Organisational Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Organisational Theory - Essay Example Needless to say, the resultant assumption is that public sector organisations should undergo a process of organisational restructuring as would allow for the adoption of more efficient and effective management paradigms. There are, however, two problems in the above stated. The first is that the notion of decentralised organisational structures as being more inherently suited for the adoption of total quality and other management paradigms which allow for efficient and effective proactive responses to shifting external environmental conditions, than are centralised organisational structures, is fallacious and based on assumptions and not fact (Cane and Thurston, 2000; Flynn, 2002; Dent, Chandler and Barry, 2004). The second is that, ultimately, organisational structure must be consciously selected on the basis of that which is most suitable for the organisation in question, the culture which it aspires to and the demands of the industry in which it is located and the market which it serves. As a strategy for determining the relationship between organisational structure and organisational performance, the research will critically analyse both of centralised and decentralised organisational structures, together with a review of ... ave determined that public sector organisations are largely modelled after the traditional bureaucratic organisational structure, as influenced by Weber (Gibson, 1966; Cane and Thurston, 2000; Dent, Chandler and Barry, 2004). The implication is that all of the four components of organisational structure-labour division, departmentalisation, span of control and scope of decision-making-are shaped by bureaucratic-traditionalist managerial theory. This, according to numerous management scholars, has only served to offset an organisation's inherent capacity for flexible response to changing external conditions and has, in the long run, resulted in the formulation of mechanistic and atrophying organisations (Gibson, 1966; Ford and Slocum, 1977; Cane and Thurston, 2000; Flynn, 2002; Dent, Chandler and Barry, 2004). As explained by Flynn (2002) among others, labour division within the public sector organisation is invariably highly specialised. Task specialisations are clearly articulated and each employee has a specific set of job functions, clearly set out in his/her job description, which he/she must operate by (Bourgeois, 1984; Bourn and Bourn, 1995; Flynn, 2002). While the advantages of specialisation and clearly articulated job descriptions are practically too numerous to articulate, the disadvantages are enormous. Certainly specialisation implies that employees are often matched to jobs according to their skill-sets and explicit job descriptions mean that employees always have a clear understanding of the tasks they are required to perform and know the boundaries of their professional responsibilities (Bourgeois, 1984; Bourn and Bourn, 1995; Flynn, 2002; Mctavish, 2004). Excessive specialisation, however, as is often the case with private sector organisations