LOC 211 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Technostructure, Organizational Architecture, Adhocracy

• School: Northwestern University
• Department: Learning and Organizational Change
• Course: LOC 211
• Professor: Douthit

Document Summary

If key responsibilities are not clearly assigned, important tasks fall through the cracks conversely, roles and activities can overlap, creating con ict, wasted effort and unintended redundancy. Structural dilemmas: differention vs. integration, gap vs. overlap, underuse vs. overuse, lack of clarity vs. lack of creativity, excessive autonomy vs. excessive interdependence, too loose vs. too tight, goal-less vs. goal-bound. In a divisionalized organization the bulk of the work is done in quasi-autonomous units. Adhocracy is a loose, exible, self-renewing organic form tied together mostly through lateral means thrives in conditions of turbulence and rapid change web of inclusion - helgesen"s term to depict an organic social architectural form more circular than hierarchical. When attempting change it"s easy to get absorbed by it and have the structure transform you more than you transform the structure. Organizations typically restructure in response to major problems or opportunities: environment shifts, technology changes, organizations grow, leadership changes.