Outline the main ways in which a large centralised organisation might achieve a more flexible organisational structure. Using examples, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing greater organisational flexibility.

Organisational structure has an enormous impact on entrepreneurial orientation and expansion performance (Levent and Mehmet, 2004). In today’s world of business, it is vital that large organisations are managed as efficiently and professionally as possible, and to many this means using a centralised structure. But how can such a narrow structure be effective in operations, yet be flexible enough to deal with the demands of high activity. In this essay we will explore the idea of greater organisational flexibility, its positives and limitations, and whether or not there is space for flexibility within an organisations structure.

There are organisational structures which can be divided into centralised and decentralised, for instance, simple and functional structures are centralised, where all important decisions are taken by top management, while the divisional, holding and matrix organisational structures are decentralised and contain different divisions with their own amount of responsibility. (Capon, 2009). Centralisation is helpful for companies, which are facing economical difficulties and need to conduct all operations at the same standard. This reduces the number and scale of wrong decisions. In the book by Robbins and Decenzo (2001) is stated that nowadays, organisations have become more complex and in order to survive they have to respond to dynamic changes in and out of their environments, in other words, even centralised organisations need a more flexible organisational structure.

When expanding to large sizes, company becomes more complex, the number of levels in the hierarchy ladder increases and, as a result, creates defined