Impact of Organizational Structure and Communication

Impact of Organizational Structure and Communication

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Impact of Organizational Structure and Communication

Organization structure plays a major role in dictating how members within an organization behave. Many of the main components of organizational structure, such as the structure and the types of communication used within the organization can truly help or hinder the success of the organization. Understanding why a specific structure is the most effective, or why certain methods of communication have more success is imperative in running a successful organization.

The Effects of Organizational Structure on Organizational Behavior

Organizational structure is extremely important as it dictates how the hierarchy of management and the roles of the employees within the company will be organized. Smaller organizations typically choose to structure their organization with the Simple structure, by which the management team trickles down from the company’s CEO, through the management levels, ending with the employees on the bottom. This simple set-up allows for an easily understood and followed structure that ensures employees know their individual roles and who to report to.

As organizations grow and spread out geographically, the need to restructure becomes important. Usually, at this time, an organization will choose to update their structure to something more appropriate for their new size, such as the Divisional structure or the Matrix structure. These structures create a wider grid for their management teams, often crossing these management teams for maximum control and employee success.

Application of Structure

There are effective and ineffective structures which can either help an organization success or lead to its downfall. Whatever structure is chosen, to be effective the structure has to outline in what way tasks will be divided and organized. It also needs to define the roles that the employees will be taking on, as well as how the chain of command works and who employees report to (Bolin, 2018).

Ineffective structure does the opposite of this, which can lead to employees being confused and unsure of what their role is within the organization. This can be seen in companies that are disorganized, with a theoretical structure that is not reinforced. One tell-tale sign is managers who are unable to lead their teams. Ineffective structure impacts organizational behavior by creating an ineffective work environment which eventually leads to employees disengaging form the company’s core values and goals. This can lead to conflict and poor performance.

Effective structure presents as healthy relationships between management and their team members. This can be seen when the company effectively chooses a structure that is then reinforced by all members of the management team and followed by each employee daily.

Communication within Organizations

Having an effective structure is a good start to creating a successful company but being able to communicate with employees in different departments, and even different geographical locations is what keeps a great company going. There are many forms of effective communication, including face to face meetings, video and phone conferencing, and emails. These all allow the sender and recipient to understand the information that is being given and allows the intended recipient to confirm their understanding. According to Borkowski (2016), “Effective communication takes place when a sender’s message is fully understood by the receiver”.

There are some ineffective methods of communication as well, such as written messages or memos, bulletins posted in out of site places, and newsletter than may or may not reach all employees. These methods are deemed ineffective because there is no guarantee whether or not the intended audience will receive the information, and no way for employees to confirm that they understood the information presented.

Conclusion

There are many working parts that make up a successful organization. It’s important that companies understand how organizational behavior is affected by all these working parts so that they have the opportunity to choose the right structure for their company and implement the correct methods of communication. This will allow the organization to stand by their core values and reach their goals.

References

Bolin, K. (2018). Envision. Retrieved from https://envision-bc.com/seven-symptoms-of-an-ineffective-org-design/

Borkowski, N. (2016). Organizational Behavior, Theory, and Design in Health Care (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/books/9781284106398.