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There are probably as many ways to organize employees and activities in companies as there are companies themselves. Even so, there are common forms of organization that are visible in most businesses. In this activity, you'll practice recognizing these different forms of organizing. You'll match descriptions of several organizations to the type of departmentalization each illustrates. As you complete the exercise, think about the organizations of which you've been a member and see if you can recognize their structures. Were any of them a pure form of a structure presented here, or were they a combination of structures pieced together to meet different purposes? Departmentalization specifies how employees and their activities are grouped together in the organization. The five most common types of departmentalization include: simple structure, functional structure, divisional structure, team-based structure, and matrix structure. Each type has advantages and disadvantages and a combination of types may exist in an organization. Match each item's description of an organization departmentalized in a certain way to its correct area. 5 Divisional Structure Team-based Structure Simple Structure 3 Functional Structure. Matrix Structure Match each of the options above to the items below. Wright Brothers Tires-a tire wholesaler that is owned and operated by Bill and Nick Wright; they purchase tires in bulk from manufacturers and resell them to local repair shops. They employ four part- time workers. Homestead Real Estate, Inc.-a multi-stake realtor with 75 employees; the employees are divided by the tasks they complete, including a marketing department, a loan department, and a real estate agent group. Security Loan Corporation-a loan company that has three strategic business units, each of which serves a different client group: home loans, business loans, and student loans. Carter Electronics Company-designs and manufactures audio and video equipment for the film industry; employees are assigned to a particular project and work fairly autonomously as a group until the project is completed. Trident Foods-a multinational firm which manufactures snack foods, cereal products and packaged meals; the head of each product group in each global region reports to both the regional leader and the product leader at headquarters.