Organizational Structure

Date: July 23, 2008
Time: 9:50 PM
Place: Kitchen

Organizations may take up the
U form, which is short for unitary. This form can be a bit more vertical since it breaks down by functions. This is popular with smaller companies.
The H, or holding, form is designed for companies w/ diverse diversification. It is more flat.
The M, or multidivisional, design is for companies with related diversification.
The matrix design aids communication. It's set up like U forms, or broken down by function. Project managers create the multiple-command aspect of this structure. They coordinate teams from different functions of the firm.
Hybrids are a mix of two forms. If a firm has 5 related SBU's and 1 that's unrealted, the firm may take up a mix of the M and H forms.
I think an interesting point about H-structures is that research shows that their overall performance is avg-to-weak.
It would be a bit more difficult to coordinate and mangage such diverse units.
If the units had negative correlation, then avg-weak overall performance would definitely be the case.
But what about a firm that maybe owned a Google & a Wal-Mart. I think that would be an incredible firm.