ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the organizational structure of Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) in levels. Level one involves the organization of production within each unit and the duplication of this structure at the other units which were set up under a programme of expansion. At the second level, examines the pressures of a multi-unit organization which resulted in the gradual evolution of a head office, the resultant decentralization and the subsequent reorganization into product divisions. The organizational set-up of the various factories is based on the pattern that was originally recommended by the technical collaborators, Oerlikan Machine Tool Works. Essentially HMT continued to adopt a simultaneous organization which was both functional and territorially dispersed. The growth of the company, initially through expansion and later through geographical dispersion and diversification, meant that the functional type of organization was inadequate for the task of managing a complex enterprise. The 1978 reorganization achieved its structural purpose of dividing the entire organization into multiple business groups.
