Organizational structures and decision making processes: A multi-level model
Résumé
Traditional companies used to be authoritarian and built around hierarchical organizational charts. Facing more dynamic environments in recent history, many companies experimented with newer forms of organization, usually cutting down long decision paths and fostering lean structures able to react to rapid changes in the marketplace. We believe that the future of organizational structures lies in hybrid, dynamic models allowing enterprises to internally move from bureaucratic to adhocratic structures at will, according to changing contexts and focuses of attention. This paper introduces a four-level model representing organizational structures such as social networks, enterprises, communities, and task forces in a decision process. It also discusses how context intervenes in this fourlevel model and the role of context at each level.