ABSTRACT

Whether it is as well known as Exxon Mobil or Hewlett-Packard or as anonymous asa locally owned convenience store, every organization is composed of a system of interrelated jobs. This organization structure comprises a relatively stable network of interconnections or interdependencies among the different people and tasks that make up an organization.1 Like the steel framework of a building or the skeletal system of the human body, an organization’s structure differentiates among its parts even as it helps to keep those parts interconnected. In so doing, it creates and reinforces relationships of interdependence among the people and groups within it. Balancing this structural integration and differentiation is an important challenge facing current-day managers. The ability to create a workable balance between the two can determine whether a company succeeds in organizing work activities in a way that allows something meaningful to be accomplished.2