Organizational+Structure+and+Change+and+Technology

toc Organizational Structure and Change and Technology

**1.1 Definition of Organizational Structure**
An organizational structure is an arrangement of jobs within the organization that direct the employees to the achievement of organizational goals in an efficient way.

**1.2 Different Elements of Organizational Structure**

 * **Centralization:** depends on one individual to make decisions and guide the company. It is often use for small businesses since the owner is the only one who responsible for the company.
 * **Formalization:** uses to show employees which policies and procedures need to follow in an organization.
 * **Hierarchical:** is an organization that consists a single person/or group that has the most power at the top and there will be a subsequent levels of power below them.
 * **Departmentalization:** functional, geographic, product, customer and market.

**1.3 Modern forms of Organizational Structure**

 * **Matrix Organizations:** are more complex and based more on teams than on individual. Team members will have more responsibility for their project.
 * **Boundaryless Organizations:** The organization in which the boundary is ignored. The entire organization itself is divided from the market, customers and stockholder.
 * **Learning Organizations:** consists of knowledge, critical thinking, and learning from experiment to survive in a rapidly changing environment.

**1.4 Definition of Types of Technology**

 * **Information Technology:** the technology involving development, maintenance, use of computer system, software and network for the processing and distribution of data in an organization.
 * **Operation Technology:** is a set of processes, procedures or mechanisms of transformation in which the technique is used in its workflow activities. Operating technology strengthens organizational structure. In other words, their relationship is considered as "technological imperative".
 * **Management Technology:** is one of the management disciplines monitoring the organization activities which are planning, organizing, staffing, implementing, evaluation, etc...

**1.5 How does technology relate to Organizational Structure**
Technology helps increase the effectiveness for organizational structure, address the organizational needs, and achieve business goals. For example, Apple's store offer the unique device known as "Square" that accept credit card payments anywhere with your iPhone, iPad, or android phone.

**2. Body: Organizational Structure**

 * **Why is having Organizational Structure Important:** Organizational structure provides guidance to all the employees in a company. It provides a foundation for the employees to follow which results in a smoother and more structured work flow which in result will help a business be more successful.

o The most important aspect of Organizational Structure is when you DO NOT have it. Without Organizational Structure a business will not function as efficiently if they were to have some kind of organizational structure within the business. For instance if a business has employees that do not follow any kind of organizational structure then those employees will not know what their duties are and what specific task to follow. Organizational Structure improves the communication within the business by making everything more clear for all the employees and minimizing confusion.


 * **Organizational Structure in Modern Business:** New Ideas and new businesses always are at rise in the business world. Due to the modern world we live in which includes modern personalities, ideas, and even modern technologies, this also causes modern changes to the organizational structure as a whole. Modern organizational structure makes the communication within the business "more dynamic and blend individual and organizational solutions together into a cohesive whole." Modern Organizational Structure focuses on "adaptability." Employee satisfaction results in great work, with this being said work is distributed based on skill and involvement with fewer regulations to follow(the old organizational structure).

o **Facebook:**Facebook is a social website with a phenomenal modern organizational structure and a great example for this topic. Organizational structure "determines the manner and extent to which roles, power, and responsibilities are delegated, controlled, and coordinated, and how information flows between levels of management. Keep in mind Facebook is still a growing company and certain task are set to certain people. As we know in order to sustain a great flow for the company to succeed efficiently taks need to be assigned to different people so they can focus in that area so it can work properly. Facebook is a great example to use because they use this same structure in their photos department, certain people are assigned to the photos department because billions of facebook users are uploading a massive amount of pictures per second. To control such a huge amount of traffic of the users pictures, the engineers in the photo department have to make sure everything is done properly and without any issues- with this being said a great need of organizational structure is needed within the photos department. Not only is Facebook known for its modern culture but should also be recognized for its exceptional team; the success of Facebook and its teams its due to its great Organizational Structure and due to this people around the world can communicate with eachother with ease. I am showing you a video about what we consider to be something very minimal in our lives- Facebook pictures. Who is behind our Facebook pictures? This video not only shows how Facebook pictures are stored but it shows the small team behind it, although it is a very small team, its modern organizational structure leads to its great and growing success.



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 * **Organizational Structure and Ethics**

o **What is the link between Organizational Structure and Ethics:** Research has shown that there is a link between organizational structure and ethics. For instance if the company is to rigid and hierarchical, the employees have less opportunities to develop their own moral to the company. When employees do not have any independence to make their own decisions, their decision may be based on what someone else wants to hear then certain ethical behaviors most likely will arise. Ethics usually is in question when dilemmas occur and dilemmas usually occur when their is a change. The best way to avoid dilemmas or wrong ethical behavior is by finding ways to improve that situation and by allowing employees to practice autonomy by using ethics that are specific to that company.


 * o Link between Organizational Structure and Ethics- extended:** A way that an employee can follow the companies structure and also do his/her task accordingly to the companies wishes is by setting a code of ethics. Usually every successful company has a code of ethics which shows to everyone else what they stand for. A Code of ethics in a company is a much needed system to follow for for many succesful businesses' because it provides a set of guidelines and provisions for employees to follow and establish while working within the company which results in the best services and those ethical behaviors and decisions also makes the company more respected and more succesful.



