• What type of organizational structure is used by your place of employment?
• Do you believe this is the best approach, and what changes, if any, you would make to the current structure?

Read the assigned pages from Chapter 7

Below are some notes from Chapter 7:

What Are the Most Common Organization Structures?

-Functionalstructures group together people using similar skills.

-Divisionalstructures group together people by products, customers, or locations.

-Matrixstructures combine the functional and divisional structures.

-Teamstructures make extensive use of permanent and temporary teams.

-Networkstructures make extensive use of strategic alliances and outsourcing.

Organization chartsdescribe the formal reporting realtionships in organizations. The organization chart is not an organizational structure.

Organization structureis formal arrangement of people, tasks, positions, and reporting relationships

Organization chartis a diagram of positionsjob titles, and reporting relationshipsthe hierarchy of authority, within a team or organization

Division of labor- people and groups performing different jobs, ideally ones for which they are skilled

Formal structure-the "official" structure, the way things are supposed to operate. The formal structure is not a structure in itself. One of the more common structures is a formal strubture.

Organizations also have informal structures

-Informal structure-a "shadow" organization made up of unofficial but often critical working relationships between members. The informal structure exists within a fomal structure and is not a structure by itself.

-Informal structureshave good points and bad points

-Social network analysisidentifies the informal structure by discovering who employees communicate with and ask for help.

-Good points include employees assisting each other, providing emotional and social support, building friendships and helping the organization adapt to change.