Organizational Design by Mintzberg Book Summary

The structure of an organization can be defined as the total ways by which the work is divided in distinct tasks e, later, as the coordination between these tasks is carried through. The central subject of the book “Creating efficient organizations: structures in five configurations” is the groupings of parameters of design and situational factors. The presence of the informal structures and the different forms of being able that these structures exert, also is argued by the author, when affirming that “the formal and informal structures are interlaced e, frequently indistinguishable”.  

Design of the Individual Positions

1) How much to the specialization of the work:

- horizontal specialization and its opposite, the horizontal enrichment of the work says respect to the extension or the target of the work. It has to see with division of the work.  Example: highly repetitive work and its opposite: the employee “wood for all workmanship”;

- vertical specialization of the work, and its opposite, the enrichment, becomes related with the depth and to the control on the work. The vertical specialization of the work it separates the performance of the work of its administration. Former: to execute the work without knowing the reason and its opposite, the control of each aspect of the work.

2) How much to the Training and Indoctrination:

- Training: the process is mentioned to it by which to abilities and knowledge related to the work are taught. It is an important parameter in design in any professional work.

- Indoctrination it is the process by which the organizational norms are acquired, socializing the members of the organization in its proper benefit. Great part of the socialization is related with the culture of the specific organization.

Design of the Superstructure

Grouping of the positions and the units it is a basic way to co-ordinate the work in the organization, with following the main important effect:

- Establishment of a system of common supervision between the positions and the units, being the parameter of design by which the mechanism of coordination of the direct supervision is constructed in the structure;

- Sharing of common resources between the members and the subunits;

- Creation of common measures of performance;

- Encouragement of the mutual adjustment.

The six bases more used for the grouping in the organizations, according to MINTZBERG, are:

1) Knowledge and ability (in hospitals: departments for medical specialties);

2) Process of work or function (in the manufacture: casting, would forge, cut, weld);

3) Time where the work is made (turns in a plant);

4) “Output” (for line of products);  

5) Types of Customers (retail or industry);

6) Place (geographic region).

Detailing of the Superstructure

Design referring organizational to the detailing of the superstructure foresees mechanisms of Planning and Control and Instruments of Interconnection:

- Systems of Planning and Control: The two main types are the control of the performance and the planning of the actions. The intention of control of performance it is to generally regulate the global results of definitive unit, counting on the support of some system of managerial information. It imposes general standards in one definitive period of time, without reference the specific action, and can serve the two intentions: to measure and to motivate.   planning the actions it imposes specific decisions and actions to be adopted in specific points in the time, and appears as the way by which the not routine decisions and actions can be drawn as an integrated system.

- Instruments of Interconnection: they can be incorporated the formal structure to encourage contacts and to directly lead the communication between the individuals. Typical figures: “force-tasks” created to carry through specific projects, “matrix structure”, “permanent committees”, “controlling integrators”, among others.

Make Simply the Decentralization

The three main ones reasons to decentralize the structure of an organization is:

- Nor all its decisions can be understood in a center, in a brain;

- The decentralization allows to answer quickly to the local conditions;

- The decentralization constitutes a stimulus for the innovation,

Vertical decentralization it says respect to the delegation of being able of taking of decision to the inferior steps of the authority chain. The vertical decentralization selective logically it is associated with the grouped constellations of work in functional base, whereas the vertical decentralization parallel it needs to function of almost independent form (it is regulated, mainly, for the control of the performance).

Horizontal decentralization it considers that the formal power does not meet necessarily in the wire frame, and can be in any place, with the manager, the analysts of the tecnostructure, or with the specialists. The selective decentralization occurs at the same time in the dimensions horizontal and vertical. The more professional an organization, more decentralized is its structure in both the dimensions.