ABSTRACT
The concrete characteristics of an organizational structure, a firm, for example, are determined by the need to adapt to environmental dynamics. Organizational design entails an initial stage of observation – generally involving an analysis of corporate documentation, interviews with key informants, and collecting information through forms and surveys – in order to paint a picture of the system as-is. The unpredictability derives from the assumption that the structure of the relationships between people and the organizational units they belong to originates hic et nunc from interindividual interactions, independently of whatever formal arrangements are in force. In the process-centered approach, the organizational structure is the ever-changeable system of order that directs technical action in satisfactorily achieving the goals, which are likewise changeable. The new configuration entails changes at the micro-organizational level in procedures and often in working techniques and tools, the workers’ roles, and thus means that the workers’ roles, functions and skills must be adapted accordingly.
