Defining Organizational Structure
Organizational structure can play an important role in an organization’s success. The process of organizing—the second management function—is how an organization’s structure is created. No other topic in management has undergone as much change in the past few years as that of organizing and organizational structure. Traditional approaches to organizing work are being questioned and reevaluated as manager’s search out designs that will best support effectiveness and efficiency while maintaining the flexibility that’s necessary for success in today’s dynamic environment.
An organizational structure is the formal framework by which job tasks are divided, grouped, and coordinated. Organizational design is the …ver más…

The trend in recent years has been toward larger spans of control.
The concepts of centralization and decentralization address who, where, and how decisions are made in organizations. Centralization is the degree to which decision-making is concentrated at a single point in the organization, usually in the upper levels of the organization. Decentralization is the handing down of decision-making authority to lower levels in an organization.
Formalization refers to the degree to which jobs within an organization are standardized and the extent to which employee behavior is guided by rules and procedures. The degree of formalization can vary widely between organizations and even within organizations.

Organizational Design Decisions
All organizations are not structured the same way. It is because of differences in structure that top managers put a lot of thought into how best to design the organization’s structure.
There are two generic models of organizational design.
1. A mechanistic organization is an organizational structure that’s characterized by high specialization, rigid departmentalization, narrow spans of control, high formalization, a limited information network, and little participation in decision-making by low-level employees.
2. An organic organization is a