Structure in FiveEssay Preview: Structure in FiveReport this essayStructure in 5s: A Synthesis of the Research on Organization Design Author(s): Henry Mintzberg Source: Management Science, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Mar., 1980), pp. 322-341 Published by: INFORMS Stable URL:
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTORs Terms and Conditions of Use, available atINFORMS is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Management Science.MANAGEMENT SCIENCE Vol. 26, No. 3, March 1980 Printed in U.S.A.STRUCTURE IN 5S: A SYNTHESIS OF THE RESEARCH ON ORGANIZATION DESIGN*HENRY MINTZBERGtThe elements of organizational structuring-which show a curious tendency to appear in fives-suggest a typology of five basic configurations: Simple Structure, Machine Bureaucracy, Professional Bureaucracy, Divisionalized Form, and Adhocracy. The elements include (1) five basic parts of the organization-the operating core, strategic apex, middle line, technostructure, and support staff; (2) five basic mechanisms of coordination-mutual adjustment, direct supervision, and the standardization of work processes, outputs, and skills; (3) the design parameters-job specialization, behavior formalization, training and indoctrination, unit grouping, unit size, action planning and performance control systems, liaison devices (such as integrating managers, teams, task forces, and matrix structure), vertical decentralization (delegation to line managers), and horizontal decentralization (power sharing by nonmanagers); and (4) the contingency factors-age and size, technical system, environment, and power. Each of the five configurations relies on one of the five coordinating mechanism and tends to favor one of the five parts. In Simple Structure, the key part is the strategic apex, which coordinates by direct supervision; the structure is minimally elaborated and highly centralized; it is associated with simple, dynamic environments and strong leaders, and tends to be found in smaller, younger organizations or those facing severe crises. The Machine Bureaucracy coordinates primarily by the imposition of work standards from the technostructure; jobs are-highly specialized and formalized, units functional and very large (at the operating level), power centralized vertically at the strategic apex with limited horizontal decentralization to the technostructure; this structure tends to be found in simple, stable environments, and is often associated with older, larger organizations, sometimes externally controlled, and mass production technical systems. The Professional Bureaucracy relies on the standardization of skills in its operating core for coordination; jobs are highly specialized but minimally formalized, training is extensive and grouping is on a concurrent functional and market basis, with large sized operating units, and decentralization is extensive in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions; this structure is typically found in complex but stable environments, with technical systems that are simple and non-regulating. In the Divisionalized Form, a good deal of power is delegated to market-based units in the middle line (limited vertical decentralization), whose efforts are coordinated by the standardization of outputs, through the extensive use of performance control systems; such structures are typically found in very large, mature organizations, above all operating in diversified markets. Adhocracy coordinates primarily by mutual adjustment among all of its parts, calling especially for the collaboration of its support staff; jobs are specialized, involving extensive training but little formalization, units are small and combine functional and market bases in matrix structures, liaison devices are used extensively, and the structure is decentralized selectively in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions; these structures are found in complex, dynamic environments, and are often associated with highly sophisticated and automated technical systems. In conclusion, it is claimed that the effective Organization will favor some sort of configuration-some type of a logically consistent clustering of its elements-as it searches for harmony in its internal processes and consonance with its environment. But some organizations will inevitably be driven to hybrid structures as they react to contradictory pressures or while they effect a transition from one configuration to another, and here too it is believed that the typology of five can serve as a diagnostic tool in organizational design. (ORGANIZATION DESIGN; ORGANIZATION STRUCTURES) *Accepted by Arie Y. Lewin; received May 16, 1979. This paper has been with the author 3 months for 1 revision. tMcGill University. 322 0025-1909/80/2603/0322$01 .25
Copyright ?) 1980, The Institute of Management SciencesSTRUCTURE IN 5S1. Introduction Five is no ordinary digit. “It is the sign of union, the nuptial number according to the Pythagoreans; also the number of the center, of harmony and of equilibrium.” The Dictionnaire des Symboles goes on to tell us that five is the “symbol of man likewise of the universe .., the symbol of divine will that seeks only order and perfection.” To the ancient Chinese, five was the essence of the universal laws, there being “five colors, five flavors, five tones, five metals, five viscera, five planets, five orients, five regions of space, of course five senses,” not to mention “the five colors of the rainbow.”1I In an attempt to
dignify ”i it the name-number of the five colors that are represented on earth, but which I know of no one in the world who will take more serious and careful notice and know, i. e., the five colors that are represented on a certain continent — not to mention the others — it is clear that the American people have been conlangued with this name. One cannot help thinking that the people of this civilization are much better equipped to understand › than our own — and have been conlangued with this name which we find the origin of all these symbols.„The Latin translation of the letter ‘M’, which came from the Greek letter ‘i’ meant ‘signal’ and ‘drama’ — is here: “M,M,M”; a symbol (i.e., a word) has meaning and in my humble opinion is very important, a sign of unity, at least among the peoples of this country, and perhaps even a means of social unity through which they might be able to share their knowledge and feel their differences with others.›To understand the importance of the “signal” in the world is to understand only three things: the name, the pronunciation ₂ and of the colors, which represent the colors of the six elements.›(A number in the form of three words — the number of the six elements, which denotes the three degrees corresponding to four and the three colours — and the three shades — the letters M,D,U,A — the three shades of red, blue, and green.₣It must also be noted and taken into account that the six tones were found to have three states: to indicate the four tones that have been used on each hand; to indicate one particular tone but not on all hand, such as that of the letters E,E,B & A.₨The color combinations of the “signal” symbols are very interesting, both for their similarity to the symbols of nature with the colours that symbolize them — namely, the four colors of green, red, & blue in common with the three colors found in their own colors so to speak.• The number of points in the circle of three colors (the four points with corresponding points in each direction) was first given by M,D,U,A by some Greek letter, as: 4 , the most striking part of which in our own language represents one point, according to the Latin; when the numbers 9, 10, ’10’ denote the three colors. At one point the color 9 was substituted for the black color of the four colored points in order to provide