• How is technology changing Organizational Structure:
Technology has a great influence behind companies of changing in their organizational structures; companies change their organizational structures in order to adapt to the advancing technologies ,and to be more productive and competitive. Technology is a form of communication that has improved the market place for the better. Technology is also a more efficient way for transacting business but it is also a great use for the business because it greatly improves work flow.

An information technology that is used by almost all business companies and helped them improved overall performance is E-commerce (Electronic commerce):

o E-commerce: is defined as business transactions conducted on the internet.
 * The concept of E-commerce is to use the internet to do business better and faster- more efficient- where the suppliers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, consumers- the whole business chain- are connected. It is obvious that you can not use the internet without a good computer/ POS system- hence different lines of technology. The following are points that are given that can improve a business structure:
 * 1) e-mail: can be sent whenever and however as long as the internet access is available, and the receiver can receive it within one second. [[image:http://www.element74.com/images/photos/commerceBbCe.jpg width="317" height="304" align="right"]]
 * 2) business to business (B2B) transactions: direct connection between businesses when parts of the business chain are eliminated. For instance, when customers place an order (from wholesalers) over the the internet instead of purchasing the merchandise from the actual stores, retailers are eliminated in the supply chain.
 * 3) buying/selling: information of merchandise (description, location, quantity in stock/needed, price) is available on the internet and helps smooth transactions to take place.
 * 4) electronic bulletin boards: Instance information sharing. Public access or for specific groups or individuals only.
 * 5) fax transmissions
 * 6) electronic funds transfer: just one click away to transfer funds over the internet. Transactions history can be kept for records.

Compnies change their organiztional structure from traditional paperwork-based workflow to the recent and popular internet-bsed informtion system--E-commerce and take the advantage of the convinence brought by this informtion technology.

Also, operational technology also has significant impact on how well the business will do. It helps organizations to achieve greater __operational responsivnes--__ "The ability for your business processes and systems to respond quickly to changing conditions as they occur, helping you increase efficiency, reduce risk, and capitalize on new opportunities." For instnce, ProgressSoftware.com introduced new softwares companies should install to increase the their "opertional responsiveness", and to be successful and competitive in business market. In order to enhance the benefits of using the softwares, companies are suggested to adjust their organiztional structures to work with the operational technology for the best outcome.

While the __information technology__ and __operation technology__ are two significant objects to the change of orgnization structures, __management technology__ also plays an important role for the change. In fact, these three elements are tied together, and companies design their organization structures according to the technologies they choose to use.

o Pros
Technology is certainly important in organizational structure because it helps a company to be successful in many ways. For instance, information technology saves a company time and reduces costs by eliminating the steps in the communication between individuals, departments within a organization, and also between companies. Using operational technology allows information/data to be used more effetively ,and tasks are completed using less time while risk and mistakes are reduced to the lowest level. o Cons However, there are concerns of using the technology. New employee trainning will need to be provided, and it could be a major expense. Tech support and maintenance for operation softwares will also need to be done in case of softwares crashes. Privacy and security are issues for internet-based process sysyem. It is important to make sure who the person is on the other line, and who will be getting the information behind computer networks. Company will also have difficulties to develop relationships with other companies since information are available and open to the world market. For instance, a business located in United States has little chances to meet face-to-face with a business in Asia. Other minor disadvantages could be lack of computer expertise and issues with copy rights.
 * save money and time
 * information sharing
 * reduce risk and mistakes
 * improve overall effectiveness and productiveness
 * employee education/ training
 * maintenance by professionals
 * privacy and security issues
 * lack of computer expertise
 * difficulty developing relationships
 * limitation business types

4.1 Evaluating Employee Performance
Product organizational and linear structure of functional will help supervisors to evaluate their employees better. Managers can evaluate employee performance to see how they get along with their colleagues, and how long it takes them to finish their work.

4.2 Achieving Goals
Managers are in charge of delegating tasks and projects to subordinates so their employee can meet project deadlines. Therefore, organizational structure fosters teamwork so everyone in the company will have a common goal.

4.3 Conflict Resolution Skills
Good managers need to have the ability to handle conflict that arise within the company because of cultural differences. It must be handle promptly and swiftly so that it won't affect the productivity of the company.

4.4 Communication
Good communication is the best tool to manage diversity in the company. Always ask your employees to share their concerns. Be open with your employees and make them feel equally important to the company so they can feel comfortable to work with you.

**5. Conclusion**
Technology and Organizational Structure improves the company by increasing productivity and it also helps communication become more clear among workers and managers. It helps clear confusion and also helps smooth out work flow within the company. An increasing use of technology is being implemented in every growing business which eases all the employees from extra labor and decreases confusion. Technology is no longer a want for any company but is now a necessity to maintain within the workplace, it improves communication and is more efficient when working on a task. Organization Structure is a definite need in every workplace as well because it provides guidelines, somewhat like an outline when writing a paper. It gives every employee within a company a specific set of task where everyone knows their part and knows who to report to when they are in doubt.