Organizational Design Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This paper analyzes the changes induced by the newly introduced UCI Pro Tour on the behavior of racing teams. We develop an oligopolistic model starting from the well-known Cournot framework to analyze why the UCI Pro Tour fails to reach... more

This paper analyzes the changes induced by the newly introduced UCI Pro Tour on the behavior of racing teams. We develop an oligopolistic model starting from the well-known Cournot framework to analyze why the UCI Pro Tour fails to reach its primary aim, namely to increase overall competition among professional cycling teams. In particular we show that the pattern of non-competitive behavior displayed by race teams is the result of a poorly designed Pro Tour licensing assignment procedure. Empirical findings confirm that teams put forth low effort in a high percentage of tour events, reserving their greatest effort for races organized in their home countries. This less-than-optimal performance pattern is the result of an organizational design that focuses solely on financial requirements and does not include incentives related to race performance. The study concludes with the recommendation that the current “closed league” organizational structure be replaced with a relegation system.

Studies on structural changes as an integral part of studies on organizational change, have received great attention starting from Chandler (1962) who developed the strategy-structure paradigm. It promotes organizations in M- form... more

Studies on structural changes as an integral part of studies on organizational change, have received great attention starting from Chandler (1962) who developed the strategy-structure paradigm. It promotes organizations in M- form suggesting adaptation of the organizational structure to align as well with its strategic goals. This approach became very important assuming that strategic changes governing structural changes.This paper is focused in the field of management, and structural changes as an integral part of studies on organizational change in Albania. The impetus to this work is related to a number of important transformations of Albanian society after the 90‟. Nowadays, with significant trends towards globalization, innovation has become the dominant element in the context of social and economic developments, identifying clearly what we call now the knowledge society, poses new challenges to the business and its management. It is important for everyone, especially for man...

By looking at collective intelligence (CI) through four distinct lenses, this paper draws on recent research in organizational design, evolutionary economics, cognitive sciences, knowledge ecology and political economy to built a twin... more

By looking at collective intelligence (CI) through four distinct lenses, this paper draws on recent research in organizational design, evolutionary economics, cognitive sciences, knowledge ecology and political economy to built a twin path forward: collective intelligence and collective leadership. It lays out elements of a framework for building this twin path beyond chaos. It is our intent to invite conversations designed to engage questions surrounding this interdependent evolutionary path. How might we develop criteria for a design capable of supporting a large range of collective intelligence phenomena in an integrated way? Will the emergent socio-economic life forms be strong enough to balance the destructive power of our global crises if and when "the perfect storm" hits? When everything goes worse and worse, and better and better, at the same time, and they do it faster and faster, how do we deal with the ensuing chaos? In order to bring forth desirable futures, we...

Formal and informal organization structure have been described as “opposing poles of a duality”—one which has yet to be fully resolved. The aim of this paper is to detail an approach to treating both structures in a comparable way, an... more

Formal and informal organization structure have been described as “opposing poles of a duality”—one which has yet to be fully resolved. The aim of this paper is to detail an approach to treating both structures in a comparable way, an approach that explicitly recognizes core and underlying commonalties. Two distinct analytical strategies are employed to this end. The first involves a detailed comparison and contrast of selected and relevant structural dimensions drawn from the two research streams. The second strategy involves the application of these dimensions to the study of network graphs of both the formal and informal structures of the same organization at the same point in time.

Samenvatting Onder invloed van globalisering, een toenemende onvoorspelbaarheid en de steeds verder toenemende mogelijkheden van informatie- en communicatietechnologie worden in toenemende mate andere eisen gesteld aan het functioneren... more

