Notes on
Trends in Organizational Structure

Mechanistic vs Organic Organizations

Burns & Stalker (1961) studied several firms varying in the kind of technology and environment faced. Examples:

Rayon mill

• Used standard well-understood technology
• Had bureaucratic structure
• Factory bible explained all procedures
• A system of hierarchically linked job positions with clear responsibilities
• Treat problem situations as temporary deviations from the norm
• Sometimes ask sales dept to slow down so as to not overwhelm the production dept.

Engineering Firm

• Firm making switch-gears,
• The technology was changing steadily, and
• Market share was determined by firms ability to make improvements in design and cutting costs.
• Had hierarchical structure, but also made heavy use of meetings to coordinate work.

Medium-Tech Electronics Firm

• Making radios & TVs,
• Technology was changing faster, and
• Customer needs changing as well.
• It was important to link developments in research with developments in production and with marketing.
• It was common to communicate across departments even at low levels of rank.
• Lots of meetings
• Use of project teams to deliver special products and to investigate and solve internal problems

High-Tech Electronics Firm

• Creating new industries, such as computers, space technogies, equipment, etc.,
• There was an even more fluid organizational style
• Jobs allowed to shape themselves
• People hired for general expertise and brains and then allowed/encouraged to find their own place in the organization to make their contribution
• As situations changed, people would take on different activities but without changing jobs
• People continually inquiring into what they should be doing and then acting

Burns and Stalker saw the firms as occupying distinct positions along a continuum they called Mechanistic/Organic. You can think of it as machine versus biological models of organization.

In order of increasing Organicness (i.e., decreasing Mechanisticness), we have:

• Model 1: Rigidly organized bureaucracy
• Model 2: Bureaucracy run by top management team
• Model 3: Bureaucracy with cross departmental meetings, teams and task forces
• Model 4: Matrix organization
• Model 5: Project- and Team-based organizations
• Model 6: Loosely coupled organic network