Organizational behavior is the study of how employees act within a company. Its main goal is to find ways to make the company’s operations more productive. It includes various research areas, such as performance improvement and job satisfaction.
An organizational structure is a system that defines a company's operating activities. It shows how operations are conducted to produce goods and services. An organizational structure includes the rules, roles, and responsibilities of all workers. It also determines how information flows between different levels, whether horizontally or vertically.
Organizational behavior and structure are closely intertwined, as behavior strongly depends on how the firm operates, which is defined by the company’s structure. Today, both concepts are evolving in the following ways:
In today’s volatile world, the speed of change has grown immensely. To meet the new challenges that come with these changes, companies must reengineer themselves, which means completely redesigning structures and processes to create a more effective way of working. The main purpose of reengineering is to eliminate outdated rules and assumptions that form the foundation of current operations. This should result in a more efficient organizational behavior and structure, making companies more competitive in modern markets.
One of the biggest challenges for companies today is adapting to technological changes that are affecting all industries. It is difficult for companies to find an optimal organizational structure that enables them to take advantage of new digital technologies. A virtual organization is one alternative that is becoming increasingly popular. It consists of a network of companies connected through technology, allowing them to access each other’s markets. Such a setup helps companies collaborate and adapt to rapidly changing circumstances.
Although fully virtual organizations are rare, many companies are incorporating elements of virtual practices. One example is Cisco Systems—while the company uses numerous manufacturing plants to produce its products, it owns none of them. Another approach is the creation of virtual work teams using digital technologies. Location is no longer as significant as it once was, as employees can now be recruited from all over the world with minimal additional expenses. This is an excellent way to coordinate projects globally, enabling companies to attract top talent regardless of their employees’ physical location.
