The Structural Frame

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The Structural Frame
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• BD's structural frame focuses on how reporting
  relationships and hierarchies develop in response
  to an organization's tasks and environment.
• The structural frame is the most rational and
  visible manifestation of the organization. It
  addresses the following characteristics

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Structural Assumptions

• Organizations exist to achieve established goals
  and objectives
• Organizations increase efficiency and performance
  via specialization and division of labor
• Appropriate forms of coordination and control
  ensure performance
• Organizations work best when rationality prevails
• Structure must align with the organizations
  circumstances
• Problems arise from structural deficiencies and
  can be remedied by restructuring

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Characteristics Addressed by the Structural Frame

• Goals
• Boundaries (between the organization and its
  environment)
• Levels of authority
• Divisions of labor (differentiation and
  integration)
• Formal communication channels
• Coordination and control of tasks
• Rules and procedures
• Desired patterns of activities and relationships
  among participants.

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What Causes Problems?

• Organizational problems originate from
  inappropriate structures or inadequate control.
• They can be resolved by changing the structure or
  the control system

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• The structural frame deals with how work gets
  done. It is rational in that it assumes that
  organizations exist primarily to accomplish
  established goals. Likewise, their structures
  should be designed around those goals. We call
  this "technical rationality."

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Using the Structural Frame

• Low ambiguity or uncertainty of outcome. The
  structural frame does not match up well with
  ambiguous or uncertain outcomes. It is usually
  very clear what should happen following a
  decision in the structural frame.

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Using the Structural Frame

• Resources are not overly scarce and conflict is
  low. The structural frame works best in a stable
  organization, where members are not threatened by
  change and perceive the logic of the decisions
  being made. Where instability exists, either
  because the organization is threatened by a lack
  of resources (usually money), or internal
  factions disagree over goals, then a different
  frame must be used to address these concerns.
•  

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Using the Structural Frame

•  
• Top down decisions. Structure, hierarchy, rules,
  and procedures usually flow from the top down to
  the members of the organization. The hierarchy
  itself defines the leaders who make the rules.

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Structural Configuration

• Mintzbergs Fives
• Strategic apex
• Middle management
• Operating core
• Techno structure
• Support staff

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Mintzbergs Structural Configurations

• Simple Structure
• Machine Bureaucracy
• Professional Bureaucracy
• Divisionalized Form
• Adhocracy

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Mintzbergs Structural Configurations

• Simple Structure
• Machine Bureaucracy
• Professional Bureaucracy
• Divisionalized Form
• Adhocracy

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Mintzbergs Structural Configurations

• Simple Structure
• Machine Bureaucracy
• Professional Bureaucracy
• Divisionalized Form
• Adhocracy

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Mintzbergs Structural Configurations

• Simple Structure
• Machine Bureaucracy
• Professional Bureaucracy
• Divisionalized Form
• Adhocracy

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Mintzbergs Structural Configurations

• Simple Structure
• Machine Bureaucracy
• Professional Bureaucracy
• Divisionalized Form
• Adhocracy

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Why Restructure?

• The environment shifts
• Technology changes
• Organizations grow
• Leadership changes
• Troubled firms
• Impulsive firms
• Stagnant bureaucracies
• Headless giants

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Generic Issues in Restructuring each component
exerts distinct pressures

• Strategic apex pushes for more alignment,
  centralization
• Middle managers try to protect autonomy and room
  to run their own unit
• Techno structure pushes for standardization,
  believes in measurement and monitoring
• Support staff prefers less hierarchy, more
  collaboration