A traditional hierarchical organisation management structure has been around for the longest with the military adopting it first as a way to show a chain of command and quickly becoming the most used structure in organisations. There are limitations to this structure however, communication typically flows from the top to the bottom which results in innovation stagnation, a lack in engagement and poor collaboration. This structure is also usually riddled with bureaucracy and can be extremely sluggish. Unfortunately this has resulted in many organisations looking to flatten out their structure as organisations still employing a hierarchy are vulnerable to competitors taking over. The greatest strength of hierarchy used to be that it was reliable …show more content…
A matrix organisation can also allow individuals to use particular skills within a variety of context encoraging cross-fertilisation of ideas across departments and therefore increasing inovation and cost-effectiveness of projects. This in-turn increases moral and motivation within the organisation and can result in a health attitude with a high quality focus.
The disadvantages of this structure however, are that by dividing the loyalties of project team members, work load on team members can be increased resulting in a heavier then usual pressure or work. This makes it difficult to co-ordinate and prioritise function work over project work. The matrix system also takes time for team members to adjust to, and accountbility of work may not be clear.
Organic structures (also known as “flat” structures) are very flexible and decentralised, with low levels of formalisations. Organic structures usually have more fluid/flexible communication lines with employee job descriptions being a lot broader and diverse then other organisation structures. As a result of these diverse job roles, organic structures tend to lead to higher levels of job
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This can result in rules, boundaries and standards changing as influenced by team members. While this may work well in some cases, it could lead to greed and/or selfish motives instead of corporate focus. Organic structures lack any authoritative structure this can lead to unproductive directives, with low urgency or immediate direction. This in-turn effects the organisations drive to meet customer demand, fix issues in their product, or drive to expand the business.
Organic organisations can also suffer from ineffective leadership, due to the fact that employees can feel like they are part of the leadership. This is an issue when leaders attempt to implement change and employees don’t respond to the new direction as they believe they are “above” it. To correct these organic structures need to maintain a defined leadership that is active in decision-making and