Achieving Organizational Flexibility: Exploring Structures and Adaptation Methods

Any organization cannot afford to be rigid to changes in its environment. Organizations have to continuously adapt to external changes to best position themselves for successful achievement in the market. (Daft et al, 2014). As such, organizations have to implement the best organizational structure to enable them to achieve the required flexibility. Are there any other ways through which an organization can achieve flexibility and adaptability to environmental changes?

Organizational structures include various aspects of an organization such as duties of employees, authority structure, leadership hierarchy etc. These aspects are incorporated to form a certain structure, either formal or informal (Anand & Daft, 2007). The informal organizational structure is proposed by Gulati & Puranam (2009) as the best model for coping with any changes in the market or the environment of a business. Are there any disadvantages that implementing this structure may come with? In order to successfully adapt to the changing business environment, a business conducts market studies and looks at both organizational structures and how each may be used to mitigate the changes expected or being experienced. Some changes may not necessitate a change in the entire structure. Are there other methods that can be used to adapt to external changes, without necessarily altering the organization’s structure?

References

Gulati, R., & Puranam, P. (2009). Renewal through reorganization: The value of inconsistencies between formal and informal organization. Organization science, 20(2), 422-440.

Daft, R.L., Murphy, J. & Willmott, H. (2014) Organization Theory and Design: An International Perspective, 2nd ed. Cengage Learning.

Anand, N. and Daft, R.L. (2007) . What is the right organization design?.  Organizational Dynamics, 36(4), 329–344.