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Management

M intz rg on orga a be niz tions

~ Prof. Ph.D. S ori G e eT oma ( ac t of A dmi s raton and B usne sn- org F uly nit i is U ni rst of B uc s ) ve iy hare t
Abstract: He r M itb r i c sd rda on of h mos rp ee tt ewrtr i ma a e n . n y n z eg s on iee s e te t e rsn ai v i s n n g me t e me t il. Onteb ssof i rsac f dn s M itb r p op e atp og of g nz t s T kn nf d e h ai hs eerh i ig , n z eg r osd y ol y or a iai . a ig n on it a c n tersr cu e h dsov rdsv nmaortp sof g nz t s n o cou t h i tu t r, e ic ee e e j y e or a iai . on Ke ywords: Introduction Widely known for his numerous articles and books on almost every management top lar management thinkers of the world.With an easy style and refreshing approach, he is one of the most accessible management writ than 140 monographs and articles, and 13 books, mostly in the management field. H is reputation is high among people who study he later studied at the Sloan School of M an agement,M assachusetts Institute of Technol ogy.H e received a Ph.D .from M IT with the his A ctivities, R oles and Programs by Struc included election as an O fficer of the O rder bec, and selection as D istinguished Scholar for the year 2000 by the A cademy of M anage ment ( . 10) ational research for the C anadian N ational R ailways between 1961 and 1963.A fter that, he became professor at M cG ill in 1968 and visiting professor with several universities and business schools around the world. H e was elected as president of the Strategic M an agement Society between 1988 and 1991.D ue to his multicultural teaching work,he has su

He nry M intz rg: s be a hort biogra phy

nadian professor of management at M cG ill U niversity in M ontreal ( anada) and at IN C engineering graduate of M cG ill U niversity,

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Management ness schools in Canada, United Kingdom, Ja

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One of the leading management guru, graphs and articles as well as 13 books (e.g., Strategy Bites Back, The Strategy Process, Strategy Safari etc.). His influential work comprises the following three main catego ries (1):

3) Planning is decision making. 4) Planning is integrated decision making. 5) produce an articulated result, in the form of an integrated system of decision. He argued that planning is mandatory

nate their activities. that the future is taken into account.

time, and how their mental processes work; to satisfy their needs. Published in 1973, The Nature of Mana gerial Work represented the result of a sys

nal”. Much of his work has focused on trying the perspective of structure and the perspec tive of power. Mintzberg and organizations

nology firm, a hospital, a consumer goods how chief executives officers of these orga

had to do with the structural configuration of ed by interruptions. As managers are hostag es to interruptions in a pressing managerial environment they are not encouraged to de velop a strategic thinking. In an environment that managers develop a clear preference for live action. In this book, he exposed many of the myths surroundings top managers and stated that they are rather creatures of the moment than farsighted strategist. In sum, of the way managers spend their time and of what they do. ning:Reconceiving Roles for Planning, Plans, of research findings made with some of his colleagues at McGill University, he identified the operating core, comprising people who perform the basic work; the strategic apex, occupied by at least the middle line, as a hierarchy of au thority between the strategic apex and the operating core; the technostructure, comprising ana lysts who perform administrative du ties; the support staff, putting together staff units who provide various inter nal services;

ning and strategy. In his opinion, there are several formal definitions of planning (7): 1) Planning is future thinking. 2) Planning is controlling the future.
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Management the ideology, encompassing the tradi Mutual adj ustment. Direct supervision.

In his opinion, the structure of an orga labor is divided into distinct tasks and then its coordination achieved among those tasks” (5). In order to coordinate their work, organi anisms:

All these coordinating mechanisms rep resent the most basic elements of structure.

Tabl 1 e
Key Part of Organization Strategic apex Technostructure Operating core Middle line Support staff Ideology None V aries Type ofDecentral ization

No. Type oforganizaPrim e Coordinating tion ( conf iguration) Mechanism 1. Entrepreneurial 2. Machine 3. Professional 4. Diversified 5. Innovative 6. Missionary 7. Political Direct supervision

work processes skills outputs Mutual adj ustment norms None

tion

simple, informal, and flexible structure. The chief executive exercises the power person ally and controls personally through direct flexible, allowing for rapid response. The en

through formal training.

divisions are coupled together under central administrative headquarters. In the 1920s, A. P. Sloan Jr. introduced this type of structure to General Motors in order to successfully

bureaucracy and formal procedures. The op erating tasks are simple and repetitive, and require a minimum of skill and training.

adhocracy in the business world. The adhoc racy innovates and solves problems directly on behalf of its customers. ly integrated structure. This type of organi

of its operating professionals. This type of

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Management norms. In other words, the sharing of values and beliefs among its members is very strong. The Japanese corporations (type J0 represent a good example (Table 2). mal power. tion (9) . Table 2 Type A (American corporation) Type J(J apanese corporation) Lifetime employment Individual responsibility Rapid evaluation and promotion Collective responsibility Slow evaluation and promotion Implicit, informal control Segmented concern Conclusions: One of the top manage berg has written prolifically on the topics Holistic concern

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into several basic categories. Trying to clas of structure and later from the perspective of

REFERENCES:
Kennedy C., Guide to the Management Gurus. S hortcuts to the I deas of L eading Management Thinkers, Cen tury Business, London, 1998 Mintzberg H., The Nature of Managerial W ork, Harper & Row, New York, 1973 Mintzberg H., Hall, New York, 1979 Mintzberg H., ower I and Around Organizations P n Mintzberg H., York, 1989 Mintzberg H., Quinn J B., . New York, 1991 Mintzberg H., , The

Moore J I., riters on S . W trategy and S trategic Management. The Theory of S trategy and the P ractice of S trategic Management at E nterprise, Corporate, B usiness and F unctional L evels, S econd edition, Penguin Books, London, 2001 Ouchi W ., 1981 Henry Mintzberg, www.mintzberg.org (accessed May, 02, 2008) No. 7 ~ 2008