Common Dimensions in Organizations
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© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
When we think about a house, we usually take certain features into consideration, e.g., how many rooms it has, the color of its walls, slope of its roof, etc. A person can consider the following dimensions when analyzing an organization.
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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 on Dimensions of Organizations
- Organizational Theory
- Organizational Structure
- Matrix Management (Wikipedia)
- Virtual Corporations & Outsourcing: @BRINT ™
- Solving the Rubik’s Cube of Organizational Structure
For the Category of Organizational Development:
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