BUREAUCRATIC ORGANIZATION Companies that adopt a defender business strategy are likely to choose the bureaucratic organizational structure. This pyramid-shaped structure consists of hierarchies with many levels of management. It uses a top-down or “command-and-control” approach to management in which managers provide considerable direction to and have considerable control over their subordinates.
The classic example of a bureaucratic organization is the military, which has a long pecking order of intermediate officers between the generals (who initiate combat orders) and the troops (who do the fighting on the battlefield).
A bureaucratic organization is based on a functional division of labor. Employees are divided into divisions based on their function. Thus, production employees are grouped in one division, marketing employees in another, engineering employees in a third, and so on. Rigid boundaries separate the functional units from one another. At a bureaucratic auto parts company, for instance, automotive engineers would develop plans for a new part and then deliver its specifications to the production workers.
Rigid boundaries also separate workers from one another and from their managers because the bureaucratic structure relies on work specialization. Narrowly specified job descriptions clearly mark the boundaries of each employee’s work. Employees are encouraged to do only the work specified in their job description—no more and no less. They spend most of their time working individually at specialized tasks and usually advance only within one function. For example, employees who begin their career in sales can advance to higher and higher positions in sales or marketing but cannot switch into production or finance.
The bureaucratic structure works best in a predictable and stable environment. It is highly centralized and depends on frontline workers performing repetitive tasks according to managers’ orders. In a dynamic environment, this structure is less efficient and sometimes disastrous.
The classic example of a bureaucratic organization is the military, which has a long pecking order of intermediate officers between the generals (who initiate combat orders) and the troops (who do the fighting on the battlefield).
A bureaucratic organization is based on a functional division of labor. Employees are divided into divisions based on their function. Thus, production employees are grouped in one division, marketing employees in another, engineering employees in a third, and so on. Rigid boundaries separate the functional units from one another. At a bureaucratic auto parts company, for instance, automotive engineers would develop plans for a new part and then deliver its specifications to the production workers.
Rigid boundaries also separate workers from one another and from their managers because the bureaucratic structure relies on work specialization. Narrowly specified job descriptions clearly mark the boundaries of each employee’s work. Employees are encouraged to do only the work specified in their job description—no more and no less. They spend most of their time working individually at specialized tasks and usually advance only within one function. For example, employees who begin their career in sales can advance to higher and higher positions in sales or marketing but cannot switch into production or finance.
The bureaucratic structure works best in a predictable and stable environment. It is highly centralized and depends on frontline workers performing repetitive tasks according to managers’ orders. In a dynamic environment, this structure is less efficient and sometimes disastrous.