Organizational Behavior Chapter 13Designing organizational structuresOrganizational structure: the division of labor as well as the patterns of coordination, communication, workflow, ad formal power that direct organizational activities.Two fundamental processes in organizational structure:Division of laborCoordinationFour main elements of organizational structure:Span of controlCentralizationFormalizationDepartmentalizationContingencies of organizational design:External environmentOrganizational sizeTechnologyStrategy Division of labor Division of labor: the subdivision of work into separate jobs assigned to different people.Subdivided work leads to job specialization.Job specialization increases work efficiency.Coordination of work activities When people divide work among themselves, they require coordinating mechanisms to ensure that everyone works in concert.Coordination is so closely connected to division of labor that the optimal level of specialization is limited by the feasibility of coordinating the work. An organization’s ability to divide work among people depends on how well those people can coordinate each other.Coordination tends to become more expensive and difficult as the division of labor increases.Coordinating mechanisms:Informal communicationAll organizations rely on informal communication as a coordinating mechanism.Includes sharing information on mutual tasks as well as forming common mental models so that employees synchronize work activities using the same mental road map.Vital in nonroutine and...