Introduction to Structure in fives

1
Introduction to Structure in fives

• Pål Sørgaard, Telenor RD and IfI
• August 29, 2005

2
Structure in fives

• An absolute classic in organisation theory (1983)
• Author Henry Mintzberg one of the most
  influential researchers in the field
• It is based on a more academic textbook The
  Structuring of Organizations (1979)
• Takes a design view of organisations
• Not the last word in the field there are critics
  and new developments
• If you learn this you have a very good basis for
  understanding and working in organisations
• If you study the field deeply, this is an
  excellent start

3
Why do we have organisations?

• Views from the students

4
Why study organisations?

• We work in (systems development) organisations
• The way systems development is organised has
  immense impact on its productivity and quality
• We usually work with organisations
• Our clients are often organisations that need to
  revise or acquire information systems
• These systems are often crucial to the
  performance of the organisation
• The introduction of such systems is usually
  associated with important changes in the
  organisations
• Such implementation and change processes often
  fail
• Properties of systems are often disputed

5
When we have division of labour we need
coordination

• Mutual adjustment
• Direct supervision
• Standardisation of work processes
• Standardisation of work outputs
• Standardisation of skills

6
An organisation has five main parts

• Strategic apex
• Middle line
• Support staff
• Technostructure
• Operating core
• Illustrations borrowed from presentations of
  Bolman and Deal (Wiley Interscience)

7
Five main configurations

• Mintzberg proposes five main configurations, or
  kinds of organisations
• These are consistent organisational designs in
  terms of design parameters (i.e. coordination
  mechanisms) and environmental conditions
• Mintzberg describes them in terms of
• Prime coordinating mechanism
• Key part of organisation
• Main design parameters
• Situational factors

8
Simple structure

• A small shop
• A new agency
• A start-up company led by a very dominant person

9
Machine bureaucracy

• A traditional airline
• A steel work
• A government directorate

10
Professional bureaucracy

• University
• Hospital

11
Divisional form

• A major corporation
• A regional health provider
• The Norwegian government sector

12
Adhocracy

• A project based consulting or RD company
• Some highly innovative companies or agencies

13
When describing existing organisations

• We will meet mixed configurations
• Perhaps we will meet other main configurations?
• Are there other consistent configurations?
• Thus, with our projects, we may see cases that
  tend to confirm, falsify or call for elaboration
  of Mintzbergs theory