1. 2.2 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
Fer Bonasif
Noah Heezius
Alex Thompson
Lucia Rodríguez
Laura Collado

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction
Key principles of organisational structure
Delegation and accountability, delayering and bureaucracy
Centralisation and decentralisation
Different types of organisational structures
Factors influencing organisational structure
Communication in an organisation and importance of effective communication
Innovations in communication technology

3. INTRODUCTION What is an organizational structure?
An organizational structure is a formal framework that determines how the roles and responsibilities are assigned and controlled, and how information flows between the different levels of management.
What does contain/present?
Who has overall responsibility for decision making
Shows the relationships between individuals and departments
How authority is passed down the organization (chain of command)
Channels of communication

4. KEY PRINCIPLES OF ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
What is a level of hierarchy?
A stage of the organizational structure.
Two types of organisational structure;
- A tall structure -> many levels of hierarchy, narrow spans of control.
- A flat structure -> few levels of hierarchy, wide of spans of control.
Disadvantages of tall organizational structures:
- Communication becomes slow
- Greater sense of remoteness. Employees at each lower levels may feel less valuable than those at higher levels.

5. DELEGATION & ACCOUNTABILITY, DELAYERING & BUREAUCRACY
What is delegation?
Passing authority down the organizational hierarchy.
Advantages of delegation
Disadvantages of delegation
Gives senior managers more time to think about important strategic roles;
Shows trust in workers;
Gives staff the necessary experience and knowledge for senior positions;
Encourages staff to be accountable.
If task is unclear, delegation is likely to not succeed;
If subordinate does not have enough authority, tasks cannot be completed properly.
What is accountability?
The obligation an employee to disclose his or her activities in a transparent.
What is delayering?
The removal of one or more levels of hierarchy of an organisational structure.
What is bureaucracy?
Organisational system with standardised procedures and rules.

6. CENTRALISATION AND DECENTRALISATION
What is centralisation?
The act of keeping all of the important decision-making powers within head office or the centre of the organisation.
What is decentralisation?
Decision-making powers are passed down the organisation to empower subordinates and regional/national product managers.
(Generally more common in autocratic leadership style management) ←--You’re welcome lucia <3 Noah

7. DIFFERENT TYPES OF ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES
What is a hierarchical structure?
A structure in which power, restrictions and responsibility is divided between individuals based on their roles and positions.
What is it used for?
To identify the role between each individual in order to keep the business organized in order to prioritize better decision-making. It’s also used to divide the power between each member of the business.
This part is about hierarchical structures-- a way to organize the business so the decision-making power starts at the top but may be passed down to lower levels. This is mostly used to determine the importance of a staff’s role & in turn, determine what / how much power they hold in the business.

8. Allows for better focus on a single product/service
by product
by function
by region
Advantages
Disadvantages
Allows for better focus on a single product/service
Allows a division to build a common culture
Having a senior executive makes it likely the division receives necessary resources
Divisions may compete with each other
Compartmentalisation that result in lack of coordination / duplication of developments
Advantages
Disadvantages
Grouping employees by skill improves efficiency
Employees can capitalize skills & improve
Managers of a department can give specific training to their employees for more proficiency
Tends to suggest one-way communication & lack of coordination
Managers often accused of tunnel vision
Inflexible & leads to change in resistance
Advantages
Disadvantages
More direct communication
Recruiting local management officers will give leaders that are familiar with the environment
Simplified tracking of performance
Customers feel more at ease talking to locals
Geographical structure results in replication of personnel
Conflict & unhealthy competition between areas
Inconsistent company strategies
Said hierarchical structures vary depending on what it’s based on, as do their advantages & disadvantages.
If the structure is based on the product, which consists of parallel teams focusing on a single product or service line, then one of the advantages would be _ & one of the disadvantages would be _
If the structure is based on the function, which is the most traditional form of organisational structure, that has different layers of the organisation with fewer & fewer people on each higher level. If that’s the case, then one of the advantages would be _ & one of the disadvantages would be _
If the structure is based on the region, which consists of dividing the business according to region ( much like its name states ), then one of the advantages would be _ & one of the disadvantages would be _

9. FACTORS INFLUENCING ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
The size of the business and the number of employees
The style of leadership and culture of management
Retrenchment caused by economic recession would reduce levels of hierarchy
New technologies can lead to a reduced need for certain employee type e.g. managers sending messages by rather than by letters typed by secretaries

10. COMMUNICATION IN AN ORGANIZATION
Communication is only effective if the message has been received and understood by the receiver and the sender knows that i has been understood. The main components to effective communication are:
Sender
Clear Message
Appropriate Medium
Receiver
Feedback to confirm receipt and understanding

11. IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
The effectiveness of internal communication can have an impact on many areas of a business:
Employee motivation and labour productivity. Effective interactions and motivation contribute to motivate workers.
The number and quality of ideas generated by the workforce. Asking workers for their thoughts can aid problem solving.
Speed of decision-making. The more people you need to communicate with the slower the process
Speed of response to market change. The longer it takes to communicate to the main decision-makers the longer it takes to react to changes in consumer preferences
Reduces risks of errors
Effective coordination between departments
Poor communication leads to uncoordinated department thus demotivates workers and causes poor customer service.

12. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES & MULTINATIONAL COMMUNICATION
Communicating across different cultures is challenging. All cultures have different beliefs and practices that its members take for granted. Most people are unconscious about their ‘cultural imprint’ as it originates from an early age.
Cultural differences have a large impact on multinational companies given that communicating internationally is of increasing importance. Cultural differences affect a variety of factors within international communication. The determining factor is whether a country falls into a ‘high context’ or ‘low context-culture’.
High-context cultures include countries from the following areas: Mediterranean, Slavic, Central European, Latin American, African, Arab, Asian and American-Indian. These countries leave much of the message unspecified, to be understood through context, non-verbal cues and between the lines interpretation.
Low-context cultures include: Most Germanic and English speaking countries. These countries expect messages to be explicit and specific.

13. INNOVATIONS IN COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
What are some impacts caused by new technology?
Cloud computing - allows large multinational businesses to operate globally with more ease;
Networking - allows for collaboration between workers & documented production;
Ipad (LinkedIn/Kaplan) - free ipads for employees allow for easier communication and access to internet;
Twitter/Facebook - allows for external communication with customers.
What are some potential limitations to electronic media?
May require staff training ( on older employees ) & reduces social contact;
There may be security issues ( viruses );
May lead to information overload, which may cause stress and overworking
What is information overload?
When one receives so much information/messages, that importance level/priorities cannot be easily identified.