european journal of social sciences issn: 1450-2267 - EuroJournals

Dynamic
Environment
Certain
European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 5, Number 3 (2007)
Figure 2: Environmental Forces on Organizational Structure
100% Mechanistic
The key to effective human resource planning lies in the timing and process of restructuring
from either of the well-defined mechanistic/organic structures. When firms move from a more
mechanistic to organic structure, levels of management flatten and spans of control grow. This, in turn
has implications for changes in communication, motivation and rewards structures. Authority and
accountability create relationship changes in this transition and decision-making becomes more
decentralized (Jones, 2004). Without the properly aligned workforce, structures designed to facilitate
work coordination and flow will almost certainly fail.
Implications for HR
Turbulent environments require flexibility. More organizations are encountering turbulence in their
industries and are therefore moving toward organic structures. The transition to an organic structure
directly impacts the derived demand linkage and human resource planning process. The entire span of
selection, training, and rewarding criteria must become aligned with the requirements of the new
structure. The implications for these contrasting structures are important.
Under the organic structure conditions, employees require less direct supervision. The
effectiveness of employees in these circumstances is directly related to selection methods used to hire
the employees. For example, when hiring, organizations can use valid tests to select for appropriate fit
characteristics like locus of control, need for autonomy, and independence (Hough & Oswald, 2000).
In moving toward the organic type structure, delegation of authority becomes very critical. Typical
mechanistic firms employ spans of control around seven. Under a more organic structure spans of
control can reach as high as seventy-five (Gailbrath, 2002). Moving toward a more organic structure
requires the development and deployment of self-managing work teams that end up training, selecting
and rewarding their respective members. Such a structure requires a complete re-vamping of
supervisory skills and characteristics. For successful operations in these organic firms, managers
require training on how they can provide substantial coaching skills rather than directing skills
(Gailbrath, 2002).
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Structure
100% Organic