MGM400H5 Chapter : Tom Burns.docx
Document Summary
Particular concern was with studies of different types of organizations and their effects on communication patterns and on the activities of managers. Mechanistic type of organization is adapted to relatively stable conditions. In it the problems and tasks of management are broken down into specialisms within which each individual carries out their assigned, precisely defined task. There is a clear hierarchy of control, and the responsibility for overall knwoeldge and coordination rests exclusively at the top of the hierarchy. Vertical communication and interaction (that is, between superiors and subordinates) is emphasized, with an insistence on loyalty to the concern and obedience to superiors. Organismic (organic) type of organization is adapted to unstable conditions when new and unfamiliar problems continually arise which cannot be broken down and distributed among the existing specialist roles. There is there for a continual adjustment and definition of individual tasks.
