Factors Determining and Influencing Organizational Structures Analysis

Introduction

Generally, a project group or team is responsible for performing the duties that are stipulated in the project plan or program following the directives of the project manager or the program manager. Some of the collective responsibilities of the project group or team include helping the project manager in ensuring that the objectives of the project are delivered, performing some of the elements of the project that they are assigned. The project team is also responsible for the provision of administrative support to the project manager or the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) b. setting up and resourcing of the project management office and advising the project manager of any possible risks that are likely to affect the achievement of project objectives as well as take part in the risk reduction process. Finally, the project group or team is responsible for the provision of information for the documentation of the project as well as the production of project products to the required quality level within the stipulated timescales.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Some of the challenges faced when dealing with multidisciplinary, multicultural and even global project teams include the foreign environment and also engagement with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds who have got dissimilar ways of thinking and even working methodologies. These impose challenges for project managers who in the implementation of projects because they mostly focus on professional, structural and regulatory frameworks and forgetting to consider the effect of diversity of principles of the people they are working with. Finally, the interrelationships between the organization, people, culture and even the resource management are very significant in playing a vital role in determining the condition of the work environment. Proper interrelationship in the mode of communication and promotion of the organization code amongst stakeholders can establish and influence the behavior at work and even the attitude. The stakeholders of an organization are likely to make an enormous input to team communication and collaboration that will enhance the achievement of organizational goals and objectives in case there is proper interrelationship amongst them.

The Size of an Organization

The size of an organization plays a very significant role in determining the organizational structure. For instance, a small scale organization will look out for a simple structure which would demand too little or even no intermediary management involvement in decision making for the implementation of organizational strategies and operations. An excellent example of this is a business with only ten employees, however; a firm with 1,000 employees in its workforce may require a top-bottom structure with intermediary management levels like senior, middle and lower management levels together with the employees to ensure proper implementation of the company visions.

Organizational Development stage

The choice of an organizational structure is also determined by the business lifecycle. Under several circumstances, business organizations that are in their initial developmental stage tend to emphasize the authority on the hands of the founding management without a formal structural design because at this level the business owners do not have the mastery of which determining factors for organizational structure. Conversely, the more a company advances in its operational phases, the executive management often changes from a more centralized top management structure to more of a pyramid structure in which authority is evenly granted throughout all levels.

Type of Business Strategy

The manner in which a company is positioned in its marketplace is a very significant determinant in the type of organizational structure to implement. A good example is a case where a company is pursuing differentiation approach to be recognized as the first company to offer the best quality products or services then it may consider going for an agile organizational structure. The structure may enable its quick response to changes in the marketplace. A structure like a flat structure which enables the employees to reach up too quick decisions without any superintendent approval.

However, a company on the pursuit for a tactic of innovation of the already existing products or services in the marketplace which implies being efficient to achieve success, then it is likely to implement a top-bottom organizational structure because it provides a well-defined chain of commands. This is because the alignment of a strategy with an organizational structural design maximizes the chances for company success.

Environmental Determinants

Designing of a suitable organizational structure would require the consideration of the surrounding environment of a company because the working environment of employees is a very significant factor in determining the type of organizational structure. For instance, a working environment which is unpredictable and rapidly changing demands a flexible, adaptable and interdepartmental structure because, in such circumstances, a rigid structure would suppress the flexibility of the employees. Therefore, structural designers can build flat management with decentralized decision making. However, a stable and predictable environment would enable the implementation of a structure with well-defined duties and integrated authority.

Organizational Structural Design

The various structural designs have their merits and demerits, and that should be considered when determining which to implement. For example, functional and divisional structures are the two common structures. The functional structure establishes departments within an organization depending on the business activities like production, sales and marketing and finance. Even though the establishment of these departments can increase efficiency, it can also create barriers between departments. The divisional structure implies the organization of company operations depending on the product, customers or geography in regards to the marketing, production and finance capabilities. Even though this may appear to make company divisions focused and responsive, it creates redundancy of business activities amongst the divisions and even within the whole organization.

Customer Interaction

Customer interaction dictates the type of organizational structure because it demands a wide-range focus of power and the participation of the whole organization. Therefore, a company should seek for the implementation of an organizational structure that enables the enactment of good customer interaction.

Summarily, the concept of diversity is fundamental and should be considered in high regards during the implementation of multicultural, multidisciplinary or even global project teams because it dramatically affects the performance of project teams or groups. Similarly, maintaining a good interrelationship within an organization is very important because it also determines the performance of the stakeholders in an organization. Finally, the various factors that determine the implementation of organizational structure should be considered to establish a suitable organizational structure that best suits the performance of a project group.

References

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Bell, E., Bryman, A. and Harley, B., 2018. Business research methods. Oxford university press.

Ganter, A. and Hecker, A., 2014. Configurational paths to organizational innovation: qualitative comparative analyses of antecedents and contingencies. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), pp.1285-1292.

Harper, C., 2015. Organizations: Structures, processes, and outcomes. Routledge.

Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Melchers, R.E. and Beck, A.T., 2018. Structural reliability analysis and prediction. John Wiley & Sons.

Rosemann, M. and vom Brocke, J., 2015. The six core elements of business process management. In Handbook on business process management 1 (pp. 105-122). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

San Cristobal, J.R., Fernandez, V. and Diaz, E., 2018. An analysis of the main project organizational structures: Advantages, disadvantages, and factors affecting their selection. Procedia computer science, 138, pp.791-798.

Scott, W.R., 2015. Organizations and organizing: Rational, natural and open systems perspectives. Routledge.

Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Todorovic, M.L., Petrovic, D.C., Mihic, M.M., Obradovic, V.L. and Bushuyev, S.D., 2015. Project success analysis framework: A knowledge-based approach in project management. International Journal of Project Management, 33(4), pp.772-783.