The Structuring of Organizations
The Structuring of Organizations

Author: Henry Mintzberg

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Synthesizes the empirical literature on organizationalstructuring to answer the question of how organizations structure themselves --how they resolve needed coordination and division of labor. Organizationalstructuring is defined as the sum total of the ways in which an organizationdivides and coordinates its labor into distinct tasks. Further analysis of theresearch literature is neededin order to builda conceptualframework that will fill in the significant gap left by not connecting adescription of structure to its context: how an organization actuallyfunctions. The results of the synthesis are five basic configurations (the SimpleStructure, the Machine Bureaucracy, the Professional Bureaucracy, theDivisionalized Form, and the Adhocracy) that serve as the fundamental elementsof structure in an organization. Five basic parts of the contemporaryorganization (the operating core, the strategic apex, the middle line, thetechnostructure, and the support staff), and five theories of how it functions(i.e., as a system characterized by formal authority, regulated flows, informalcommunication, work constellations, and ad hoc decision processes) aretheorized. Organizations function in complex and varying ways, due to differing flows -including flows of authority, work material, information, and decisionprocesses. These flows depend on the age, size, and environment of theorganization; additionally, technology plays a key role because of itsimportance in structuring the operating core. Finally, design parameters aredescribed - based on the above five basic parts and five theories - that areused as a means of coordination and division of labor in designingorganizational structures, in order to establish stable patterns of behavior.(CJC).

School Desegregation in Ten Communities
School Desegregation in Ten Communities

Author: United States Commission on Civil Rights

Publisher:

Published: 1974

Total Pages: 90

ISBN-13:

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The Commission on Civil Rights conducted its current study of ten school districts during the late fall and winter of the 1972-73 school year. The purpose of this study is to reexamine earlier findings and explore more deeply the dynamics of school desegregation and community reaction. In brief, the Commission found that one reason why many people are uneasy about desegregation is their fear that it will result in a poorer quality of education for their children. It is necessary to prepare carefully and sensitively for desegregation. The technical problems of achieving desegregation, such as determining the most appropriate desegregation technique and dealing with the problems incident to increased busing, have proven to be far less formidable than previously believed. Many school officials, in their concern to facilitate a successful transition to desegregation, have tended to consider the needs and desires of the white community alone, sometimes assuming that minority parents will welcome desegregation on almost any terms. The way in which school officials, civic leaders, and the news media respond to disruptive incidents can serve either to preserve an atmosphere of calm or heighten tension even more. There is a sharp contrast between the reaction of communities to their own experience in desegregation and their expressed feelings concerning desegregation as a general proposition. Finally, the effects of the controversy at the national level concerning busing and school desegregation have been felt in a number of communities visited by Commission staff. (Author/JM).