Determinants of Organizational Structure

All over the world thousands of new businesses spring up every day and thousands more go out of operation. Though this pattern is certain, there are many organizations that have remained in existence for many years, and will still operate for a long time. What are these long-standing organizations doing to ensure their survival for years to come? To understand their longevity, it is vital to look at the organizational structures and strategies that help them sustain business. This free course on the determinants of organizational structure explains the different models that can be adopted in new and existing organizations.  

You start by studying the different views on organizational strategy to identify various types of strategies and discern their impacts on organizational structure. Next, you examine organizational size to understand what it means, identify its importance, and analyze some of its criticisms. The relationship between the size and structure of an organization as well as the administrative component is discussed. Then, contributions from notable researchers will be considered such as Chandler's structure-follow-strategy thesis, Miles and Snow's four strategic types, and strategy-structure theory. You will examine the implications of structure from Porter's competitive strategies, as well as Miller's strategy-structure framework.

Lastly, technology will be analyzed, studying its definition and how it is measured in an organization. You will examine the contributions of Woodward and Perrow towards technology and also study the contributions of James Thompson, examining influences on the technology-structure relationship. Study the effect of environmental uncertainty on complexity, formalization, and centralization then consider notable contributions from environmental researchers like Tom Burns, GM Stalker and Eric Twist etc. Delve into their conclusions from studying how various organizations achieve their goals. Signing up for this course will improve your managerial skills and allow you to run a better organization.