1. Reframing Organizations, 4th ed.

2. Chapter 3
Getting Organized

3. Getting Organized Structural Assumptions
Origins of the Structural Perspective
Structural Forms and Functions
Basic Structural Tensions
Vertical Coordination
- Authority
- Rules and Policies
- Planning and Control Systems
Lateral Coordination
McDonald’s and Harvard: A Structural Odd Couple
Structural Imperatives

4. Structural Assumptions
Achieve established goals and objectives
Increase efficiency and performance via specialization and division of labor
Appropriate forms of coordination and control
Organizations work best when rationality prevails
Structure must align with circumstances
Problems arise from structural deficiencies

5. Origins of the Structural Perspective
Frederick Taylor – Scientific Management
Efficiency, time and motion studies, etc.
Max Weber – Bureaucracy
Fixed division of labor
Hierarchy of offices
Performance rules
Separate personal and official property and rights
Personnel selected for technical qualifications
Employment as primary occupation

6. Structural Forms and Functions
Blueprint for expectations and exchanges among internal and external players
Design options are almost infinite
Design needs to fit circumstances

7. Basic Structural Tensions
Differentiation: dividing work, division of labor
Integration: coordinating efforts of different roles and units
Criteria for differentiation: function, time, product, customer, place, process
Suboptimization: units focus on local concerns, lose sight of big picture

8. Vertical coordination
Authority (the boss makes the decision)
Rules and policies
Planning and control systems
Performance control (focus on results) vs. action planning (focus on process)

9. Lateral Coordination Meetings Task Forces Coordinating Roles
Matrix Structures
Networks
Strengths and Weaknesses of Lateral Strategies

10. McDonald’s and Harvard: A Structural Odd Couple
McDonald’s: clearer goals, more centralized, tighter performance controls
Harvard: diffuse goals, highly decentralized, high autonomy for professors
Why have two successful organizations developed such different structures?

11. Structural Imperatives
Size and Age
Core Process
Environment
Strategy and Goals
Information Technology
People: Nature of Workforce

12. Conclusion
Structural frame – understanding the social architecture of work
Structure is more than red tape and bureaucracy
Bad structure wastes resources, frustrates individuals, and undermines effectiveness
Good structure empowers individuals and units to work together and achieve goals
Differentiation and integration as the central structural challenge: how do we divide the work, and how do we coordinate once we divide?
Structure depends on situation
Simpler more stable  simpler, more hierarchical and centralized structure
Changing, turbulent environments  more complex, flexible structure