Introduction
The organizational structure is fundamental in all companies, it defines many characteristics of how it is going to be organized, it has the main function of establishing authority, hierarchy, chain of command, organizational charts and departmentalizations, among others.
Organizations must have an organizational structure according to all the activities or tasks they intend to carry out, through a correct structure that allows them to establish their functions, and departments in order to produce their services or products, through order and adequate control. to achieve your goals and objectives.
Concepts
In order to understand this topic, it is necessary to know some concepts, including the following:
Organization: comes from the Latin organon, which means organ as an element of a system, further expanding this concept. Organizing is the process of distributing activities, resources, through the division of functions, defining the authorities and responsibilities of each department so that the company can easily achieve your goals
Structure: Sergio Hernández defines the structure as: “ Assembly of a construction, a relatively lasting arrangement of the parts of a whole and its relationship between them ”. A very general definition not only for the administration where this word comes from the Latin structura that refers to disposition order of the parts within a whole, it is a group of united elements that have the capacity to bear great loads without breaking or deforming.
This makes us reflect on the importance of a structure in the organization so we can define the following:
The organizational structure is the division of all the activities of a company that are grouped together to form areas or departments, establishing authorities, which through organization and coordination seek to achieve objectives.
The structure of an organization is divided into two main areas: the structure and informal structure.
Background
Sociological approach: Structuralism
Approach built by sociologists, where the analysis of social organization is related to any type of institution. In structuralism, basic concepts such as the concept of structure and the organization of all its parts and the relationship between them are handled.
Max Weber
Max Weber is a German sociologist who contributed a lot to this school and he considered three important concepts:
1.- The concept of bureaucracy: Nowadays it is a concept more used and known among all that has to do with the public function, which would come to be like organizational inefficiency.
2.- Concept of authority classification: It is the ability to be able to command and influence other people.
3.- Ideal bureaucracy model: It is based on the concept of bureaucracy but a model of this must be made up of: a maximum division of labor, hierarchy of authority, rules of authority, rules that define responsibility and labor, objective attitude administration, technical qualification and safety at work and avoid corruption.
Types of organizational structure
The structure is the fundamental base of the company where the divisions of the activities are carried out to form departments and subsequently define the authority in order to achieve the objectives but also everything that arises spontaneously from the interaction between the members. Taking into account these two aspects, the structure is divided mainly into structure and informal structure.
Formal structure
This formal structure arises as a need to carry out a division of activities within an organization that allows them to mainly achieve the objectives through organizational charts, manuals and the interaction of the principles of the organization such as the division of labor, authority and responsibility, delegation, unity of command, hierarchy, stretch of control and equity in workload, among others. Figure 1 shows that the formal structure is made up of the parts that make up an organization and their relationship to each other through the fundamental principles of the organization that are established with the help of tools and are presented orally or documents publicly. where some of the members can consult, as the formal structure of the organization is governed.
Formal structure of organizations
Informal structure
Its origin is in the formal structure since from there the formation of structures of the relations between the members according to a mixture of factors as shown in Figure 2 where some are observed give rise to this type of structure.
The informal structure obeys the social order and these are usually more dynamic than the formal ones. In figure 2 below, it is observed that the informal structure is integrated through relationships between people according to a mixture of factors that come to form informal groups that are verbally represented publicly.
Informal structure of organizations
The organizational diagram or organization chart
Linear functional organization charts
Organization charts are graphic representations, they are called functional lines because the division of labor, lines of authority and communication are represented graphically. For the realization of an organization chart there are meanings and rules in the graphics, some are mentioned, in the case of the staff these must be highlighted with dotted lines, lines of authority must come out from the bottom of the rectangle, they must be enclosed in a rectangle The title of the position must include the names of the person in charge of the position.
Types of organization charts
According to Enrique B. Franklin
a) By nature type they are divided into three types:
- Microadministratives: This organizational chart is for an organization only and can be a general organization chart for the entire company or only for one area. Macro-administrative: In this organizational chart more than one company is involved Meso - administrative: It involves one or more organizations but with the same turn.
b) For its purpose
They are made up of four subcategories:
- Informational: This type of organization chart is intended to be publicly disseminated, so that anyone can view them. Analytical: This organization chart is analytical in organizational behavior. Formal: It is from the legal point of view when the representative or partners determine the structure of the organization and it has an instrument. Informal: This organizational chart contrary to the previous one does not have such a written instrument.
c) By its scope:
This class is subdivided into three types.
General: Highlight the important information of an organization up to a certain hierarchical level. Figure 1 shows an example of this organization chart.
General organization chart
Specific: This organization chart details an area in detail as shown in figure 2.
Specific organization chart
d) For its content
This class is subdivided into three types: integral, functional and posts, places and units. Each one is detailed below:
Integrals: This organization chart represents the entire structure of the organization but they relate the hierarchy between the departments as well as the dependency that exist between them in Figure 3, this organization chart is shown graphically.
Integral Organization Chart
Functional: This graphic structure highlights the main functions that the different departments are in charge of. Figure 4 shows an example of this type of organization chart.
Functional organization chart
Positions: Organization chart of great importance in the area of human resources because the names of the people who make up each area and the number of people there appear, it is useful because it is easy to determine at what level people are and where they can Moving up or being moved gives a more general view of levels and dependencies among staff. Figure 5 shows an example.
Job organization chart
e) Due to its graphic distribution
This group is classified by four different organizational charts.
