Essay: What is a Functional Structure

Sample Essay

The functional structure is found in many organizations and it groups the employees of the organization together and this grouping is based on the jobs characteristics within the organization. The sample functional structure can be given as:

Vice president

Sales Department

Customer Service

Engineering department

Marketing department

Administration department

This structure depicts that the different heads are working under the leadership of the Vice president. There are certain advantages and disadvantages of this structure which are given below:

Advantages of Functional Structure:  When the specialists are grouped together than it would result in the economies of scale and it definitely minimizes the duplication of equipment. The employees are a bit satisfied with the functional structure because they can talk with the same language with their peers. The element of training is also simplified with it and the decision making of an organization is simplified an employees receive unified direction from the top.  The elements of communication and coordination are quite excellent within the departments and this is because of the simplified nature of functional structure (Gibson, 2008). At last, it can be said that when an organizations implements a functional structure then the element of problem solving especially technical problem solving increases and employees make quick decisions because of this.

Disadvantages of Functional Structure: Besides certain advantages there are certain disadvantages that are associated with functional structure. Employees only have knowledge of their respective areas and they have no knowledge and concern outside their functional area. It can also lead to barriers in communications because functional structure can result in narrowness and this would also create problems in cooperation and coordination. The employees would only focus on their departments and they would not focus on the mission. Similarly, this structure possesses rigidity and separate chains of command that is the reason why in changing environments their response time slow.

Kindly order term papers, essays, research papers, dissertations, thesis, book reports from the order page.