Page 118 - DCOM102_DMGT101_PRINCIPLES_AND_PRACTICES_OF_MANAGEMENT

Principles and Practices of Management

Notes The same basic organisational form is assumed to be appropriate for any organisation, be it a
government, school, business, church, or fraternity. It is familiar, predictable, and rational. It is
what comes immediately to mind when we discover that ...we really have to get organised!
As rational as the functional hierarchy may be, there are distinct disadvantages to blindly
applying the same form of organisation to all purposeful groups. To state a few,

1. different groups wish to achieve different outcomes.
2. different groups have different members, and that each group possesses a different culture.
These differences in desired outcomes, and in culture, should alert the mangers to the danger of
assuming there is any single best way of organising. To be complete, however, also observe that
different groups will likely choose different methods through which they will achieve their
purpose. Service groups will choose different methods than manufacturing groups, and both
will choose different methods than groups whose purpose is primarily social. One structure
cannot possibly fit all.

7.2.2 Organising on Purpose

The purpose for which a group exists should be the foundation for everything its members do –
including the choice of an appropriate way to organise. The idea is to create a way of organising
that best suits the purpose to be accomplished, regardless of the way in which other, dissimilar
groups are organised.

Only when there are close similarities in desired outcomes, culture, and methods should the
basic form of one organisation be applied to another. And even then, only with careful fine
tuning. The danger is that the patterns of activity that help one group to be successful may be
dysfunctional for another group, and actually inhibit group effectiveness. To optimize
effectiveness, the form of organisation must be matched to the purpose it seeks to achieve.
7.2.3 The Design Process

Organisation design begins with the creation of a strategy – a set of decision guidelines by
which members will choose appropriate actions. The strategy is derived from clear, concise
statements of purpose, and vision, and from the organisation's basic philosophy. Strategy unifies
the intent of the organisation and focuses members toward actions designed to accomplish
desired outcomes. The strategy encourages actions that support the purpose and discourages
those that do not.

Creating a strategy is planning, not organising. To organise we must connect people with each
other in meaningful and purposeful ways. Further, we must connect people with the information
and technology necessary for them to be successful. Organisation structure defines the formal
relationships among people and specifies both their roles and their responsibilities.
Administrative systems govern the organisation through guidelines, procedures and policies.
Information and technology define the process(es) through which members achieve outcomes.
Each element must support each of the others and together they must support the organisation's
purpose.

Example: Many organisations including GP have used evolutionary computational
methods to optimize various kinds of systems in ways that rival or exceed human capabilities.
It has produced optimization results for a wide variety of problems involving automated synthesis
of controllers, circuits, antennas, genetic networks, and metabolic pathways.

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