organisational structure

Introduction
This paper attempts to define the structure of a contemporary organisation. Due to the ‘technology revolution’, the traditional mechanistic paradigm is shifting to a more dynamic and organic form. This shift affects organisational structure as firms are focusing on organic principles such as renewal, agility and vitality as opposed to mechanistic philosophies of efficiency, uniformity, control, predictability and economies of scale. Some mechanistic structures still exist in extremely stable and certain markets; however, increasingly more organisations are employing the organic structures that complement the changing economy.
Contingencies such as environment, strategy and goals, size, technology and culture will greatly influence organisational structure. When defining an organisational structure the impact of these contingencies must be taken into account. As these dynamic variables change from organisation to organisation, it is impossible to define one single...