MECHANISTIC and Organic Structures

MECHANISTIC and Organic Structures
GROUP 6
Hassam Imran
Hassan Raouf
Asma
Rabia
Mubshara
A mechanistic structure, also known as a bureaucratic structure, describes an organizational structure that is based on a formal, centralized network. The mechanistic structure is best suited for companies that operate in a stable and certain environment.
Characteristics:-

Top-level managers make the majority of the decisions.
Subordinates are expected to follow the directions of management and not question their rationale.
In mechanistic organizations, it is typical for each person to be assigned one task that is relatively stable and easy to control.
Examples of mechanistic structures include healthcare, universities, and governmental organizations.
Organic Organization
Mechanistic Organization
Organizational Structure
The organizational structure refers to the type of framework a company uses to distinguish power and authority, roles and responsibilities, and the manner in which information flows through the organization.
There are two type of organizational structure:-


1.Mechanistic Organization

2.Organic Organization
Organic structures are used in organizations that face unstable and dynamic environments and need to quickly adapt to change. When an environment changes, an organization must be able to gather, process, and disseminate information very quickly.
Characteristics:-

Employees are often found working in groups and share input on tasks.
There are usually teams that handle one task. Communication is open between employees, managers and executives though they are typically just known as ‘the owner’.
There is a greater scale of verbal communication between parties.
There is also more face-to-face time within the hierarchy of power.
Difference between Organic & Mechanistic
Contingency Factors Affecting Structural Choice
Management
Appropriate organizational structure depends on four contingency variables:

1.The organization's strategy
2.Size and structure
3.Technology
4.The degree of environment
1.Strategy and Structure
An organization structure should facilitate goal achievement because goals are an important part of the organizations strategies.Research has shown that certain structural designs work best with different organizational strategies.The mechanistic organization eith its efficiency,stability,and tight controls work best for companies wanting to tightly control costs.
2.Size and structure
Large organizations typically considered to be those with more than 2ooo employees tend to have more specialization,departmentalization,centralization and rules and regulations than to small organizations.However once an organization grows past a sertain size,size has less influence on structure.
3.Technology and structure
Every organization uses some form of technology to convert its input into outputs.Organizations adopt their structures to their technology depending on how routine their technology is for transforming input into output.
In general the more routine the technology,the more mechanistic the structure can be and organizations with more nonroutine technology are more likely to have organic structure.
4.Environmental uncertainty and structure