Organizational structure is the internal, formal framework of a business that shows the way in which management is linked together and how the authority is transmitted. It is basically a framework used to describe the hierarchy in an organisation. Every business needs to have their own organizational structure as it helps in identifying the job at each level of an individual followed by its functions and it also assists in obtaining their own goals for development. There is a need for every type of organisation to have their own structure specially when it comes to large enterprises as it becomes difficult activities of the various departments and functions. A business will opt for an organisation structure which is best suited to them and the way they would like to be working, and the chart they create will reflect this. A flat organisation is one that has eliminated most or all Continue reading
Management Concepts
Six Elements of Organizational Structure
An organizational structure is a diagram displaying the hierarchical arrangement of lines of authority, roles and duties within an organisation and how they relate to one another. A structure is dependent upon the objectives and strategy of which the organization is focussed on. There are six basic elements of an organizational structure: Specialisation Departmentalisation Chain of Command Span of control Centralisation and Decentralisation Formalisation Work specialization gives employees specific duties and roles they are expected to perform within the company, factoring in their qualifications and skills. Having descriptions of duties for staff members helps the organisation to fully meet the workforce needs and to ensure there are no unnecessary duplications within roles. Departmentalization refers to how the organisation breaks down the functions and teams needed to run the company and carry out the essential tasks. Departments are usually made up of staff members who perform similar tasks in the same Continue reading
Knowledge Management (KM)
Knowledge Management is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Most often, generating value from such assets involves sharing them among employees, departments and even with other companies in an effort to devise best practices. The term is used loosely to refer to a broad collection of organizational practices and approaches related to generating, capturing and disseminating know-how and other content relevant to the organization’s business. Knowledge management can be explained as an effort by organizations to manage some or all of the knowledge within them as a resource, much as they manage real estate, inventory, and human resources. It involves the following: Capturing it; that is, explicitly recording the tacit knowledge within an organization. Cataloguing and storing it; that is, placing the information into a central area where all members of an organization who have a need to know have access to it Continue reading
Knowledge – Definition and Types
Knowledge is a very slippery concept with many different variations and definitions, each of which is valid in its own right. The nature of knowledge and what it means to know something are epistemological questions that have perplexed philosophers for centuries and no resolution looms on the horizon. According to Webster’s Dictionary, knowledge is “the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association”. In practice, though, there are many possible, equally plausible definitions of knowledge. A frequently used definition of knowledge is “the ideas or understandings which an entity possesses that are used to take effective action to achieve the entity’s goal(s). This knowledge is specific to the entity which created it.” There are two basic kinds of knowledge in an Organization: Explicit and Tacit. Explicit knowledge is knowledge that has been articulated and, more often than not, captured in the form of text, tables, Continue reading
Successful Change Management: Principles and Processes
Managing the changes in an organization requires a broad set of skills like political skills, analytical skills, people skills, system skills, and business skills. Having good analytical skills will make you a good change agent. You should evaluate the financial and political impacts of the changes that can take place. You should know that following a particular process at that instant would fetch you immediate financial effects and start that process so that the change process is noted by the management. The workflow has to be changed in such a manner to reflect the financial changes that are taking place. Operations and systems in the organization should be reconfigured in such a manner that you get the desired financial impact. Successful management improvement efforts require the active involvement of managers and staff throughout the organization to provide ideas for improvements and supply the energy and expertise needed to implement changes. Continue reading
Literature Review – Organizational Learning
Organizational learning is the ‘activity and the process by which organizations eventually reach the ideal of a learning organization’ (Senge, 1990). Organizational learning is just a means in order to achieve strategic objectives. But creating a learning organization is also a goal, since the ability permanently and collectively to learn is a necessary precondition for thriving in the new context. Therefore, the capacity of an organization to learn, that is, to function like a learning organization, needs to be made more concrete and institutionalized, so that the management of such learning can be made more effective (Dunphy, 1998). Learning organizations are organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together. (Senge 1990: 3) The Learning Company is a vision Continue reading