Different forms of Organisation Structure

Organizational structure depends on the company and/or the project. The structure helps define the roles and responsibilities of the members of the department, work group, or organization. It is generally a system of tasks and reporting policies in place to give members of the group a direction when completing projects. A good organizational structure will allow people and groups to work effectively together while developing hard work ethics and attitudes. The four general types of organizational structure are functional, divisional, matrix and project-based.

Functional Structure

People who do similar tasks, have similar skills and/or jobs in an organization are grouped into a functional structure. The advantages of this kind of structure include quick decision making because the group members are able to communicate easily with each other. People in functional structures can learn from each other easier because they already possess similar skill sets and interests.

Divisional Structure

In a divisional structure, the company will coordinate inter-group relationships to create a work team that can readily meet the needs of a certain customer or group of customers. The division of labor in this kind of structure will ensure greater output of varieties of similar products. An example of a divisional structure is geographical, where divisions are set up in regions to work with each other to produce similar products that meet the needs of the individual regions.

Matrix Structure

Matrix structures are more complex in that they group people in two different ways: by the function they perform and by the product team they are working with. In a matrix structure the team members are given more autonomy and expected to take more responsibility for their work. This increases the productivity of the team, fosters greater innovation and creativity, and allows managers to cooperatively solve decision-making problems through group interaction.

Project Organization Structure

In a project-organizational structure, the teams are put together based on the number of members needed to produce the product or complete the project. The number of significantly different kinds of tasks are taken into account when structuring a project in this manner, assuring that the right members are chosen to participate in the project.