Based on the provided sources, organizational structure in the context of Human Resource Management (HRM) refers to the formal arrangement of roles, responsibilities, and authority that dictates how employees and their work are organized to achieve the organization's goals. It is a fundamental aspect of the "Organising" function of management, which prescribes the relationships among people and resources. This structure creates positions at different levels, and the HRM function of "Staffing" deals with providing the right people for those positions.
The sources describe both traditional hierarchical structures and more flexible, modern organizational models.
Traditional Organizational Structure
Traditionally, organizations, including libraries and information centres, have been organized into formal, hierarchical structures with clear divisions of work and lines of authority.
Levels of Management: A key feature of the traditional structure is the hierarchy of management, which is typically divided into three levels.
- Top Managers: These are the senior executives responsible for the overall direction, policy-making, strategic planning, and resource mobilization of the organization. They require a high degree of conceptual skill to see the organization as a whole.
- Middle Managers: Positioned between top and supervisory managers, they are responsible for developing strategies to implement policies from top management. They supervise, monitor, and execute activities, requiring strong human skills to motivate and work with people.
- Supervisory (First-Line) Managers: These managers directly oversee the employees performing the actual work and are responsible for routine tasks. This level requires strong technical skill, which is the ability to use the specific knowledge and tools of their specialty.
Structural Framework: The organizing function creates a structure of departments, divisions, and sections based on the division of work.
- In libraries, this structure is commonly based on function, with departments for acquisition, technical processing, and user services.
- This formal structure is built on principles like Henri Fayol's "Scalar Chain," which describes the unbroken line of authority from the top to the bottom of the organization that serves as the means of communication. Another principle, "Unity of Command," states that an employee should receive orders from only one superior.
Centralization and Decentralization: The organizational structure also determines the degree of centralization. Libraries often use a mix; for instance, document selection might be decentralized to different departments, while ordering is centralized to avoid duplication.
Modern and Evolving Structures
The sources indicate a significant shift away from rigid, traditional structures towards more flexible and adaptive models, often described as "New Millennium Organisations". This shift is a key aspect of organizational change management.
Shift from Rigidity to Flexibility: Modern management involves moving away from functionally divided, production-oriented entities towards flatter, more flexible structures. This change is often driven by external forces like technological advancements and globalization, and internal forces like human resource problems and new managerial decisions.
Characteristics of Modern Structures:
- Knowledge-Based Organisation: In this model, the structure's primary purpose is to support and develop employee knowledge, which is seen as the organization's main asset.
- Learning Organisation: The structure is designed to facilitate continuous learning for individuals, teams, and the organization itself, allowing it to adapt to its environment.
- Networked Organisation: This structure relies heavily on computer-based communication networks for rapid communication among all groups. It also acknowledges and leverages informal communication networks alongside formal channels, recognizing that informal patterns can be a powerful and constant influence. These informal networks create roles like the "technological gatekeeper," an individual who links different hierarchical levels and acts as a key information source.
- Flexible Work Groups: Modern structures emphasize the creation of flexible teams that can adapt to changing demands and solve problems collaboratively. This is a core tenet of participative management.
Specific Structures in Information Institutions
The sources also describe the organizational structures of specific types of information institutions, which have evolved to meet particular needs.
- Information Analysis Centres (IACs): These are defined as formally structured organizational units established for acquiring, evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing information in a specialized field. A key structural feature is that they are operated by highly competent working scientists and engineers, not just librarians.
- Documentation Centres: These can have either centralized or decentralized structures and are increasingly part of a larger network to pool and share resources.
- Data Centres: These are described as institutional mechanisms established to collect, process, and organize quantitative data for a scientific community.
- Referral Centres: These institutions are structured to act as a coordinating agency or a switching mechanism among different information institutions, directing users to appropriate sources.