Technology & Organization Structure

An organization and its technology need structure. Much like your information technology networks and systems have an architecture, so does an organization itself. Businesses organize themselves to best achieve their goals and accomplish all their necessary tasks. To ensure an organizational structure is truly viable, it has to take into account the technological operations, infrastructure and functions (Tosi, 2009).

The groupings of a company's functions, positions and operations form an organizational structure. Typically, companies express their structures visually on an organizational chart. Charts show the positions within an organizations, the roles they play and the relationships between them -- including supervisory relationships. Focusing on organizational structure and its design helps companies gain clarity on what they are doing currently, their ideal functioning and how they can achieve it (Tosi, 2009).

When business leaders undertake the process of designing or revising their organizational structures, they must first take a full inventory of the tasks and goals of their companies. They look to see which functions and tasks are not being accomplished as well as any current redundancies or inefficiencies. Information technology is so central to how a company operates. Networks and computers hold data on finances, company secrets, personal information and sometimes in the case of banks, hospitals and insurance companies -- data which companies have a legal obligation to safeguard (Tosi, 2009).

Companies that employ multiple, sophisticated computer and technological systems often find it necessary to structure their divide their IT staff into specialties. One system may require special programming and support that only some people know. Typically, divisions run somewhat autonomously, each with its own structure, leadership and approaches while all reporting to a common top management. Divisions usually have different needs and systems, which make supporting them all more challenging to a centralized IT department. Therefore, rather than specializing in one type of software or hardware and providing support across the company, companies may prefer their IT staff to be generalists attuned to a division's particular needs (Tosi, 2009).

Reference:

Tosi, H. L. (2009). Theories of organization. Sage.