Organic Model of Organization

An Organic Model of Organization or organic organizational structure is characterized by an extremely flat reporting structure within an organization. In this organization, the span of control of the typical manager encompasses a large number of employees. Interactions among employees tend to be horizontally across the organization, rather than vertically between layers of managers and their direct reports. Because interactions are mostly among employees within a flat reporting structure, decisions are more likely to be made by consensus among groups of them, rather than by individual managers. There also tends to be a larger amount of information sharing among employees, rather than the concentration of information at the upper levels of an organization that is more commonly seen in traditional top-down reporting organizations. There may be a large amount of cooperation between departments, rather than the silo effect that occurs in more hierarchically-organized businesses.

Organic organizations have a low degree of formality, specialization and standardization. Their decision making is decentralized and their activities are well-integrated. The organic model is usually flat, and it usually uses cross-hierarchical and cross-functional teams and possesses a comprehensive information network that features lateral and upward communication in addition to downward communication. Organic organizations look a lot like boundaryless organizations. They allow for employees to cultivate more ideas and be more creative because the business is not as rigidly structured. Organic structures are used in dynamic, unstable environments where the business needs to quickly adapt to change, as the structure gives the organization the flexibility to deal with fast-paced environmental change and many different elements. A good example of an organization that uses an organic structure might be a consulting firm. A consulting firm responds to customer issues as they come up, and those issues change with the business environment. Consulting firms want to respond to change quickly, so by choosing an organic structure they’re able to be nimble and address their customers’ needs. The term Organic Organization was created by Tom Burns and G.M. Stalker in the late 1950s.

source: Lumen Learning