The types of organizational structure are different, but what exactly is an organizational structure?
Organizational structure can be defined as the officially codified hierarchical arrangement of the relationships between individual jobs within organizational departments and the relationships between departments within the organization. It involves the relationships of superiority/subordination and addresses mutual powers (competencies), ties and responsibilities.
In practice, we can meet a wide variety of organizational structures, but all of them are based on four main types. There is a line organizational structure, a functional organizational structure, a line-staff organizational structure, and a matrix organizational structure. Let's take a closer look now at the individual main types of organizational structures and examine their advantages and disadvantages.
Linear organizational structure
The oldest type of organizational structure of the enterprise, which is based on the consistent application of the principle of a single responsible leader.
Advantages:
Simplicity of organizational relationships
Unambiguity of authority and responsibility
Short chains of information links
Disadvantages:
The need for universal knowledge of management personnel, which is very difficult to implement in practice
Not suitable for larger and more complex businesses
Functional organizational structure
The basis of this structure is the arrangement, when the worker has different superiors for different areas of the organization's functioning.
Advantages:
Specialization of functional managers
High level of expertise
Disadvantages:
High frequency and complexity of links between employees and individual departments
Disrupting the principle of a single leader
Cross-Competence
Absence of coordination centers
Coordination problem — an employee may receive conflicting instructions from different subordinates
Line-staff organizational structure
This type of organizational structure is currently the most widespread kind. This structure arose from a combination of linear and functional structure and consists of two components:
Linear component:
It consists of line units arranged according to the principle of a single responsible leader.
Staff Folder:
It was formed as a response to the increasing complexity of management in the organization. The so-called staff is made up of specialists specialized in different areas of management. The task of the staff is to carry out activities ensuring and supporting the management activities of the line manager.
Advantages:
Teamwork support
Close collaboration of managers and specialists
Liability diversification
Disadvantages:
Inflexibility and little adaptability
Growth in the complexity of management
Pressure to expand the number of specialists
Need for above-average expertise of line managers
Matrix organizational structure
It arises when the line staff structure is supplemented by another complementary structure oriented to the solution of a specific project. In this type of organizational structure, 2 types of torments arise:
Functional departments of specialists:
For example, research, production, purchasing, marketing
Goal-oriented departments:
Research and development projects, production programs
In the case of a matrix organizational structure, team members are subordinate to both the project leader and the leader of a specific project.
Advantages:
Ability to create project teams operationally
Teamwork across departments
High flexibility suitable for short-term management
Disadvantages:
Double subordination relationships where it is not clear which superior is more importantOrganizational structure in the practice of the personnel department
Organizational structure in the practice of the personnel department
Organizational structure tends to be captured and officially codified in company directives and job descriptions. HR professionals need to know the organizational structure safely and keep it up-to-date. The organizational structure is important for them to set the bonds of superiority, subordination, powers and responsibilities of individual people or the job positions in which people work. This is very important for managing people, making decisions and approving.
The traditional way in which HR managers record organizational structure is by creating special graphs in programs such as Microsoft Word or PowePoint. However, these graphs are static and their maintenance costs the personnel department a large amount of time.
However, there are software solutions that can create an organizational structure in graphical form automatically and without a single intervention HR Manager. If creating and updating the organizational structure of the enterprise takes too much time, try the HR software Pinya HRthat can create an organizational structure with a single click.
Learn more about creating an organizational structure you will find out here.
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