Samenvatting
Onder invloed van globalisering, een toenemende onvoorspelbaarheid en de steeds verder toenemende mogelijkheden van informatie- en communicatietechnologie worden in toenemende mate andere eisen gesteld aan het functioneren van organisaties. Ook van medewerkers zelf vraagt dit om een andere houding en andere vaardigheden. Er is een opkomst zichtbaar van organisaties die afwijken van de klassieke hiërarchische modellen. In sommige modellen wordt er zelfs geheel zonder leidinggevenden gewerkt. Een voorbeeld hiervan is Holacracy. Holacracy werkt op basis van rollen waarbinnen medewerkers volledige bevoegdheid hebben. De macht is op deze manier belegd bij medewerkers en wordt bijeen gehouden door een wetgevend kader. De insteek is dat dit kader het werk organiseert en niet de mensen.
Is het werken zonder managers dan een oplossing? Vervullen managers niet een belangrijke rol in het bieden van sociale steun aan hun medewerkers? Steun die bestaat uit aandacht, medeleven en belangstelling én uit het bieden van praktische hulp. Sociale steun is blijkens eerder onderzoek van belang omdat dit leidt tot vermindering stress, verhoging van de productiviteit en een sterkere binding met de organisatie. Het geven en ontvangen van sociale steun wordt gezien als menselijke basisbehoefte. De vraag is wat er gebeurt met het geven van deze sociale steun als er geen leidinggevenden zijn. Wordt er dan überhaupt sociale steun ervaren en als dit het geval is hoe is dit dan georganiseerd. Deze vraag vormt de basis van dit onderzoek. Er is nog empirisch materiaal op dit terrein. Daarom heeft deze studie dan ook meer een verkennend karakter en moet met de conclusies voorzichtig worden omgesprongen. Het onderzoek is uitgevoerd bij twee jonge organisaties binnen de telecomsector die volledig werken volgens Holacracy. Met behulp van individuele interviews zijn medewerkers bevraagd over hun beleving van sociale steun tussen collega’s. Om iets te weten te komen over de organisatie van sociale steun is hen ook gevraagd of dit bewust op vaste momenten plaats vond of dat dit spontaan tot stand kwam. Werd er ook praktische hulp geboden? En maakt het hierbij uit welke rol je hebt, wat voor dienstverband je hebt en of je collega’s dicht bij je zitten? In het handboek, de blogs van beide organisaties en het boek dat Robertson schreef over Holacracy is gezocht naar bewuste aansturing op de organisatie van onderlinge sociale steun. Daarnaast is een analyse gemaakt van de werkcontext en de dagindeling zoals deze binnen beide organisaties wordt aangehouden. De uitkomst luidt dat medewerkers van beide organisaties sociale steun van collega’s ervaren, ook als het gaat om praktische hulp. In de helft van de gevallen vind dit plaats op vaste momenten waarop alle collega’s samenkomen. Er wordt de meeste steun ervaren van medewerkers die dichtbij zitten. In dit opzicht wordt de rol van de leidinggevende niet gemist maar blijken vaste momenten van samenkomst wel van belang om al zelf organiserend om in deze basisbehoefte te voorzien.

Retail industry is one of the dominant players in U.S economy, generating almost $966 billion a year, which contribute for approximately 5.7% of the U.S GDP annually, with employment to 5 million people. Moreover, since retailing provides... more

Retail industry is one of the dominant players in U.S economy, generating almost 966billionayear,whichcontributeforapproximately5.7966 billion a year, which contribute for approximately 5.7% of the U.S GDP annually, with employment to 5 million people. Moreover, since retailing provides a way for products to get to consumers, it also supports the 966billionayear,whichcontributeforapproximately5.71.08 trillion wholesaling industry of the U.S. as per Euro monitor, 2017. Wal-Mart Inc. and Costco Wholesaler Corporation are both retail merchandising multinational companies operating domestically and internationally. Through descriptive research this paper is an effort towards analysis of both the companies in terms of their organizational design and structure. The study discusses how the companies managing their organizational structure-culture and business strategy to achieve competitive advantage by focusing on 1) Transaction Cost 2) Differentiation and Integration 3) Centralization and Decentralization 4) Standardization and Mutual Adjustments 5) Organic and Mechanistic Structure

Big data attracts the attention of many enterprises. Many companies invest in big data technology but it is however, observed that they face some challenges. Technical and social dimensions play an important role in adapting to new... more

Big data attracts the attention of many enterprises. Many companies invest in big data technology but it is however, observed that they face some challenges. Technical and social dimensions play an important role in adapting to new technologies. The organizational researchers have developed models to explore possible areas to be improved. Strategic alignment is regarded as a major success in organizational design literature. The strategy directly affects the technology itself and other dimensions such as organizational structure, process, organizational culture and human resources. This study aims to concentrate on how to align big data analytics capability (BDAC) with the strategy, drawing on resource-based theory (RBT) and organizational design. A big airline company has been selected as a case study to investigate the possible relationship between BDAC and strategy. The interviews and the collected documents show that the company should align BDAC with the strategy by focusing more on customer-centric applications.

Abstract. Modeling always has been at the core of both organizational design and information systems (IS) development. Models enable decision makers to filter out the irrelevant complexities of the real world, so that efforts can be... more

Abstract. Modeling always has been at the core of both organizational design and information systems (IS) development. Models enable decision makers to filter out the irrelevant complexities of the real world, so that efforts can be directed toward the most important parts of the ...

Innovation is by far one of the most important competitive priorities in the current business context. Companies increasingly rely on their supply base to support their innovation potential. As a consequence, the purchasing department... more

Innovation is by far one of the most important competitive priorities in the current business context. Companies increasingly rely on their supply base to support their innovation potential. As a consequence, the purchasing department might dramatically affect the firm’s innovation capability. This paper aims to investigate—using a multiple case study approach—how the organizational design of the purchasing department could determine a firm’s capability to foster and manage innovation. Seven highly innovative companies were visited and the structures of their purchasing departments were analyzed. Three different configurations for the purchasing department were identified and described.

