In order to define the best organizational structure, one must look at a specific company and its attributes. What is the best organizational structure for one company might not be the best fit for another company. Size, location, and type of company all play a role in determining what would be the best organizational structure. However, because the composite organizational structure blends the functional, matrix, and projected types of organizations into one structure, I think this type of structure would generally work for most organizations. Additionally in my experience I have found that most modern organizations adapt this kind of composite type of organizational structure. For those who currently work in industry, what is the structure of the organization you work at? Do you agree it is the best fit for your company or do you think there is room for improvement? 

The organizational structures mentioned in this week's lecture all have advantages and disadvantages. This question is sort of difficult to answer because the most effective organizational structure depends on the company. Choosing the best structure does depend on the size, as previously mentioned, but it also depends on the culture of the company. If the mission and operations are executed in a specific way, then the structure should be compatible with that dynamic. 

I believe that the best organizational structure is functional and project-based. These two are strong because you can place people in groups/teams based on their specialty. This allows for optimal workflow and brainstorming because they are familiar with the task at hand. It is also useful because only one person is in charge of dictating what needs to be done and how. In a matrix organization having more than one leader can be tricky based on if the people in charge are in agreeance or not. 

I honestly think it varies based upon what each individual’s needs are. A projectized organization is the ideal organization type for a project manager. Project managers are the real bosses here, with the freedom to apply your expertise and have a say in the proceedings. However, once a project is delivered, project managers become redundant. There is no job security in this type of organization. In a functional organization structure, the organization is grouped into departments where people with similar skills are kept together in forms of groups; e.g., sales department, marketing department, finance department, etc. This helps organizations enhance the efficiencies of each functional group. All authority (i.e., budget allocation, resource allocation, decision-making, etc.) belongs to the functional manager in a functional organization. Resources in functional organizations report directly to the functional manager. The functional manager reserves the authority to release resources based on their subject matter expertise. When the project ends, the resources are returned to the functional manager again for routine work. Project managers typically do not exist in this type of organization structure; if this position exists, the role of the project manager will be very limited. The project manager may have the title of a coordinator or an expediter. I find Matrix to be the best, most efficient amongst the three because it allows for growth and it embodies the other two organizational types. The matrix organization structure is a combination of two or more types of organizational structures, such as the projectized organization structure and the functional organization structure. This combination can help organizations improve efficiency, readiness, and market adaptation. This type of structure is most suitable for organizations operating in a dynamic environment; they often can respond faster to market or customer demand while decreasing the lead time to produce a new product. The authority of a functional manager moves vertically downwards, and the authority of the project manager moves sideways. Since these authorities flow downward and sideways, this structure is called the matrix organization structure. In a matrix organization structure, employees may report to many managers, and some from one section may report to one boss while the rest report to a different boss.

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I feel as though each organizational structure has its own strengths and weaknesses; however, depending on the size or needs of the company one structure may be more advantageous than the others. For example, a functional organization may prove adequate for a small company who doesn't have many employees and therefore, it can use this organization without much issues with forming information silos and coordinating projects between departments. It almost works like a project-based organization which would probably lend its usefulness to a larger company. Finally, the matrix organization may prove more useful for a massive company this type of organizations tends to lend itself to larger bodies of people. Overall, I don't believe there is a "best" organization type, but simply organization types that are best for a given situation and their effectiveness will be based on this situation.

I truly believe it all about the structure of the company and the outcome they are trying to achieve.I personally like the functional organization just because everyone plays a part within the ultimate goal we are trying to achieve.

I believe that matrix organizations are the best structure from the three. Matrix organizations can be a mixture of both functional and project based organizations. It had the advantages of good management of materials allowing for better allocation of the budget. This type of organization also allowed for collaboration and communication between different departments. This ability is always an advantage because it allows for help on issues or uncertainties in the project and in the case that another department did a similar project, it can allow for helpful advice. Some disadvantages would be that there are multiple bosses and it may take time to make decisions which is not the most efficient on time but the overall advantages can outweigh the disadvantages. 

