City University of New York
Organizational Analysis: Defining Your General Organizational Realities for the Case Study
This portion of the case study assignment will require you to apply the Structural Theories lens to your organization. This enables you to make sense of the organization in a general way before turning to the specific problem within the organization which you identified in Part 1.
Lens One: Reviewing the Structural Theories [MACHINE]
Use the following questions to describe, in a summative-narrative fashion, what the structures of your organization looks like. Your summary is to be 3–5 pages in length, include 3–5 references (this can include your textbook), have a title and reference page, and be formatted according to current APA style (first person should not be used).
1. What is the chain of command in your organization?
a. What is the formal authority in the organization?
b. That is, who has economic, legal, contractual, collegial authority?
2. Describe the span of control in the organization.
a. How many people report to managers at various levels?
b. How many levels exist in the organization?
3. Describe the departmentalization structures of the organization.
4. Where are decisions being made in the organization?
5. Explain where your organization sits on the centralized/decentralized continuum.
6. Are the staff/line distinctions being maintained in your organization?
