Corporate Structure In One Direction example essay topic

A Review of the Internet Article "Organizational Theory: Determinants of Structure" Historically, most corporations have been formed with classical management theory in mind. Most corporations have been formed with the idea proposed by Frederick Winslow Taylor that there's only one best way to organize a company. The truth is that there is only one best way, which is Jesus. However, even in the realm of Christianity, there are many traditions, most of which are perfectly acceptable, and even edifying.

The differences in Christian church traditions have to do more with culture and environment than anything else. Finer theological points and issues are actually quite irrelevant to the average church member. Most church members, especially members who have been born into a certain Christian denomination, will care more about acceptance from that body then they care about perfect theology or doctrine. This is just reality. Most church bodies eventually adopt their traditions, to a large extent, around the cultures of their participants.

Race, color, nationality, family ties, amount of education, and even income level have a lot more to do with the establishment of a church's traditions than most people realize. In the article, "Organizational Theory: Determinants of Structure", the author, Stephen Borgatti, makes similar observations about current corporate structures. Mr. Borgatti, a professor at Boston College, states, "In contrast to the classical scholars, most theorists today believe that there is no one best way to organize. What is important is that there be a fit between the organization's structure, its size, its technology, and the requirements of its environment (Borgatti, Stephen P., 2001)". We therefore see, that culture and environment, and not just perfect efficiency, has a great influence on businesses as well as churches and governments. This is what Mr. Borgatti calls Contingency Theory.

Mr. Borgatti states that increasing the size of a corporation will lead to increased structuring of organizations but also will bring a decrease in concentration of power. He also states that the amount of technology utilized by a corporation can affect corporate structure. The more technological the company is in nature, the higher the centralization of decision-making. As a result, we see that one factor can pull the corporate structure in one direction, while another factor can pull the corporate structure in an opposite direction. The author states that the amount of production of a company affects corporate structure. The smaller the amount of production, or the less uniformity of product output (custom-made products), the flatter the structure.

However the operation expenses are high, because the production is hard to pre-program or automate. Large batch production of identical products, on the other hand, lend to taller hierarchies with huge bottom levels. Because they are into mass- production, they are relatively cheap to operate. If the task is well understood, these latter organizations become bureaucracies; however, really complex systems are difficult to pre-plan. When a situation is highly complex, there are too many contingencies to figure everything all out in advance.

This is where there is a need to allow for real-time, flexible adjustment. According to Johan Strumpfer, of John P. Wiley and Sons, "We need to shift to a view where 'organization' is an active and never-ending verb. In this view of 'organization' the focus is on creating stability amid chaos by creating stable transformation guides for the system (Strumpfer, Johan, 2000)". Situations are so complex in our ever-changing society, that a company needs to be able to anticipate change and to be able to change directions on the spur of the moment. The corporation needs to be able to adapt to its environment as well, or natural selection will apply.

Those that do not adapt will simply die off. It makes no sense to continue to manufacture a certain clothing style, for instance, that no longer is in fashion. Another factor to consider, states Mr. Borgatti, is the dependence, or rather the interdependence, of one organization and another. Our economy consists of one giant network of organizations that are linked together by buying and selling relationships.

Sometimes a company can depend on its suppliers so much, that the suppliers themselves can exert great influence on the company from outside. If one organization has power over another organization or group, then that organization can often impose its own structure upon that organization or group. When I was working for my previous employer, All wood Recycling, Inc., there was a need to utilize the services of independent truckers. Since there is a shortage of good independent truckers in Houston, when business was slow, it was often very difficult to find a trucker when a delivery was needed. They just didn't need us that much. They usually had all the business they could handle.

However, when business was heavy, we would often give a trucker so much business that after a while, he would begin to act more and more like a regular employee instead of an independent contractor. This was because he was now receiving so much consistent business from us, that we would now be looked upon by him as a source of financial security. We became a "comfort zone" to him. He would even deliver for less money than usual, to keep our business. One more factor to consider in light of organizational structuring that is not mentioned in this article is politics. Fred Nickels of Distance Consulting, Inc. states that, "Organizations are hotly and intensely political (Nickols, Fred, 2002)".

Regardless of how rational or logical one's business plan might be, this plan may still not be accepted by management. Sometimes the owners or the management will make decisions based solely upon personal favor. This may not seem fair, but one has to remember, sometimes, The Golden Rule: "He who has the gold is the one who makes the rules".

Bibliography

Borgatti, Stephen P. (2001, October 08).
Organizational theory: determinants of structure. Retrieved September 21, 2003, from web Nickols, Fred (2002, February 14).
Change management 101: a primer. Retrieved September 23, 2003, from web Strumpfer, John P.
2000).
Ensuring delivery through organizational design. Systems Research and Behavioral Science. July 2000 vs.
17 i 4 p 327. Retrieved September 21, 2003, from InfoTrac OneFile information database.