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/matrix-organizational-structure

Though I believe all of the three type of organisation have their own advantages and disadvantages, I think Funtional organization are slightly better because of some reasons such as departments focus on one area of work, there are clear lines of management, employees understand their own and other's roles etc. 

I have worked in 2 biomedical organizations in my career so far and they are both completely different from each other. The first company I would describe as a mixture of functional and project-based organization. The nature of the company is different as this experience was gained in Kuwait where rules and regulations are a little different. The main operation of the company is the distribution of products for multiple international organizations including both pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Each company had its own functional organization, yet at the same time, the main distribution company operates as a project-based organization.

Whilst my experience here in the states has been the complete opposite, where I work as part of a small company. Similarly to what Fady Khalla was saying, there is only one engineer doing all the engineering work and a very limited capacity of employees to be able to operate smoothly which makes employees in a certain department have to go and complete tasks in other departments which I believe is closer to a matrix type organization.

In my opinion, a matrix organization is a good way to gain experience in different departments and may help many understand more what they are looking for career-wise. Yet, I strongly believe that a functional organization is the most favorable in terms of operational efficiency. In addition, a benefit that I think is important is that a functional organization will allow the employee to achieve his full potential when focusing on certain tasks assigned to them.

As others have said beforehand, the best organizational structure depends on the sizing of the company. Between the three mentioned in the lecture, I would say the matrix organization would be ideal. If there is enough staff that managers can resource from, then that would lead to a branching of integrable ideas and prospects. No one project or department would be kept out of the loop and the company can grow upon that knowledge. Having multiple people to answer can be detrimental to the project but with great management skills, this type of organization would be paying it forward. A functional organization would be less than ideal due to the lack of branching out and not knowing that they could be other opportunities that staff members can be aware of different departments.

I don't think there's one type of organization that is more effective than the others. It all depends on a number of factors, such as company size and goals. In my opinion, larger, more established companies would benefit from a matrix type. Smaller companies are more proned to being project type, due to the nature of employee relations 

I think it depends on the company's mission, amount of employees, and resources to decide which organization is most productive. But generally speaking, I think a project based organization in most effective and productive because it evenly distributes work amongst management and employees. A matrix organization can cause burn out and be hard for staff to keep up with projects and tasks. And it may even be hard for department managers to keep up with what projects their staff is on and that makes it harder to allocate work and meet deadlines. A functional organization is probably the second best option, however the higher up the ladder you are in management, the more in the dark you are on what is actually happening within projects.

To start, I think all of the organizational structures are effective, and what determines if the style is “best” or not is dependent on the medical device company. I really like the matrix organizational structure out of all of them, the matrix structure has different chains of commands that allow collaboration across the board and increases shared resources. From this style, companies can improve communication internally, increase job security, and create opportunities to learn new skills.

In your opinion, what is the best organizational structure, and which is the most effective?

I believe the best organizational structure is the matrix structure as it combines aspects of the functional and project based structures without the risk of silos forming amongst departments or project teams. However, the efficiency of a matrix is determined if it is a strong or weak matrix. Additionally, there may be some strain on team members belonging to more than one project due to demands from project and functional leaders. I believe the most effective/efficient structure is  project-based because each team is complete with all the staff needed and the team builds comraderie with each other and work well as they go from project to project. Staff redundancy may be an issue from company standpoint but in terms of projects it is effective. 

There are a wide variety of organizational structures, each serving its own benefits and cons that suits their own respective business goals and objectives. Therefore in my opinion, there is no "best organizational structure" that every corporation should follow.

However, in terms of my preference, I think that the hierarchal organizational structure because of its stability and well established effectiveness in the industry. Although it has its own negatives such as slower moving business process, it does provide clear and coherent chain of command to follow for establishing complaints or moving forward in position.