This assignment seeks to help you understand the answer to a broader concern and that is, what are some of the current forms available to designers of organizations?
Please answer the following questions.
• Why is a functional structure the most common form of structure and what are some of the concerns associated with this form?
• Why do organizations make use of divisional structures and describe each type of divisional structure in three sentences.
• Please describe a network, a matrix and a product team structure and suggest some shortcomings for each.
• What are some of the challenges facing designers seeking to build effective organizational hierarchies?
• What is a bureaucracy and what are the advantages associated with its usage when designing an organizational hierarchy?
• Why are empowered organizational teams and flattened hierarchies becoming more prevalent in organizations?
Hint:
In this chapter, examples are offered that focus on the experiences of Union Pacific, General Mills, General Gypsum Company and EMI. Where applicable use ideas from these examples to build your responses to these questions.
Please limit your response to this assignment to a maximum of four single spaced, typed pages. Where necessary please identify relevant theories and examples noted in the text. In some instances, your responses should take the form of a summary, in your own words, of the main ideas of particular sections of the chapter. Please cite your sources in the text and please reference them at the end of your assignment. Please end your write-up with one paragraph that suggests what you think is the importance of this assignment.