Contents
Mintzberg ................................................................................................................................................ 1
Building ambidexterity into an organization (Birkinshaw and Gibson) ............................................. 10
Lean ....................................................................................................................................................... 12
Complementarities and organizational (mis)fit ................................................................................ 15
De Sitter ................................................................................................................................................. 15
Thompson .............................................................................................................................................. 19
Mintzberg
Essential variable: Effectiveness – needs to be established (the goal of organisation design) and
increased. It is not further defined what an effective organisation is, which is a limitation.
Configurational approach is a family of different frameworks that have a similar theoretical
background: Mintzberg, Burns and Stalker, Miles and Snow
Configurations: Constellations of conceptually distinct characteristics (elements) that
commonly occur together. (= types by Mintzberg)
Holistic approach to organisations as systems consisting of elements, relationships, etc.
Internal fit (complementarity): Viable configurations (in the long run) and organisations in
particular, can be seen as a bundle of choices and activities (elements) that are highly
interdependent an complement each other.
Complementarity: The value of X is increased by the presence of Y and vice versa.
Example: Marketing and R&D departments cooperating – when R&D has information that is
ready to be developed into a product, they contact Marketing department to check if there is
consumer need for that and vice versa. So, the R&D department is increased in value because
they have Marketing department – idea of complementarity
Internal fit = high level of complementarities between activities and choices in the
organisation.
Configuration hypothesis: related to what is limited diversity – there can be a misfit between
some of the choices, based on the number of components, parameters, we can have far more
configurations in theory than in practice, because some of them just don’t fit.
Example: Low cost carriers; profit per ticket is higher than national carriers. Elements of the
organisation (choices and activities) complement each other and have a very tight internal fit.
If we put all choices in a network, we get the model of LCA’s design and complementarities
between activities/choices.
Too many misfits: FEI and Phenom
Market leader in the production and distribution of complex electron microscopes. They wanted
to use the insights and technology of microscopes to develop lighter products with the same
Mintzberg ................................................................................................................................................ 1
Building ambidexterity into an organization (Birkinshaw and Gibson) ............................................. 10
Lean ....................................................................................................................................................... 12
Complementarities and organizational (mis)fit ................................................................................ 15
De Sitter ................................................................................................................................................. 15
Thompson .............................................................................................................................................. 19
Mintzberg
Essential variable: Effectiveness – needs to be established (the goal of organisation design) and
increased. It is not further defined what an effective organisation is, which is a limitation.
Configurational approach is a family of different frameworks that have a similar theoretical
background: Mintzberg, Burns and Stalker, Miles and Snow
Configurations: Constellations of conceptually distinct characteristics (elements) that
commonly occur together. (= types by Mintzberg)
Holistic approach to organisations as systems consisting of elements, relationships, etc.
Internal fit (complementarity): Viable configurations (in the long run) and organisations in
particular, can be seen as a bundle of choices and activities (elements) that are highly
interdependent an complement each other.
Complementarity: The value of X is increased by the presence of Y and vice versa.
Example: Marketing and R&D departments cooperating – when R&D has information that is
ready to be developed into a product, they contact Marketing department to check if there is
consumer need for that and vice versa. So, the R&D department is increased in value because
they have Marketing department – idea of complementarity
Internal fit = high level of complementarities between activities and choices in the
organisation.
Configuration hypothesis: related to what is limited diversity – there can be a misfit between
some of the choices, based on the number of components, parameters, we can have far more
configurations in theory than in practice, because some of them just don’t fit.
Example: Low cost carriers; profit per ticket is higher than national carriers. Elements of the
organisation (choices and activities) complement each other and have a very tight internal fit.
If we put all choices in a network, we get the model of LCA’s design and complementarities
between activities/choices.
Too many misfits: FEI and Phenom
Market leader in the production and distribution of complex electron microscopes. They wanted
to use the insights and technology of microscopes to develop lighter products with the same
