The Structural Frame

B&D'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:

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 organization’s circumstances

• Problems arise from structural deficiencies and can be remedied by restructuring

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.

What Causes Problems?

Organizational problems originate from inappropriate structures or inadequate control.

They can be resolved by changing the structure or the control system

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."

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.

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.

 

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.

Structural Configuration

• Mintzberg’s Fives• Strategic apex• Middle

management• Operating core• Techno structure• Support staff

Mintzberg’s Structural Configurations

• Simple Structure• Machine

Bureaucracy• Professional

Bureaucracy • Divisionalized Form• Adhocracy

Mintzberg’s Structural Configurations

• Simple Structure• Machine

Bureaucracy• Professional

Bureaucracy • Divisionalized Form• Adhocracy

Mintzberg’s Structural Configurations

• Simple Structure• Machine

Bureaucracy• Professional

Bureaucracy • Divisionalized Form• Adhocracy

Mintzberg’s Structural Configurations

• Simple Structure• Machine

Bureaucracy• Professional

Bureaucracy • Divisionalized

Form• Adhocracy

Mintzberg’s Structural Configurations

• Simple Structure• Machine

Bureaucracy• Professional

Bureaucracy • Divisionalized Form• Adhocracy

Why Restructure?

• The environment shifts • Technology changes • Organizations grow • Leadership changes• Troubled firms

• Impulsive firms• Stagnant bureaucracies• Headless giants

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