ABSTRACT The 1990s witnessed significant changes in organizational design philosophy. Unique to the 1990s were prescriptions for restructuring involving delayering (the planned vertical compression of managerial levels of hierarchy)... more

ABSTRACT The 1990s witnessed significant changes in organizational design philosophy. Unique to the 1990s were prescriptions for restructuring involving delayering (the planned vertical compression of managerial levels of hierarchy) (Keuning and Opheij, 1994; Peters, 1992). What did this mean in practice? The current understanding of delayering can be encapsulated in a ‘delayering thesis’. However, outside of the USA and UK there has been limited study and measurement of the extent and effects of delayering. This paper delineates trends in delayering based on surveys of 2964 organizations across three countries and assesses the effects in terms of management structures, workloads, productivity, and the notion of ‘survivor syndrome’. The extent of a subsequent phase of ‘relayering’ is examined. It concludes that delayering has been widespread as an organizational strategy; that there are few signs of a delayering-relayering cycle, but the effects in relation to managers was a collapse of commitment in Australia and South Africa. However, there were significant differences in New Zealand. A downsizing/delayering model is discussed.

The tools of business are dynamic - capital, people, markets and ideas - all are living entities in a constant state of flux. To take these tools - to work with them and reorganize them in new and different ways to produce a positive... more

The tools of business are dynamic - capital, people, markets and ideas - all are living entities in a constant state of flux. To take these tools - to work with them and reorganize them in new and different ways to produce a positive effect in your life and your organization --is the essence of the creative process. How to get there? This work will provide a working map for the journey towards your own potential.

Although sources and determinants of academic entrepreneurship have begun to command the attention of policy-makers and researchers, there remain many unanswered questions about how individual and social factors shape the decisions of... more

Although sources and determinants of academic entrepreneurship have begun to command the attention of policy-makers and researchers, there remain many unanswered questions about how individual and social factors shape the decisions of academics to engage in entrepreneurial activities. Using a large-scale panel of academics from a variety of UK universities from 2001 to 2009, this paper examines how an academics’ level of entrepreneurial capacity in terms of opportunity recognition capacity, and their prior entrepreneurial experience shape the likelihood of them being involved in starting up a new venture. In addition, we explore what role university Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) play in stimulating venture creation. The results show that individual-level attributes and experience are the most important predictors of academic entrepreneurship. We also find that the social environment surrounding the academic also plays an influential role, but its role is much less pronounced than individual-level factors. Finally, we show that the activities of the TTO play only a marginal, indirect role, in driving academics to start new ventures. We explore the implications of this analysis for policy and organizational design for academic entrepreneurship.

The efficient and effective management of projects is a key success factor for many organizations. Empirical studies indicate that systematic know-how transfer from, between and within projects has significant impact on the success of... more

The efficient and effective management of projects is a key success factor for many organizations. Empirical studies indicate that systematic know-how transfer from, between and within projects has significant impact on the success of projects. However, the role of ...

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how principles borrowed from the axiomatic design (AD) approach can be applied to describe and analyse organizational architectures. The AD approach focuses on the explicit representation of the... more

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how principles borrowed from the axiomatic design (AD) approach can be applied to describe and analyse organizational architectures. The AD approach focuses on the explicit representation of the functions (or functional requirements) of specific systems, including organizations, as well the correspondence between functions and design parameters (i.e., the organizational “building blocks” like formal units, processes, and roles). An example from a financial services firm is used to illustrate how the AD approach can be applied. The AD approach can be used as an analytical tool to support practitioners in organization design processes. It also provides researchers with a means to develop more detailed and rigorous descriptions of organizational forms and thereby addresses a key gap in the literature identified by several scholars.

This study builds a framework to investigate the current trends emerging in hospital organizational design and its main consequences on human resources management. The analysis derives from an extensive literature review, which shows over... more

This study builds a framework to investigate the current trends emerging in hospital organizational design and its main consequences on human resources management. The analysis derives from an extensive literature review, which shows over the last 30 years a significant lack of works on organization design for hospitals, and from a number of experiences in hospital settings, which provide useful insights on changes taking place in hospitals. We intend to contribute to the filling of the gap in literature created by the lack of interest scholars have shown on hospital organization. The framework we discuss depicts the major converging trends of reorganization that can be observed in hospital contexts of industrialized countries. What we found is that large multi-specialty hospitals--by large we mean hospitals over about 300 beds--located in different countries, though starting from different internal and external organizational and environmental features are mostly converging towards a common design scheme. We labelled that scheme the care-focused hospital and we analysed in-depth its features in the attempt to facilitate cross-national comparison, otherwise difficult due to the fact that organizational concepts are value loaded and tend to be culture-bound. Challenges and managerial implications of this more and more widely diffused organizational paradigm are debated in the last part of the study.