Submitted To:

Dr. Abdul Basit

Submitted By:
Liaqat Ali
145
2-408077
EMB
A- MIS
Fall
Quarter 2008

Submission
Date:
22nd September,
2008.

Instructors Remarks:
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Question:
Write a note on formal organizational structure.
Answer:
Organizational structure is defined as the formal task and
reporting relationship between the management and the employees.
This is designed by the management for the employees to work hard,
and to coordinate the work that is to be done without any trouble. It
also describes the workflow direction, the coordination route, division
of tasks, communication channels and the authorities that direct the
organizational activities that has been done to achieve common goals
and objectives of that organization.

Formal structure is the one that can be found in

organization charts it follows the job titles and job
descriptions along with the information and

The formal structure can be found in organization charts. Mostly

it is hierarchical; it is based on job titles and descriptions (regardless of
the fact that who actually does the job). But in most organizations,
there is an informal structure in which individuals recognize who
actually gets which tasks done.

In an informal structure individuals recognize who

actually gets which tasks done.

Formal organizations are typically understood to be systems of

coordinated and controlled activities that arise when work is embedded
in complex networks of technical relations and boundary-spanning
exchanges. But in modern societies, formal organizational structures
arise in highly institutional contexts. Organizations are driven to
incorporate the practices and procedures defined by prevailing
rationalized concepts of organizational work and institutionalized in
society. Organizations that do so increase their legitimacy and their
survival prospects, independent of the immediate efficacy of the
acquired practices and procedures. There can develop a tension
between on the one hand, the institutionalized products, services,
techniques, policies, and programs that function as myths (and may be
ceremonially adopted), and efficiency criteria on the other hand. To
maintain ceremonial conformity, organizations that reflect institutional
rules tend to buffer their formal structures from the uncertainties of the

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technical activities by developing a loose coupling between their
formal structures and actual work activities

Example: In an organization that follows formal structure. If you

need a specific file, you may know that Manager Procurement can
easily lay his/her hands on the fie instantly. But you cant approach him
directly to get the file. So you have to adapt the formal channel to get
the file. That formal channel can be well understood from the picture
below:

CEO

GM GM GM
Procurement Production Marketing

M M M M M M

AM AM AM AM
AM You
AM AM
AM AM AM AM

Formal Organization Structure (With Formal & Informal Routs)

Diagram Hints:

1. Dotted Line ( ) Formal Route to the desired file.( Formal

Channel)

2. Dashed Line ( ) Informal Route to the desired file. (Informal

Channel)

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