Business, Strategic planning
The organizational structure of the enterprise is an example. Characteristics of the organizational structure of the enterprise
The implementation of plans and programs is achieved by building an organizational structure that allows efficiently directing joint activities of personnel through the appropriate distribution of responsibilities, rights and responsibilities. Enterprise management should choose an organizational structure that corresponds to strategic plans and ensures effective interaction with the environment and achievement of the set goals.
Characteristics of the organizational structure of the enterprise
The organizational structure is understood as a formal scheme by which the working tasks are divided, grouped and coordinated.
The characteristic of the organizational structure includes six basic elements:
- Specialization of work tasks;
- Departmentalization;
- Command chain;
- Norm of controllability (measured by the maximum number of subordinates of one leader);
- Centralization and decentralization;
- Formalization.
Traditional approaches to decentralization
The specialization of work assignments consists in dividing the entire volume into separate elements and / or stages and fixing the employee for performing a narrow range of tasks, operations or procedures. The approach, on the basis of which then separate work tasks are grouped, has received the name of departmentalization. There are five approaches to the formation of the structure of the organization :
1. Functional approach is that the grouping of work assignments and specialized specialists into departments is carried out in accordance with the types of activity and qualifications - engineering department, accounting, marketing, production (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 . Organizational structure of the enterprise: an example of a functional structure
2. With a divisional approach, the basis for creating self-sufficient units is the similarity of products and programs being implemented or the influence of a geographical factor (Figure 2).
Fig. 2 . Organizational structure of the enterprise: an example of a divisional structure
3. The matrix approach consists in the coexistence of divisional and functional command chains, as a result of which a double chain of subordination arises: employees are accountable to two immediate supervisors-the project manager or products whose development or implementation is involved, and the head of the functional department (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3 . Organizational structure of the enterprise: an example of a matrix structure
New in the structures of companies
Among the "new", more flexible and adaptive are such approaches to the formation of the structure:
- The team approach is used to organize specific tasks. To coordinate the activities of the main departments, a variety of teams can be created.
- With the network approach, the organization "shrinks", with the broker taking the lead and key position, whose role is to maintain communication with other departments using telecommunications technologies. Departments can be geographically scattered around the world, their activities are independent, the cost of the broker's services is paid on the basis of the terms of the contract with the profit. This scheme of the organizational structure of the enterprise is reflected in Fig. 4.
Fig.4 . Network structure of the organization
Factors influencing the choice of structure
The choice of organizational structure is influenced by many situational factors both inside the organization and outside it: the scale of the business, its specifics, the degree of mobility of the external environment, the characteristics of the industry in which the company operates, etc.
Advantages and disadvantages of adaptive and bureaucratic structures
Bureaucratic structures, also called hierarchical ones, include linear, functional, divisional, etc. Among the adaptive (organic) structures, the matrix, design, network, etc. are distinguished. The characteristic features of these organizational structures are given in Table 1.
Table 1 . Advantages and disadvantages of bureaucratic and adaptive organizational structures
| Bureaucratic structure | Adaptive structure | |
| pros | • Clear links between the subordinate and the supervisor • Ability to fully control subordinates • Rapid response to crisis situations | • Effective motivation • High level of responsibility of employees • Initiative of staff • Fast information exchange between employees of different levels |
| Minuses | • Slow motion of information • Low level of responsibility of employees • Inadequate staff • Struggle for power | • Probability of unmanageability • Difficulties in finding qualified employees |
In general, the organizational structures of the enterprise (for example, bureaucratic structures) better correspond to companies operating in a stable external environment, and organic ones to firms that are forced to work in conditions that change very quickly.
Comparative characteristics of organizational structures
The organizational structure of the company LLC, depending on the features of its construction, has clearly pronounced advantages and disadvantages, which are reflected in Table 2.
Table 2 . Comparative characteristics of organizational structures
| Name | Description | Benefits | Restrictions |
| Linear | The scheme of the organizational structure of the enterprise is created when transferring tasks and authorities from the leader to the subordinate and so on by the command chain. This creates hierarchical levels of management | Simplicity and ease of control | A manager of any rank must be competent and efficient in performing any managerial function. Effective management of a highly diversified and territorially branched business is impossible |
| Headquarters | The organization creates a headquarters (administrative apparatus). Experts in its composition (for example, lawyers, specialists in training and development of personnel, etc.), consult top managers and line managers | Reducing the level of requirements for line managers and facilitating their work | Such a sample of the organizational structure of the enterprise is characterized by the lack or limited power of the staff |
| Functional | Separate business units (production, sales, marketing, finance, etc.) are clearly assigned certain management functions, tasks and responsibilities | Optimization of activities in each functional area. The most effective when the assortment of products is relatively constant and the organization solves predominantly the same type of management tasks | None of the departments as a whole is interested in achieving organizational goals, provoking conflicts between departments. Difficulties in training the top-level staff reserve due to the narrow specialization of mid-level managers. Slow response to changes in the environment |
| Divisional | Division of the organization into subdivisions by types of goods or services, consumer groups or regions | Effective structure for large, geographically dispersed companies with a wide range of goods or services. It allows you to concentrate on specific products (services), consumer groups or regions. Operationally responds to changes in technology, customer demand and competition conditions | Increase in costs associated with duplication of work (including those performed by functional units) in different divisions |
| The project | Time structure created for the solution of a specific task, limited by time. It is headed by the project manager, who is subordinated to a team of specialists and who has the necessary resources | All efforts of the staff are aimed at solving one particular task | It is impossible to ensure full or guaranteed employment of project participants after it is completed. Problems with team loading and resource allocation |
| Matrix | The Matrix Organization is divided into structural (usually - functional) units, with project managers who are subordinate to top management. When implementing projects, managers temporarily manage the activities of employees of functional units. In everything that goes beyond the scope of project activities, these employees are subordinate to the heads of their departments | Flexibility and speed of response to changes in the environment. The possibility of rapid reallocation of resources | Violation of the principle of one-man management because of double subordination of employees. The emergence of conflicts on the basis of resource allocation |
Thus, when deciding on the choice of the organizational structure, it is important to know and take into account its advantages and disadvantages, as well as the influence of such factors as the scale of business, its specifics, the degree of uncertainty of the external environment, the characteristics of the industry in which the company operates, etc. Universal type Structure for all occasions simply does not exist.
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