The reason why people want to work, from the simplest perspective, is to obtain satisfaction and work results. Organizational structure is a management method that can achieve both satisfaction and work performance. This is also a special function of organizational structure.
The reason why organizational structure can improve employees' satisfaction and work performance at the same time is reflected from the seven levels of structural design. In other words, if these seven levels are handled well, employees will gain satisfaction and work performance due to the arrangement of the organizational structure itself.
1. The authority level must have appropriate asymmetric information
The so-called authority class refers to managers who have certain powers. They will have more information and decision-making opportunities than others, and they can master and use resources.
Why does the authority class have performance and satisfaction? One method in organizational management is "information management". In many cases, we can use information asymmetry to allow people at the authority level to have different information, so that they can make different judgments to gain influence.
In fact, the most commonly used means of management are meetings and issuing documents. Because the authority level has different ranks, participates in different meetings, and gets different documents to read, it also obtains different information. This asymmetric information can make subordinates more confident in your judgment and ability, which also strengthens the efficiency of obedience and management, thereby gaining satisfaction and work performance.
Therefore, I often object to holding extended general manager meetings and making management documents visible to many people.
Document management and meeting management are extremely important. Unfortunately, many people do not take these two things seriously. Do meetings need to be held? Who attends? How are files delivered? Who controls it? It is an extremely important arrangement, and it is also a means for the powerful people to gain feelings. Because we did not control meetings and documents well, the company's internal management information and instructions were too many, and government orders could not be consistent, and the management effect could not be imagined.
To give an example of daily management, the general manager needs to hold an administrative work meeting. As a result, people from relevant departments came because there was no good control. The manager, deputy general manager and supervisor of the logistics department all attended the meeting. During the meeting, the general manager told the people in the logistics department that he needed to drink water. As a result, the logistics department manager ordered the general manager to get mineral water. The vice president of the logistics department insisted on getting boiled water. The logistics director said that the general manager was used to drinking tea, so the three of them could not reach an agreement, which wasted a lot of time. In the end, they had to ask the general manager for his opinion, and the general manager said that he wanted mineral water. However, the vice president and supervisor of the logistics department were still unconvinced. They felt that the general manager had a special situation today, otherwise it would not be mineral water.
Why can't the instructions be executed immediately for such a small matter? The reason is that all three people participated in the meeting and had the opportunity to obtain information and make judgments. If only the logistics department manager attended the meeting, his instructions would be implemented, and the authority of the logistics department manager would be protected. Therefore, it is extremely important to protect the authority hierarchy.
2. Letting good people compete with each other is a waste
Because management emphasizes the equality of responsibilities and rights, people fall into another misunderstanding, that is, they believe that responsibilities and rights are at the management level, so almost allMost people believe that if they want to be recognized and achieve performance, they must be promoted at the management level, otherwise it will not be successful. Therefore, everyone pursues management positions and expects to become managers.
However, management positions are always limited, and more positions also have important responsibilities and irreplaceable functions. However, this is not paid attention to in the design of the organizational structure. As a result, people do not care about functions and responsibilities, but pursue management positions and power. If they cannot be promoted in management positions, they will have no sense of satisfaction.
If we do not design multiple promotion routes, it will cause all outstanding people to squeeze into management positions. These outstanding people may be excellent managers, but more people should be more suitable in their professions. Moreover, management positions are limited, and these outstanding people continue to compete, which is a huge waste for organizations and individuals.
I often go to manufacturing companies for research. China's manufacturing industry has made great progress in the past 30 years. However, technology, capital, products and management have all developed accordingly in the past 30 years, but there is no matching development for qualified technical workers, because no one is content with being a worker. They must find ways to become managers, otherwise there is no hope. The reason is that the organizational structure design is wrong and there is no room for promotion. However, in a country that is good at manufacturing, it would be terrible if there were no industrial workers.
3. Division of departments
In fact, the division of departments can highlight specialization and determine the self-perception of each department member, especially the perception of their status and role in the company. For example, the Key Account Department, because this department is called the Key Account Department, many members in the department have different perceptions of themselves. They think that key customers are very important, so working in this department also shows that they are important. At the same time, more importantly, they are different from other colleagues who do not work in the Key Account Department and have a different feeling. In order to maintain this feeling, they will work hard.
Departments can be divided in many ways, which can be divided into two types: division by purpose and division by procedure. However, no matter which division method is used, it ultimately embodies the same idea. In a clearly divided department, members have the most authority in the professional field of this department.
4. Authorization and decentralization
The difference between organizational functions and leadership functions is the difference between decentralization and authorization. In leadership functions, the power you get is authorization, while in organizational functions, the power you get is decentralization. The power of delegation is still in the hands of the leader, and decentralization is already in your own hands, so the organization can make people grow and have a sense of performance.
5. Degree of formalization
The degree of formalization is actually very important, but it is a pity that we have ignored it. For example, the naming habits within the company. I often wonder why it is difficult for Chinese companies to cooperate within, while Western companies seem to have it much easier in comparison. One of the reasons is the difference in the degree of formality.
In the West, there are no formal requirements and habits when it comes to addressing people. From the president and boss to the average employee, everyone is used to calling people by their first names, without professional titles or titles, so cooperation is easier. However, we have a very high degree of formality in addressing people. Everyone is even afraid of not addressing the position in place, and is deeply afraid of offending their boss. Such a habit will definitely make cooperation impossible.
The degree of formality is reflected in many places, such as the difference in work clothes, which will make some people feel satisfied; the formalization of the size of the workplace will also make some people feel satisfied. I would suggest that the office space for managers be slightly larger, and they will cherish it and hope to keep it. So if you give him a room, you will actually have to pay a little more, which is also the result of formalization.
An even more important formalization is the setting of management positions. I suggest that the titles of functional departments must be small and the titles of performance departments must be large. Why can’t many corporate functions serve performance departments? It's because the titles of functional departments are bigger than the titles of performance departments.
Generally speaking, the head of a functional department is called a director, while the head of a branch is called a branch manager. Directors and managers are obviously senior to the director in terms of customary cognition. Under such circumstances, it is actually impossible to let the functional departments serve the performance department, because when the branch manager faces the director, he cannot make requests and instead serves the director more.
People in the performance department have great responsibilities and should be given as high a title as possible. Functional departments mainly provide services internally, so the atmosphere must be created through formality.
6. Control range
The range of control a person can often give that person a clear feeling, so the design of the range of control will directly produce satisfaction and performance.
We do not advocate that the larger the control range, the better, because in classical design principles, the control range needs to be limited. But when a manager is affirmed, expanding the scope of his management is a good performance affirmation, and it is also the reason why he can easily gain satisfaction.
7. Clear job titles and motivate professionals
This is the aspect that worries me the most. It is very common in Chinese companies to not respect professionalism. Most companies have a division of labor, but it is not clearly expressed in the title of the job. Therefore, as long as he is a vice president, no matter what field of expertise he is in, all subordinates can accept his opinions. But it shouldn’t be like this. Professional abilities must be respected rather than positions. At the same time, because there is no such clear professional arrangement, in most cases each vice president will express opinions on all functions or majors, and subordinates must implement them. In this case, performance will be harmed.
So at this level, all departments need to be defined by their full names, such as vice president of finance, vice president of marketing, cost director, quality director, etc. Only in this way can professionals be able to play their role, and at the same time ensure that professional abilities are respected.
