Summary

This week offers an overview of the relationship between strategy and structure and delves into the most common forms of structure adopted by organisations. Some of these include the functional, multidivisional and matrix forms, with each having distinct advantages and disadvantages. In practice, organisations may use combinations of such forms of structure to support specific strategies. For example, to support international expansion organisations may shift from a functional form of structure to a combination of functional and multidivisional. Organisations may use cross-functional teams to improve the effectiveness of communication and knowledge sharing when operating with a functional form of structure. Strategy and organisational structure co-evolve, with organisations operating in highly changing environments requiring forms of structure with greater flexibility; such forms of structure could support prompt adaptation to challenging changes in the external environment and to seize upcoming opportunities.