Vertical: They are the most used and common organization charts within organizations, they are easy to build and are structured from top to bottom, leading the person with the highest hierarchy in the company.
Vertical organization chart
Horizontal: They are formed from left to right, the person with the highest hierarchy is on the left and the other levels to the right.
Horizontal organization chart
Mixed: This organization chart mixes both the horizontal and vertical organization chart. It is mostly used for companies that have a large number of divisions in the organizational base. An example is shown below in Figure 8.
Mixed organization chart
Block: they are derived from the verticals so that the latest hierarchical novels appear below in figure 9 their structure is shown.
Block organization chart
Circulars: The person or unit with the highest hierarchy is in the center and it is also made up of circles and each circle represents the hierarchical level equivalent to the higher hierarchy of those from the center outwards. Figure 10 shows this graph.
Circular organization chart
Departmentalization
Agustín Reyes Ponce says: "Organizing is the technical structuring of the relationships that must exist between the functions, levels, and activities of a company's resources."
The company can be organized by different factors, product factor, customer, geographic, functional and project.
- Due to the functional area: It is when they are organized according to the professional profiles of specialty. Due to the client: The organizations structure according to the type of client a very clear example are the department stores. Because of the products: Generally it is in companies that have a great variety of products, these companies are organized according to the type of product. A very common example of this type of departmentalization is grocery stores, or large supermarket chains. Due to geographical location: It is according to the areas or territories where these companies carry out their operations. Because of the project: They have a matrix structure every time they generate projects they establish new modifications, an example of these are the construction companies that work on projects.
Job specialization
The specialization of work is carried out through the division of tasks, where the goal is to achieve that a collaborator is an expert in his position so that he is more productive since it was thought that it was not possible for a person to dominate all areas of a organization. Companies are currently looking for people with a good attitude to acquire more knowledge than their job needs or who have "multi-skills".
“Organizing means establishing structures of the roles that individuals must play in the company. Assign necessary tasks for compliance ”.
Task grouping
The tasks or activities of the company must be classified by the different areas and take into account the type of workload that will establish a collaborator.
These should be established as previously mentioned according to different variables such as the type of capacity, technical knowledge and that is proportional to the worker's remuneration.
There are different tools that help group tasks, such as time and movement studies, job analysis, among others. To make the grouping, it is advisable to first make a division by large areas, example: finance, human resources, production, marketing, among others, and then carry out another subcategory or division of these areas, according to the organization's tour, the names may vary as well as the number of subdivisions.
Hierarchy and chain of command
This principle speaks to us of the division of the organization that exists in every group and human organization. Once the tasks are grouped, they begin to be classified into large areas; This activity corresponds to the administrator or who is carrying out the organizational plan, mainly it will have to determine which collaborators depend on who or which department depends on another; in the same way they vary according to the line of business, size, number of people, and the relationships that link the areas.
In the chain of command it mainly establishes: authority, responsibilities and unity of command.
This process of hierarchy and chain of command is undergoing changes according to the growth of the company, generally all companies are born without a defined structure, and as they grow they add members until the owner begins to divide the areas and which person will be in charge of what. There is a classification for the type of growth of the organization, as horizontal and vertical are described below:
- Horizontal growth: they serve up to a certain limit where the collaborators require the support of others who, in turn, also depend on them to fulfill the plans. Vertical growth: As the company grows and collaborators are added and more areas or departments begin to open to a point where it does not have a correct division within the organization.
Control width
This is very similar to the previous one except that it quantifies the units, departments or people that are supervised by another person, some theories establish the maximum number of people that can be in command of another, but it is very important to know and even more so today With the computer systems that allow greater control over some areas, the smaller the number of people who depend on one, the communication and control of them will be easier and more efficient, as opposed to more people, it is possible to lose the control and create chaos.
Future work
Tool through a methodology for the establishment of potential organizational structures for newly created companies for their entry and growth in the global market.
Objective:
To elaborate a methodology for the creation of a potential structure that the recently created company can use from its beginnings at the same time that it establishes the bases to direct it to its growth through a tool that facilitates its elaboration.
Conclusions
The organizational structure allows us to achieve the goals and objectives of the company since it establishes the fundamental bases such as division of labor, departmentalization, control of command and hierarchy.
It is important that companies have a structure, regardless of its size and that it is also designed according to what it intends to do and where it wants to go so that it allows it to achieve objectives. In addition to not losing sight of the organization's structure, when it is being designed it must be flexible and adaptable to the growth of the company.
Bibliography
- CHIAVENATO Idalberto (2004). Introduction to the General Theory of Administration, Seventh Edition, McGraw-Hill / Interamericana editores.FRANKLIN, Enrique B. (2003). Business Organization, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill. Mexico HERNÁNDEZ and Rodríguez, Sergio (2002). Administration: thought, process, strategy and vanguard. First Edition McGraw-Hill / Interamericana editoresMUCH, Galindo (2004) Fundamentals of case management and practices, Fifth edition, Editorial trillas.Reyes Ponce, A. (2004). Business Administration. Theory and practice. Mexico: Limusa.
Footnotes:
- Hernández y Rodríguez, p.84 http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=estructura. http://www.promonegocios.net/organigramas/tipos-de-organigramas.html. Elio Rafael de Zuani in his book "Introduction to the Administration of Organizations". Hernández and Rodríguez, p.260.
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To continue delving into the topics of organizational structure, types of organization and organizational charts, we suggest the video-lesson that you find below, in which a review is made of the most relevant factors of organizational structure and design.
