Organizational Structures and Corporate Cultures

This text discusses the internal factors that affect how organizational structures are designed. These structures are important to managers because they establish lines of formal authority and configure other reporting arrangements. One thing to remember is that the industry type influences the chosen structure. The text also considers the system approach and examines how the internal dimensions of the firm, such as leadership and culture, change in response to the external business environment. Note that the organizational alignment is not set in stone permanently. It will change in response to the external business environment from time to time.

Corporate Cultures

Glossary

Corporate culture

Defines how motivating employees' beliefs, behaviors, relationships, and ways they work creates a culture that is based on the values the organization believes in.

Adhocracy culture

Creates an environment of innovating, visioning the future, accepting of managing change, and risk taking, rule-breaking, experimentation, entrepreneurship, and uncertainty.

Market culture

Focuses on delivering value, competing, delivering shareholder value, goal achievement, driving and delivering results, speedy decisions, hard driving through barriers, directive, commanding, competing and getting things done.

Hierarchy culture

Emphasizes efficiency, process and cost control, organizational improvement, technical expertise, precision, problem solving, elimination of errors, logical, cautious and conservative, management and operational analysis, careful decision making.

Clan culture

Focuses on relationships, team building, commitment, empowering human development, engagement, mentoring, and coaching.

Internal dimensions of organizations

How an organization's culture affects and influences its strategy.

Competing Values Framework

Developed by Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn this model is used for diagnosing an organization's cultural effectiveness and examining its fit with its environment.