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Describing Types of Organizational Structure

Student's Name – Mwawali Juliana Sau

University of the People

Unit: BUS 1101-01

Describing Types of Organizational Structure

What is one challenge of reporting to more than one manager in a matrix

organization? What would be a benefit?

One of the risks of reporting to more than one manager in a matrix organization is role

ambiguity because there is an absence of clarity on lines of authority and responsibility. For

example, managers may go back and forth on who is responsible for the professional

development of individual employees. Team members can also experience confusion. Role

definition is a critical organizational behavior concept denoting how individual

responsibilities are anticipated and what the role entails (Waldman, 2023). One of the

benefits of a diverse management structure is the cross-functional nature of matrix teams, this

means leaders and teammates can more freely share what they know since everyone has to

communicate with both functional teams and divisional teams. Having all of these

perspectives allows leaders to make more informed decisions.

Consider the example of Sean, a customer success representative, who is on a project

team tasked with identifying and correcting bugs within his company’s software. Sean reports

to – and shares information with – both the project manager and the VP of Customer Success.

Let’s say Sean shares details about this specific project with the VP of Customer Success,

who then uses that information to develop a communication strategy for all customer success

representatives to more easily share important information about bug fixes with customers. In

this instance, the matrix model better positions the company for success by including wrap-

around services and support to the project at hand.

What is an advantage and a disadvantage of being employed by a boundary-less

organization?

A boundaryless organization is an organization that actively removes boundaries to

innovation, meaning it has less hierarchy and functional separation and is more integrated.

This allows for a free flow of information, ideas, and innovations. One of the benefits of

working with a boundary-less organization is the potential for leveraging its synergy, which

is derived from functional synergy. Synergy is the capacity of a system to produce more

while working together than the sum of its individual components acting singularly. In a

boundary-less organization, organizational synergy can be leveraged from employees that co-

own their roles within the organization (Doži, M. 2018). One of the major challenges of

working in a boundary-less organization is related to the loss of role differentiation because

employees must evaluate the context and rapidly recombine team members from different

functions to meet the goals.

What is the main challenge of maintaining a learning organization environment?

What is the greatest benefit?

The main challenge of maintaining a learning organization environment is the need

for readiness to change. According to Vidyarthi et al. (2018), actual and perceived readiness

to engage in the actions that lead to actual behavioral changes despite the absence of

guaranteed outcomes is a critical barrier to learning. It is possible to learn and utilize this

learning effectively across the organization to enhance competitive advantage only when

employees are motivated to embrace change. The central benefit of a learning organization

environment is that it enhances organizational performance through employee skill

acquisition, problem-solving expertise, and creativity (Rommer et al., 2020).

Which kind of organization would you like to work for and why?

One of the central organization types to consider as a prospective employee is a

learning organization. Learning is a key fundamental to a sustainable future. The business

value of establishing a learning organization is increasingly recognized, and this idea could

offer significant practical benefits concerning the environment and biodiversity. Learning

organizations recognize their employees must develop new skills and become increasingly

innovative as they adapt to the need for skill changes while achieving minimal impact on the

operational facets within the enterprise. Also, the process of democratizing organizational

structure and power cannot be achieved without considering environmental sustainability

(Bhardwaj, 2019). Therefore, considering this kind of organization as an employee and leader

offers the unmatched opportunity to enhance the environment and contribute towards

biodiversity changes on the planet.

References

Bhardwaj, T. (2019). Developing employees as a learning organization: A conceptual

perspective. Global Journal of Enterprise Information System, 11(3), 1-7. Available

at: http://www.caps.co.in/PDF/2019/jul_sep_2019/425_DEVLOPING

%20EMLOYEES%20SLBOARD%20CATEGORIGED-MY6-%20to%20final%20print

%20(Tarpan%20Bhardwaj).pdf#page=5

Doži, M. (2018). Synergic organizational structures–the optimal approach for companies

leading sustainable business. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 6(4),

119-139. doi:10.15678/EBER.2018.060407 Available at:

https://www.eber.uek.krakow.pl/images/archiwum/nr6_4_2018/Dozic.pdf

Hawk, J., Skarmeas, D., & Katsikeas, C. S. (2018). When organizational crises elicit

ambiguity: The role of functional and enterprise learning orientation. Journal of

Business Research,91, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.024

Rommer, D., Dülfer, E., Lorenz, C., & Roth, S. (2020). Learnings from history: a model for a

post-growth economy by trans-formation. Sustainability Science,15, 1573-1592.

Available at: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11625-020-00765-2.pdf

Vidyarthi, N. J., Hattrup, K., & Raisch, S. (2018). The role of power in a firm's strategic

decision-making process. In AOM TIM Division: Rethinking the Role of Power in

Top Management Groups. Center for Collaboration and Commercialization. Available

at: https://www.ntnu.edu/c3s-ntnu/rethink-the-role-of-power-david-rommer.pdf/view

Waldman, D. A. (2023). Role stress—constructs, regressors, moderators, and outcomes.

Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 10(1),

559-589. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-051521-103301