Skip to main content

Sage Social Science Thesaurus

Search from vocabulary

Content language

Concept information

... > social science subjects > business and management > organization studies > organization studies encyc > issues in organizational structure > mechanistic organizations

Preferred term

mechanistic organizations  

Definition

  • A mechanistic organization has an organizational structure characterized by a reliance on formalization, well or rigidly defined tasks, a high degree of work specialization, rigid departmentalization, a clear and strict hierarchy of authority, vertical communication and a limited information network, narrow spans of control, a long chain of command, little participation in organizational design and decision making by employees, and centralization of knowledge, decision making, and control at the top of the organization. A mechanistic organization results in a tall organizational structure. [Source: International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies; Mechanistic Organizations]

Broader concept

Belongs to group

URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/mechanistic_organizations

Download this concept:

RDF/XML TURTLE JSON-LD