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Experiments carried around the world have only re affirmed the findings of the Hawthorne Experiment. Results show that in a work place people value most (in order of preference)

·         Working in small groups

·         Type of supervision

·         Individual’s Remuneration

·         Novelty of the situation

·         Interest in the kind of work

·         Attention received / Freedom of expression

Evolutionary Psychology also supports these findings. Success stories of effective organization state these as main focal points of their organization. Key among these organizations is Southwest Airlines and SEMCO.

Ø      This can be brought about by free flow of information

Ø      Recognition of individual’s competencies and work done.

An individual in an Organization has different levels of relationships. These can be classified as:

·        Employees and management.

·        Employees and their jobs/company.

·        Employees and other employees

HR has a key role to play to develop the organization into an institution. It ensures that there is no conflict in the values and aspirations of the organization and the individual. Every organization in course of its existence develops a work culture. HR needs to ensure that this is vibrant and gives equal opportunities to all its members. This all depends on how the information flows in the organization structure. The organization structure must be so designed that each individual gets opportunity to express his view. There are many types of organization structure developed in last century. The two significant ones are

·        Traditional or Triangular structure

·        Networked structures

 

A comparison of these two is given under

Dimension/ Characteristics

Traditional Organization

Network Organization

Structure

Hierarchical

Networked / Teams

Scope

Internal / Closed

External / Open

Resource focus

Capital

Human / Information

State

Static ,Stable

Dynamic, Changing

Personal focus

Managers

Professional

Key Drivers

Reward and Punishment

Commitments

Direction

Management commands /Top to Bottom

Self Managed Groups/ Bottom to Top

Basis of Action

Control

Empowerment

Individual Motivation

Satisfy Superior

Achieve Team goals

Learning

Specific Skills

Broader Competencies

Basis of Compensation

Position in Hierarchy

Accomplishment / Competency level

Relationships

Competitive ( by Turf)

Cooperative (our challenge)

Employee Attitude

Detachment (its just a job)

Identification ( its my company)

Dominant Requirement

Sophisticated Management

Leadership

 

 

None of these organization structures exist in the real world. The structures we come across in the real world is mix of the two. The Manufacturing sector show more characteristics of Traditional Organization whereas Service sector (especially IT and BPO) are usually Networked Organization.

You might feel that Network Organizations are far better as compared to Traditional ones. This is not the case. When ever the Organization has to make strategic Decisions it is preferred that the decisions are made from the Top. This would reduce the conflict and the decisions would be taken by people having wider perspective. On other hand Top management must not intervene in day to day functioning of the Department / Teams i.e. these must be sufficiently empowered. This also reduces the work burden on the Top management and reduces the time wasted in making decisions. Although any decision made by one must be finalized after consultation with other.

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