Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 14/e

Organizational Designs and Employee Behavior

We opened this chapter by implying an organization’s structure can have significant effects on its members. What might those effects be?

A review of the evidence leads to a pretty clear conclusion: You can’t generalize! Not everyone prefers the freedom and flexibility of organic structures. Different factors stand out in different structures as well. In highly formalized, heavily structured, mechanistic organizations, the level of fairness in formal policies and procedures (organizational justice) is a very important predictor of satisfaction. In more personal, individually adaptive organic organizations, employees value interpersonal justice more.41 Some people are most productive and satisfied when ...