Fundamentals of Management, 8th ed

organizational size

Total number of full-

time or full-

time–equivalent

employees

organizational life

cycle

Progression through

which organizations

evolve as they grow

and mature

176

Part 3: Organizing

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more specialized, devotes more attention to planning, and takes on an increasingly large

staff component. Finally, coordination demands increase, formalization increases, organi-

zational units become geographically more dispersed, and control systems become more

extensive. Thus, an organization’s size and design are clearly linked, and this link is

dynamic because of the organizational life cycle.

40

BASIC FORMS OF ORGANIZATION DESIGN

Because technology, environment, size, and life cycle can all influence organization

design, it should come as no surprise that organizations adopt many different kinds of

designs. Most designs, however, fall into one of four basic categories. Others are hybrids

based on two or more of the basic forms.