Motivation And Leadership In Different Organizational Structures
It is necessary for a company in this day and age to have a basic structure that determines the function of its operations, both internally in terms of the relations between the employees, managers and the objectives of the organization, and externally, as it will also influence its business relations with suppliers and customers. Each organizational structure differs from one another in their main values, the importance given to the chain of command and the degree of centralization of power that it believes will give each management team the optimal way to lead their company. As the organizational structure has such a vast effect on the principles and values of an organization, it is sure to influence different aspects of both culture and core standards of a company.
This paper´s specific objective is to determine and compare the effects of the two main organizational structures (mechanistic/organic) on the leadership principles and core motivation characteristics inside of a company’s organizations, as we will analyze how each organizational structure can impose the necessity of different leadership and motivation task coming from each managerial team.
First of all, it is believed to be optimal for the understanding and comprehension of the reader to define and determine the basic principles and values are the two main organizational structures based on, as it will provide the theoretical base in which the paper will stand its thesis on. According to the Blacklaw´s Dictionary, the mechanistic organizational structure is known for being hierarchical and bureaucratic, as it is characterized by having a highly centralized authority, always following a very strict chain of command, as well as depending on formalized practices and procedures, and focusing on the individual specialization of the workforce itself (L.D., 2014).
On the other hand, organic organizational structure is characterized by its flatness regarding the operations of the company, as it presents horizontal communications and interactions with it environment, low specialization of their workforce, focusing on quantity over quality, and the decentralization of the power inside of the organization, as different teams are encouraged to coordinate and discuss their actions in order to achieve different tasks at hand (W.F., 2016).
The first motivational impact in which the two organizational structures differ from one another, is the fact that, depending on which organizational structures the company is being based on, the managing team will have to motivate its workforce and give them recommendations in which way they should go regarding factors such as competition, teamwork and companionship. While an organic organization should promote teamwork and companionship as it´s core values and necessities, and should motivate their workforce to coordinate and discuss each task at hand in order to have a more objective answer in very situation, a mechanistic organization should promote competition and bonus inside of the company’s organization, as it will lead to the necessity of specialization within the workforce, stablishing a chain of command and redirecting the company’s operations.
Subsequently, as both organizational structures focus on different kinds objective and team management, the goals set at the start of each period are going to differ between each of the structures, as employees are going to have a different mentality to live by during the completion of every task at hand. In the of the organic structure, objectives and goals are going to be focused on the accomplishment of coordinated tasks, and are going to be set as a more objective, bigger task, that will have to be completed by a large number of employees who will have to cooperate and coordinate both actions and personal objectives within the operation. On the other side, mechanistic organizations are going to base their goals and objectives on competition and the accomplishment of smaller, more specialized tasks, as employees are going to work individually in order to see their own creation valued and passed, which will give them different kinds of businesses.
Moreover, managerial teams have to focus on leading their company´s operations and different procedures depending on their organizational structure, as each structure requires a different set of practices and tradition within it´s workforce, which generates different kinds of professional and interpersonal relationships between each employee and the managerial team. In the specific case of mechanistic organizational structure, managers tend to require that each employee follows several, previously stablished sets of norms and formal procedures in order to get their ideas through the managerial team and to be able to participate in the meeting of certain goals and objectives. On the other hand, managerial teams of organic organizations tend to motivate their employees to communicate between each other and to share their ideas before getting them trough, as every task should be discussed and analyzed by the entire workforce that oversees it´s pursue (Hertzell, 2014).
In conclusion, leadership and motivation differs between each one of the two principal organizational structures that can be seen in the majority of todays company´s operations, organic and mechanistic organizational structures, as each manager/managerial team has to motivate its workforce differently, focusing on ways in which they should be promoting the accomplishment of a different set of previously stablished goals and objectives, while being able to lead them and stablish relations in independent ways, which amounts to two completely different work environments lead by different objectives and different kinds of operations and results.
References
- L. D. (2014, January 31). What is MECHANISTIC ORGANIZATION? definition of MECHANISTIC ORGANIZATION (Black’s Law Dictionary). Retrieved from https://thelawdictionary.org/mechanistic-organization/
- W. F. (n.d.). What is organic organization? definition and meaning. Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/organic-organization.html
- Hartzell, S. (2014, June 23). Mechanistic & Organic Organizational Business Structures. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/bureaucratic-organizations-mechanic-organic-bureacracies.html
- Robbins, DeCenzo, Coulter (2015). Fundamentals of Management, Ninth Edition. Pearson Education. Essex