In this world, people are doing a different kind of business as the nature of business differ from one another then how can be the same structure of organization applied on all kind of businesses?  There must be different organizational structures for different businesses.

Two famous organization structures are usually applied in the real world of business:

 1) Organic organization

 2) Mechanistic organization

Organic and Mechanistic organizations are the opposite of one another, they don’t have any kind of similarities and work in their unique way.

Let’s discuss what are these organizations structures and how they differ from each other in the following:

Organic organization:

This organization structure was introduced in the late 1950s by Tom Burns and G.M Stalker. This organization structure is focused on flexibility and gives great importance to external knowledge as well as has very little hierarchy, job classification, or job description and focus on the quality of work as compared to the quantity of work. The organic organization is very welcoming to innovation and allows employees to present their ideas.

Mechanistic organization:

Mechanistic organization structure is a very rigid and efficient form of organization. This organizational structure is very similar to a bureaucratic organizational structure that was introduced by Max Weber. The mechanistic organization is highly focused on rigid hierarchy, job description, rules, and regulations, as well as on higher production. This organizational structure is not very warm towards innovation or innovative ideas.

Organic organization vs Mechanistic organization

Both organizational structures are entirely different from each other with no similarities. Following points will clarify the difference between Organic and Mechanistic organization:

Centralization:

The mechanistic organization is highly focused on centralization or hierarchy of power or authority, which means there are very few employees who participate in the decision-making process or we can say that only key employees can involve in the decision-making process.

In Organic organization centralization is not very high as common employees can voice their opinions and can participate in the decision-making process related to their tasks as most of the work is done in the form of groups and teams. Facebook and Google are good examples of it.

Complexity:

The mechanistic organization is highly complex as they mainly focus on the individual specialization as works are performed individually so employees try to specialize in a single piece of work.

Organic organizations are focused on task specialization as most of the employees work in the form of groups or small teams, so joint specialization is preferred over person specialization.

Formalization:

Formalization also known as standardization as the name depicts, refers to the job description, implication of rules, and an employee’s power in the organization. In mechanistic organizations formalization is very high which means all jobs are codified and a person will perform its tasks according to it.

In the case of an organic organization, formalization is not very high as mutual adjustments or variations in job descriptions are possible and rules are not very rigid.

Stratification:

Stratification describes the status system or difference between the lower level and upper-level employee’s status and authority. In a mechanistic organization, stratification is very high as the rewards and bonuses are distributed among employees based on status.

In an Organic organization, stratification is low as the status is determined based on hard work the better the performance will result in better rewards.

Adaptiveness:

In a Mechanistic organization, adaptiveness is very low as the system is rigid, so it does not accept changes or new ideas easily. On the other hand, an Organic organization is very adoptive and make changes in an organization according to new trends and environmental demands.

Production:

The mechanistic organization mainly focus on the quantity of production as the higher the level of production the more profit they could earn while organic organization mainly focus on the quality of production and does not pay too much attention towards quality as they perceive that few high-grade products are better than more low-grade products.

Efficiency:

In mechanistic organizations the efficiency is very higher as the cost of production is low as their main focus is quantity, so they sacrifice on quality to become more cost-efficient.

The organic organization is less efficient as the cost of production is high because their main focus is quality that’s why production cost is less cost-efficient.

Job satisfaction:

In mechanistic organization jobs, satisfaction is not very high due to strict rules and regulations as well as rigid hierarchy and high standardization while in organic organization employees are highly satisfied due to flexible structure, low standardization, and  decentralization.

Conclusion:

Due to the different nature of businesses the organization structure also differs from each other. Mechanistic and organic are both ideal types of organizations that are entirely different from one another. Both have their pros and cons; we can’t prefer one on others as their nature is different from others, so they are suitable for a different kind of business. So, we can say that as the mechanic organization has a rigid hierarchy, low adaptiveness, and high centralization and stratification so it is suitable for businesses where routine tasks are performed, and no innovation is required for example Universities and healthcare centers.

While the organic organization has less standardization and no rigid hierarchy and are highly adaptive, so they are suitable for businesses where high innovation is required for success. Google and Facebook are perfect examples of organic organization.