• What is the organizational structure?
• Characteristics of the organizational structure
• Types of organizational structure
• Elements of the organizational structure
• Importance of the organizational structure
• Departmentalization
• What is an organization chart?

We explain what the organizational structure is, its characteristics, types and elements that compose it. Also, what is an organization chart.

Organizational structure is the way in which a company plans and distributes its work.

What is the organizational structure?

Organizational structure is known as the forms of internal and administrative organization of a company or organization. This also includes the division of work in certain areas or departments according to the same structure.

In other words, the organizational structure of a business It is the way in which she conceives herself, the way in which she plans her work and formally distributes her responsibilities. The organizational structure is the shape of a company.

Companies and organizations tend to organize themselves based on objectives that have been plotted. On the other hand, its structure also responds to the model of management they employ, that is, how they conceive authority, administrative hierarchy and the division of their work.

Each company has its own organizational structure. It is possible to modify it and adapt it to new scenarios and needs if it were the case, although that usually implies large changes and remodeling.

Characteristics of the organizational structure

All organizational structure is a formal order, that is, it appears in the company's documents and is reflected in its Organization chart. The latter represents the different people who work in it and their specific positions.

They are usually based on a principle of specialization and departmentalization, that is, the construction of work blocks in which certain tasks are carried out: public relations, human Resources, administrative management, etc. The larger a company, the more specialized its departments will be.

These structures can be of two types:

• Centralized. It concentrates the decisions in the high positions of the hierarchy.
• Decentralized. It allows each department significant margins of autonomy.

On the other hand, they generally respond to a prior idea of ​​how to organize a human team to achieve a objective common. In this consideration, the technology, the human Resources and the "spirit" or entrepreneurial personality of the organization.

Types of organizational structure

Generally speaking of four types of organizational structure:

• Linear. It considers hierarchy as an organizing principle, that is, the direct authority of the boss over his subordinates, since all decisions and responsibilities fall on him. It is a structure that privileges speed, the accounting clear and simple, given that the positions are very well defined in the structure, serving the employees to the guide of a shared boss. It is the preferred model for small companies with low production and little human capital.
• Functional. It proposes the division of the organization's work into hyperspecialized units, each under the command of an independent chief, who coordinates its work team and allows the communication with the other teams. It is a versatile, flexible and very popular structure, especially for larger companies with abundant staff.
• From Staff. A minimalist business model, which prefers to deposit in external contracts (outsourcing or outsourcing) many of the functions that in other models would imply the construction of a work unit. It is a flexible and modern model, which nevertheless requires a fluidity of capitals that justifies not having your own team instead of outsourcing it.
• Matrix. The company is structured based on work teams autonomous and disconnected from each other, each assigned to a draft punctual and made up of a diverse set of workers under the command of a coordinator who reports individually to the head of the organization. It is the most dispersed structure known and the one that best suits the gigantic transnational business consortiums.

Elements of the organizational structure

The cleaning staff is part of the support staff.

According to Henry Mintzberg, a Canadian scholar of the subject, the organizational structure always includes 5 different elements:

• Strategic apex. The top management of the company, where make the decisions high-level, and performs functions of direct supervision, formulation of strategies and relationship with the company environment.
• Middle line. Managers who serve as a link and executing arm between the strategic apex and the core of operations, transmitting information vertically and horizontally (between them). They are the ones who make decisions in each of their particular areas.
• Core of operations. The work force basic of the company, made up of its workers responsible for the main functions of generating products me services.
• Technostructure. Here are a group of specialists and professionals that are not part of the address of the company, but neither do they participate in the main production circuit, but rather provide support to the entire structure, ensuring the necessary changes in the organization, or promoting its stability and maintenance.
• Support staff. Generally outsourced or subcontracted personnel who live in the company and who provide support to the entire structure, in specific non-specialized tasks, such as cleaning, surveillance, etc.

Importance of the organizational structure

The organizational structure is a fundamental aspect of understanding any company, that is, the way it conceives and organizes itself. A good organization is the guarantor of a more harmonious functionality and of achieving the desired characteristics in the company, at least in principle.

On the contrary, an inadequate or chaotic structure introduces the organization of problems that you would not normally have, making tasks that might otherwise be simple and everyday difficult.

Departmentalization

Departmentalization is understood as the sectorization of business work into different units called departments, and it is one of the basic principles of the organizational structure. Each department meets a specific set of needs, based on a specific organizational criterion, such as:

• For weather, or by working day.
• For client, so that each department serves one or a set of them.
• By territory, when the departments are geographically distant from each other.
• For Projects, when the specific objectives Those who will deal with delimit a department, then change and do it again.
• By processes, depending on their place in the production chain.
• By products / services, depending on which production chain it is dedicated to, independently of the others.

What is an organization chart?

The organization chart can represent the organizational structure in different ways.

It is known as Organization chart to the graphic representation of the organizational structure of a company. It is usually done as a scheme visual, encompassing positions and departments in boxes or balloons and linking them with each other and with their superiors and subordinates through straight lines.