Models of Organization Design: Mechanistic, Organic, or Contingency?

By means of contrast, the mechanistic and organic models of organizational design can be thought of as occupying two ends of a hypothetical spectrum. Mechanistic design principles state that the most effective organizational structure has centralized authority, narrow spans of control, more specialist positions, and homogeneous, functional departments. Organic design principles state that the most effective organizational structure has decentralized authority, wide spans of control, more generalist positions, and heterogeneous, cross-functional departments.

Which model is most effective? It all depends on the situation, as each model, if followed exactly, will result in organizations with distinctly different strengths. As the Gibson, Ivancevich, and Donnelly (1995) stated, “While the mechanistic model seeks to maximize efficiency and product, the organic model seeks to maximize satisfaction, flexibility and development” (p. 542). In a very general sense, organizations designed after the mechanistic model might tend to be larger, well-established, mass-production enterprises, while organizations designed after the organic model might tend to be smaller, newer, service producing firms.

The contingency theory of organizational design presupposes that neither mechanistic nor organic design principles are most effective in every situation, especially with respect to today’s highly fluid environment, use of the Internet, manufacturing technology, and volatile capital markets. In fact, the demands of a particular situation may dictate what set of principles or blend thereof would be most effective. Specifically, the technology employed by the firm, ability to process and assimilates external and internal information resources, uncertainties present in the environment, and the strategy being pursued by the executive might alter the choice of either mechanistic or organic design principles. The contingency theory of organization design will often manifest itself in individual departments and workgroups organizing somewhere along the mechanistic/organic spectrum regardless of the structure of the main organization.

Reference

Gibson, J.L., Ivancevich, J.M., & Donnelly, J.H., Jr. (1994). Organizations: Behavior, structure, processes (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Irwin.