Lecture # 13 Structure and Change

Structure

The way an organization is structured has an impact on the daily lives of the people
within it. It determine:
o What people do
o What skills they need in their position
o With whom they interact
o What information they have access to
o Who they are accountable to

Organizational Design

The process of constructing and adjusting an organizations structure to achieve its goals
Organization chart shows:
o Formal Lines of authority & responsibility (reporting relationships are visible)
o Formal systems of communication, coordination, and integration (typical
interactions).

2 Key Design Principles

Form follows function

o Depends on environment, strategy, size and technology
o Asses needed degree of differentiation and integration
Elegant design is competitive advantage
o Elegant meaning selected with care, pleasingly graceful
o You want a well-designed structure because it will give you an advantage over
others
Apple has an elegant design
Every part of an apple product serves a purpose, and their
commercials are designed to make you feel good (colour,
movement, sound) you then associate these good feelings with
apple it self

Simple Structure

Good:
o Owner/manager can communicate with everyone
Possible for technician to influence boss to have needs satisfied
Problem:
o If it gets bigger, it would be difficult for manager/owner to talk to everyone to
determine and satisfy their needs

Functional Structure

Management roles are divided up, each manager getting subordinates

Good:
o Owner can have more workers
o Allows for real goals to be hidden (obviously not a good thing for anyone but the
owner)
Problem:
o Compartmentalization (manager 1 could have goals manager 2 doesnt known
about)

o Now managers exist between workers and CEO, so bad communication, which is
relayed through a manager with conflicting roles (high vs. medium vs. low)
These are more about management

Matrix Structure

Two different kinds of managers

o Functional managers that look after the employees belonging to a specific
function (mechanical engineer, civil engineer, IT, etc.)
o Project managers that look after a number of employees from different
functional backgrounds to complete a specific project
Good:
o Make diverse teams as needed
o Doesnt have high vs. mid vs. low like functional
o Easier to learn in these structure
Bad:
o Requires more sharing of information
These allow for leadership

New vs. Old Structures

New power structures emphasize expert power over authority (legitimate power)
o In our society, social capital (social media) is new power
o Transparency, informal, do it yourself
Old power: If you hoard resource, you get power, if you have access to, you can control
o In our society, market capital is old power
Centralised: A lot of influence, control over more things than is obviouse
Decentralized: One node falling apart doesnt mean all do
Distributed

Change
Lewins Change Model

Unfreezing: the organization eliminates rewards for current behaviour; explains

rationale for change; deals with resistance
Moving: the organization implements the change
Refreezing: organizational culture and formal reward systems encourage the new
behaviours

Example: Mining Company

o Unfreezing: Banks stop funding the mining companies that behave the way they
dont want them to behave
o Refreeze: Competition awards team that is against unethical behaviour (doesnt
buy)

Forcefield Analysis:

Lewins model applied

Driving Forces: push you to make the change
Restraining Forces: Push you back to the status quo away from the desired state

Mentoring

Mentored individuals earn higher salaries

Mentored individuals have higher promotion rates
Mentored individuals are better decision makers
o Because they have vicariously learned from someone that has more experience
What should you look for in a mentor?
o Someone that cares about you
o Someone who is ethical
o Should have experience you dont
o You want them to have high status
Gives you that same high status
But its a mistake to just look for status
They may have stolen ideas
Low status doesnt mean they dont have knowledge (who better
to get city planning advice from than a garbage man that knows
the winds?)