Organizational architecture
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The architecture of an organization provides the framework through which an organization aims to realize its core qualities as specified in its vision statement. It provides the framework into which business processes are deployed and ensures that the organization's core qualities are realized across the business processes deployed within the organization. In this way organizations aim to consistently realize their core qualities across the services they offer to their clients.
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According to most authors organizational architecture is a metaphor, like traditional architecture it shapes the organizational (some authors would say the informational) space where life will take place. It also represents a concept which implies a connection between the organizational structure with other systems inside the organization in order to create a unique synergistic system which will be more than just the sum of its parts.
Simplified scheme of organizational architecture
Conventionally organizational architecture consists of the formal organization (organizational structure), informal organization (organizational culture), business processes, strategy and the most important human resources because what is an organization if not a system of people. The table shows some approaches to organizational architecture.[1]
| Nadler & Tushman (1997) | Merron (1995) | Galbraith (1995) | Henning(1997) | Churchill (1997) | Corporate Transitions International (2004) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vision, strategic goals and strategic management | Strategy | The role of the organization | Strategy | ||
| Informal organization | Organizational culture | Reward systems | Reward systems | Organizational culture | Organizational culture |
| Formal organization | Organizational structure | Organizational structure | Groupings | Organizational structure | Organizational structure |
| Business processes | Processes and lateral links | Business processes and work design | |||
| Human resources | Human resources | Human resource development | Communication |
The goal of organizational architecture is to create an organization which will be able to continuously create value for present and future customers, optimizing and organizing it self. Some under organizational architecture understand building blocks which are mandatory for the growth of the organization. To design an organization means to set up a stage where the drama of life will take place.
[edit] Approaches to organizational design
There are various approaches to organizational architecture including
- (1986, 1991, 2004) - Kenneth D. Mackenzie
- (1992, 1993) - David Nadler & Michael Tushman.
- - Organizational Architecture by David Nadler, Marc C. Gerstein and Robert B. Shaw.
- (1993, 1995) - Designing organizations using the Star Model as developed by J. Galbraith Jay R. Galbraith
- Benjamin's Layered Model of organizations.
- The Organizational Adaption Model by Raymond E. Miles and Charles C. Snow.
- (1995) - Richard M. Burton & Borge Obel
- (2004) - Richard K. Daft
- (2001) - Ralph Kilmann
- (2005) - The Tricord Model - Designing organisations from a Whole Systems Perspective[2]
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Organization Modeling by Joseph Morabito, Ira Sack and Anilkumar Bhate, 1999, ISBN 0-13-257552-3
- Designing Organizations by J. Galbraith, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 1995.
- A framework for managing IT-enabled change by R.I. Benjamin and E. Levinson, Sloan Management Review, Summer 1993.
- Organizational Architecture by David Nadler, Marc C. Gerstein and Robert B. Shaw, 1992, ISBN 1-55542-443-0.
- Arhitektura suvremenih organizacija (The Architecture of Modern Organizations) by Miroslav Žugaj and Markus Schatten, publisher Tonimir, Varaždinske Toplice, 2005, ISBN 953-7069-50-8
- Organizational Adaption by Raymond E. Miles and Charles C. Snow, 2003, ISBN 0-8047-4840-3.
- Burke-Litwin Model of Organization Performance by W. Warner Burke and George Litwin, Journal of Management, Vol. 18, No. 3, 523-545 (1992)
