To what extent might organisational structure influence groupdynamics and team working in a 21st century organisation？

Abstract：Organisational structure is described as the frame of an organisation and relationships between different parts . In other words， organisational structure is the foundation to form an organisation and all activities within will be influenced more or less by organisational structure since it connects each part ensure the organisation is operational. The article will talk about to what extent might organisational structure influence group dynamics and team working in a 21st century organisation.

Key words： Organisational structure dynamics and team

Group dynamics is a study of groups or group processes， by analysing group phenomenon to try to find out general rules in the groups. Influencing by psychology， sociology and communication studies， members in a group will have different performance of activities than as individual （Forsyth， 2010）. As described， organisational structure would affect group dynamics.

Firstly， group dynamics would be concern in how is the way to organise and manage groups. In an organisation， influencing by how the structure is built， groups within the organisation will be influenced a lot. For example， in McDonald’s there is a standard process and strictly planned rules to follow， therefore groups in McDonald’s are organised more depending on effectiveness and efficiency （Wilson， 2010）. The internal structure of groups is more depends， such as， on group objectives or whether there is a leader and the method the leader prefer to manage.

Secondly， group dynamics “refers to a set of techniques” （Carwright Zander， 1986） such as role in organisations， feedback of process and group decision making etc. This is a point that organisational structure with very few influence. Although form of a group could be decided by structure， all personals in the group are keys to complete objectives （Wilson， 2010）. That means the performance of members or employees contributing the accomplishment. The performance is more rely on inter-relations between members， abilities， personalities etc， rather than influenced by organisational structure.

That is obvious that organisational structure influences group dynamics but in some level rather than totally. Subsequently， under the background of environment changes， for Morden organisation the term of “team” is more used than group and both concepts of “team” and “team-working” has been development. Team is considered as a small group of people could share common purposes and with abilities to achieve. Members in the teams are normally has different aspects as specialist can complement each other through team-working to achieve their goals （Katzenbach， 1993）.

Japanese models teams have more complex content and there are three main forms （Benders and Van Houtegem， 2000）. Set the whole organisation as a team with a collective spirit. This model organise employees as a community and share same values within members. The term ‘Team Toyota’ is used as symbol of various methods in this model （Besser， 1996）. In this model， organisation structure is directly used for helping to build employees community. Therefore anything changes will influence the team-working under the situation of this model.Some informal teams would be formed. This kind of voluntary activities are motivated by volunteers themselves， so that normally they would like to perform as high as they could with motivation of concerns which might be challenges awareness for middle-aged employees or opportunities seeking for teenagers and young adults （MacDonald’s， 1997）.

In conclusion， as separately mentioned， organisational structure is the basis to form an organisation and the frame to collect different parts. It will affect entire way to operation. However， although groups and afterward teams are increasing importance in organisations， as analysed， organisational structure can only influence part of group dynamics and team-working. Other factors such as group and individual psychological behaviours and motivation are influencing as well. Organisational structure is only one of affect factors with structural and light-level effects， more deep-level factor are more affecting members in groups or teams since they are the core part to accomplish objectives.

Reference：

Ashbach， C. Schermer， V.L. （2005）. Object Relations， the Self， and the Group. KY： Routledge.

Benders， J. Van Hootegem， G. （1999）. ‘Teams and the Context： moving the team discussion beyond existing dichotomies’. Journal of Management Studies. 36（5）， pp. 609-628.

Forsyth， D.R. （2010）. Group Dynamics. 5th edn. Belmont， CA： Wadsworth/Cengage.

Katzenbach， J.R. （1993）. The Wisdom of Teams： creating the high-performance organisation. Boston， Mass： Harvard Business School Press.

MacDonnld， R. （1997）. ‘Informal Working， Survival Strategies and the Idea of an “Underclass”’. The Changing Shape of Work. Basingstoke： Macmillan.

Murakami， T. （1997）. ‘The Autonomy of Teams in the Car Industry： a cross-national comparison’. Work， Employment and Society， 11（4）， pp. 749-757.

Wilson， F.M. （2010）. Organizational Behaviour and Work. 3rd edn. Oxford： Oxford University Press.

作者簡介：

楊琇嵐（1988—），女，漢族，籍貫：四川省涼山州西昌市，單位：西昌學院經濟管理學院，研究方向：管理學。