Basic Dimensions in Organizations
Written by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Copyright 1997-2007.When we think about a house, we usually take certain features into consideration, e.g., how many rooms it has, the the color of its walls, slope of its roof, etc. A person can consider the following dimensions when analyzing an organization.
Sections of This Topic Include:
Structural DimensionsContextual Dimensions
Additional Perspectives
Richard Daft in his book, Organizational Theory and Design (West Publishing, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1992), organizes these dimensions into categories of structural and contextual.
Structural dimensions:
Centralization -the extent to which functions are dispersed in the organization, either in terms of integration with other functions or geographically
Formalization - regarding the extent of policies and procedures in the organization
Hierarchy - regarding the extent and configuration of levels in the structure
Routinization - regarding the extent that organizational processes are standardized
Specialization - regarding the extent to which activities are refined
Training - regrading the extent of activities to equip organization members with knowledge and skills to carry out their roles
Contextual Dimensions:
Culture - the values and beliefs shared by all (note that culture is often discerned by examining norms or observable behaviors in the workplace)
Environment - the nature of external influences and activities in the political, technical, social and economic arenas
Goals - unique overall priorities and desired end-states of the organization
Size - number of people and resources and their span in the organization
Technology - the often unique activities needed to reach organizational goals, including nature of activities, specialization, type of equipment/facilities needed, etc.
Additional Perspectives
Organizational TheoryOrganizational Structures
Matrix Management: Method, not Magic
Virtual Corporations & Outsourcing: @BRINT (tm)
For the Category of Organizational Development:
Related Library Topics
Recommended Books
Managing Organizational Change
Managing Organizational Change
Field
Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides complete, step-by-step guidelines to identify complex issues in for-profit or government organizations and successfully resolve each of them. This book is also helpful to organizations that are doing fine now, but want to evolve to the next level of performance. This is one of the truly comprehensive, yet practical, books about this complex subject! Includes online forms that can be downloaded. Many materials in this Library's topic about guiding change are adapted from this comprehensive book.
Field
Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development With Nonprofits
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides complete, step-by-step guidelines to identify complex issues in nonprofit organizations and successfully resolve each of them. This book is also helpful to organizations that are doing fine now, but want to evolve to the next level of performance. This is one of the truly comprehensive, yet practical, books about this complex subject! Includes online forms that can be downloaded. Many materials in this Library's topic about guiding change are adapted from this comprehensive book.
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Growing Your Organization
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Also See
Capacity Building (Nonprofit) -- Recommended Books
