, coordinate, and work together to achieve business goals. A company devises an organizational structure to ensure that suitable employees with the right set of skills occupy each position in th…
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Types of Organizational Structure

  • Organizations implement different types of OS depending on the nature of their business, needs of customers, types of products in demand, and services required. Here are some of the popular organizational structures.
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Examples

  • Let’s take the help of organizational structure examples to understand the working of the OS more comprehensively.
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Benefits

  • An ideal OS helps in the efficient operation of a company. Some of the benefits of OS are as follows. 1. Swift decision-making possible – The organizational structure helps the flow of information effortlessly across different levels of management. It enables quick decision-making. 2. Coordination between different geographical divisions of a company – OS promotes easy ad…
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  • This has been a Guide to What is Organizational Structure in business. We discuss types of organizational structures like matrix & functional with examples. You can learn more about accounting from the articles below – 1. Financial Structure 2. Responsibility Accounting 3. Insourcing
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