Structure in Fives: Designing Effective Organizations

by Henry Mintzberg

Here's a guide that shows managers how to choose the best organizational design for their business from five basic structures identified by the author. In it readers will discover how to avoid typical mistakes, especially those pertaining to conflict among different divisions.

Genres: Management, Business, Nonfiction, Leadership, Classics

312 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1982

About the author

Professor Henry Mintzberg, OC , OQ , Ph.D. , D.h.c. , FRSC (born September 2, 1939) is an internationally renowned academic and author on business and management. He is currently the Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at the Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he has been teaching since 1968, after earning his Master's degree in Management and Ph.D. from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1965 and 1968 respectively.
Henry Mintzberg writes prolifically on the topics of management and business strategy, with more than 140 articles and thirteen books to his name. His seminal book, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, criticizes some of the practices of strategic planning today and is considered required reading for anyone who seriously wants to consider taking on a strategy-making role within their organization.

He recently published a book entitled Managers Not MBAs Managers Not MBAswhich outlines what he believes to be wrong with management education today and, rather controversially, singles out prestigious graduate management schools like Harvard Business School and the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania as examples of how obsession with numbers and an over-zealous attempt at making management into a science actually can damage the discipline of management. He also suggests that a new masters program, targeted at practicing managers (as opposed to younger students with little real world experience), and emphasizing practical issues, may be more suitable.

Ironically, although Professor Mintzberg is quite critical about the strategy consulting business, he has twice won the McKinsey Award for publishing the best article in the Harvard Business Review.

In 1997 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1998 he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec. He is now a member of the Strategic Management Society.

Reviews

[Annette Dorresteijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

GEWONNEN

[Anatoly Maslennikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

вроде 2019 год, работаю уже почти 9 лет в компании, два с половиной года руководителем, вокруг неизвестные и непонятно как решаемые проблемы.

открываешь книжку 1982 года — и там половина из них описана как то что бывает у всех.

потрясающе.

[Amir · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's fantastic. "Structure in Fives" will give you such an insight about organization design that hardly any other book can give. For understanding organization design it's one of the best.
Although there is a problem with the book, while it's applicable to all situations, it lacks examples about the most important feature of 21th century: IT (considering that it was written in 1980's, it's understandable)
Other than that, it's fabulous.

[Dorotea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five coordinating mechanisms seem to explain the fundamental ways in which organizations coordinate their works: mutual adjustments, direct supervision, standardization of work processes, standardization of work outputs, and standardization of worker skills.

[Camilo Zuluaga Borda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cómo diseñar estructuras de trabajo eficientes

[Jon L'Orange · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for a comprehensive book on how to design an effective organization, this is the right book.

[Ritzo ten Cate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in 1983 and still the essence of organization.

[Wondolor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo leí para "Sistemas administrativos" y es uno de los mejores libros de administración que he leído.

[Gabriel Gioia Ávila Oliveira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leitura feita para a faculdade, na matéria Administração e Organização. A ideia é teorizar a estrutura de uma organização, tentando categorizar elementos organizacionais, como hierarquia, autoridade, autonomia e ambiente, de forma a ser possível descrever qualquer empresa a partir desses parâmetros.

A ideia é interessante, o livro é bem escrito, e cheio de exemplos muito didáticos. A sensação é de ser uma introdução bastante compreensiva sobre a teoria da administração, ou no mínimo do design estrutural de empresas. Com isso, saio satisfeito. Ideologicamente, por outro lado, o utilitarismo reina, e muitas vezes irrita o quanto a visão do autor desumaniza e é em si mesma desumanizada. Tudo é tratado de maneira robótica, e a satisfação intelectual e profissional dos funcionários é tratada como apenas mais uma métrica para parametrizar a empresa, tudo sempre visando o deus lucro no fim do resultado demonstrativo do exercício da organização.

[Irwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was one of the book in the syllabus which I actually enlightened me on the organization subject. Being a computer science major, I know very little about organization and how it is structured, let alone the issue of effectiveness.

Will recommend this to anyone interested in organizations.

[Ari Manninen]

This is extremely valuable book. Author really shows what it means to develop a a clear and useful framework. The framework helps us to examine organizations and to see what is elementary in different kinds of organizations.

[Flor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my management class in university, and I think it's the first text book I've actually enjoyed reading. Well done, Mister Mintzberg.

[Anisa Permana · Rating 3 out of 5]

clearly enough to describe how the organization works. but still i cant find the exact duty of each part

[Madura]

z

[Jaszmina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The adoption of 'The Structuring of Organizations' book for practitioners