Functional organization
Under functional organization (performing organization) refers to a breakdown of units of an organization to tasks (eg. As production, sales, administration) on the second level of the hierarchy below the company's management. The company management has the task of coordinating the various areas.
The management is based on the single-line system . For example, many small and medium-sized businesses are divided into research & development, production, marketing & sales, and administration. This form of primary organization is the oldest form of organization in the history of industrial operations. As the organization grows, alternative forms such as divisional organization or matrix organization become relevant. In Henry Mintzberg's configuration , the functional organization corresponds to the machine bureaucracy or, in the case of very small companies, to the simple structure . The functional organization is very widespread in small and medium-sized companies, as it is suitable for organizations in a stable environment with a manageable, homogeneous product range.
The advantages are:
- specialization
- Degression (economies of scale)
- Clear task , competence and responsibility areas
- Synergy effects
- Prevention of redundancies .
The following disadvantages are discussed:
- Difficult cooperation between the departments / functional areas (great coordination effort )
- Preponderance of specialization
- Lack of understanding of other functional areas / area selfishness (e.g. conflict between marketing and production, departmental thinking)
- Low product and market orientation
- Unclear responsibility for results
- Restriction of innovation potential
- It takes a long time to make a decision .
- Insufficient exchange of information between departments.
literature
- G. Braun, J. Beckert: functional organization. In: E. Frese (Ed.): Concise dictionary of the organization. 3. Edition. Stuttgart 1992, Col. 640-652.
- Dietmar Vahs: Organization, introduction to organizational theory and practice. 5th edition. Stuttgart 2005, pp. 142-148.