Organizational Structure/Terminologies

 Organizations can be defined as groups of people who must coordinate their activities in order to meet organizational objectives.
 The coordination function requires strong communication and a clear understanding of the relationships and interdependence among people.
 Organizational structures are dictated by such factors as technology and its rate of change, resource availability, product, and competition.
 You must keep in mind that there is no such thing as good or bad organizational structure; there are only appropriate or inappropriate ones.

Terminologies:
 The following definitions will be used in the discussions of organizational structures:
 Authority is the power granted to individuals (possibly by their position) so that they can make final decisions.
 In other words, authority is the right to take and implement management decisions.
 You can make decisions – it is just a process of generating options for a solution to a problem. You need authority to decide which to use and then implement the selected option.
 Responsibility is the obligation incurred by individuals in their roles in the formal organization to effectively perform assignments.
 Your role demands that you create a climate in your team where responsibility is clearly defined and accepted. Without acceptance there is no commitment and the work is not done or willingly.
 Responsibility is completely separate to an individual and cannot be shared. A shared or split responsibility is no responsibility and generates a blame culture!
 When you are given authority you are held to account for its effective use and abuse! No authority means no accountability.
 Accountability is being answerable for the satisfactory completion of a specific assignment. (Accountability = authority + responsibility.)
 You are only accountable for the use of management authority that is given by delegation.