Reflection - 7

Running head: UNIT SEVEN REFLECTION 1

Unit Seven: Foundations of Organizational Structure and Culture

Sutton M. Jacobs

University of the Cumberlands

UNIT SEVEN REFLECTION 2

Unit Seven: Foundations of Organizational Structure and Culture

According to Robbins & Judge (2018), organizational structure defines the formal

division and coordination of efforts to achieve job tasks. This can be further broken down into

seven components: work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control,

(de)centralization, formalization, and boundary spanning. One of the most important factors in

organizational structure is work specialization. Work specialization is how tasks are divided into

specific tasks, usually to increase efficiency and productivity. This effects how educated or

specialized a worker's skills must be to perform their required duties, and usually to be hired in

the first place to meet the anticipated organizational structure. Chain of command is also

necessary to consider in organizational structure; this determines the communication and power

chain in the workplace, defining who reports and/or manages who. Along these lines, span of

control determines how many individuals should work under a manager within the chain of

command. Where decision rights lie within this chain of command represents how centralized or

decentralized the structure is.

The framework of organizational structures can vary widely to include simple,

bureaucratic, functional, divisional, team, virtual, circular and matrix structures. Each structure

differs in how much emphasis they have in each of the seven components that define them. A

structure outlining an organization varies for several reasons, including but not limited to their

strategies pursuing, organizational size, technology available, cultural factors, and

industry/market environment.

From an employee perspective, many structures appear simple and linear. There can be a

clear path designated in a chain of command from top to bottom, everyone fulfills their set

duties, and little deviation. However, more complex structures can appear at first as simple, but

UNIT SEVEN REFLECTION 3

have actually evolved into models such as team structures. For example, I have a clear supervisor

who reports to the athletic director who reports to the university president. Instead of working

linearly though, work teams are strategically created within higher education institutions to

effectively run. The members of my team dynamically work together to fulfill our duties, but

also have to work directly with another team, such as IT for example, to get permission to get

particular equipment – part of the decision rights process.

According to Robbins & Judge (2018), organizational culture is a how employees equally

establish meaning to their work environment and distinguish themselves as unique from other

organizational cultures. In time, this allows for new stories, traditions, rituals, symbols, etc. to be

associated within the organization to make them unique from others. In addition, norms and

moral behaviors are established within the identified culture. Organizational culture is comprised

of and defined by seven characteristics: innovation and risk taking, attention to detail, outcome

orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness or internal competitiveness, and

workplace stability. Outcome orientation is determined by management’s focus either being on

the end results or the process getting there. Management influences people orientation depending

on their consideration of the effect decision making has on their employees. Team orientation is

how the company performs at the team level compared to individual success. Because the degree

of each previously mentioned characteristic exhibited by the organization, there can be a variety

of cultures created within the organization, but the core values of the organization prevail as the

dominant culture exhibited.

Organizational culture has an ethical dimension; organizational members often share

beliefs of moral workplace behavior, as well as wrong and right decisions to make. The culture

of the organization can also drive innovation, if the norms and vision of the organization provoke

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them to move in said direction through their team orientation, risks taken, etc. This is important

because if the organizational culture allows for unnecessary behavior by the organizational

members, the work environment may become negative. Potential new hires should strategically

fit the current organizational structure, climate and culture.

UNIT SEVEN REFLECTION 5

References

Robbins, S. & Judge T. (2018). Essentials of Organizational Behavior. Boston, MA: Pearson.