Developing a Real Organizational Structure: A Mixture of Formal and Informal Structures in Organizations (in Persian)

Hossein Rahmanseresht () and Seyed Mohammad Amin Amirkhalili ()
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Hossein Rahmanseresht: Allameh Tabatayi University
Seyed Mohammad Amin Amirkhalili: Allameh Tabatayi University

Management and Development Process Quarterly (٠صلنامه ٠رایند مدیریت و توسعه), 2016, vol. 29, issue 3, 39-69

Abstract: An organizational chart provides an overview of formal interrelationships among employees at all organizational levels. However, drawing real interpersonal relationships in organizations requires something beyond the conventional structure of a formal organization, which is addressed as informal organization. This article aims to draw an informal organization of an Iranian company. 42 employees of a professional clinique in Tehran were investigated in this research based on a case-study. To collect and analyze data, a questionnaire commonly used in social network studies as well as an on-line social network software, called ‘Socialyzer’, were applied. The results generate the informal organization of the company by mixing four types of social networks including awareness, availability, responsiveness, and trust. Findings show that by analyzing informal organization of companies, researchers and managers can better know how actually tasks get done in workplaces. Moreover, discovering the gap existing between what they shape theoretically as an organizational chart and what happens in reality helps them design better formal organizations.

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Formal Organization; Informal Organization; Social Networks; Social Networks Analysis. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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