In this paper i will look at how structure and culture of organisation affect their business performance and individual behaviour/ethic in workplace. I will give a definition and an explanation of structure and culture, identify and analyze the factors influencing individual behaviour at work. Furthemore will compare and contrast the different organisational structures and culture, to highlight the relationship between them, and show their influence on business performance.

???Organisational culture is a cognitive framework consisting of attitudes, values, beliefs, behavioral norms and expectations shared by organisations members??? Greenberg and Baron (1997)
Organisational culture enduring values, beliefs,traditions and practises that are shared by an organisations members, learned by new recruits and transmitted from one generation of employees to the next.

???Organisational structure makes possible the application of the processes of management and creates a framework of work order and command through which the activities of the organisation can be planned, organised, directed, and controlled. The structure define tasks and responsibilities, work roles and relationship and channels of communication??? Mullins(2005. p.596)
Organisational structure refers to the infrastructure and the various methods, practises within it.
Organisational structure will deal primarily with the management work, responsibilities supervisors have and how an order/a complaint is passed through the ranks, ensuring effective work.
That helps an organisational culture run with the efficiency and consistency, whether its a corporation, business, sport team or any other body enough large to create its own culture.This makes the structure an integral part of any organisational culture.

The relationship between organisational culture and organisational structure is an important theme, and thiz two can be difficult to distinguish one from another.

FUNCTIONAL TYPES OF ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES:

* by function- Functional organisation employee groups of individuals related by specific functions performed. They perform similar tasks, use similar technology or materials. Departments such as human resources, accounting and purchasing are organised by separating each of these areas and managing them independently.

* Product based- Business activity concentrated on specific product type/ lines.Each product group report to senior leadership person, which oversees everything related to that particular product line. He has authority over personnel of different functions, although some departments remains, eg.: distribution, marketing and sales..

* customer type- Certain industries organise by customer type, this is done in effort to ensure specific customer needs.
Expectations are met by customized service, ie.: healthcare, sport clubs.

* by geography- Geographically based institutions have some authority retained at Head Office, but daily activities are managed on a territorial basis. Many sales departments are organised this way.

The objective of creating organisational structure is to link individuals in established network of relationships so authority, responsibility and communications can be controlled. Its also necessary to set suitable levels of responsibility to groups, individuals to achieve the desired outcomes of the organisations. This creates a chierarchy or chain of commands.

Business performance is the organisations ability to achieve its goals by using own resources in an efficient and effective way in order to meet its objective which is increasing profits.

Coordination and communication responsibility levels:

* Span of control- the amount of subordinates manager can control effectively. Means if a manager has 10 subordinates, the span of control is 10. The span of control is proportional to the individuals skill, nature of tasks assigned and level of technology available. If the span of control is too wide, the manager may not be able to supervise efficiently.

Different types of organisational structure determine its destination.

1. Tall organisation: in relation to its size has a large number of management hierarchy and authority, it has narrow span of control. There is a ???long chain of command??? running from the top of the organisation like managing director down to the bottom for example floor worker.

a) narrow span of control, small groups enable teams members to participate in decisions, a large number of steps on the promotional ladders assists management training.

b) weak sides: inhibits delegation, rigid supervision can be imposed, blocking initiative, the same work passes through too many hands, increases administration and overhead costs, communication problems, as decisions proccesses take time.

As i mentioned before there is narrow span of control, each manager has a small number of employees under their control, which can be closely supervised.
There is a clear management structure, clear lines of responsibility, control and clear progression, promotion up the hierarchy.
The freedom and responsibility of employees is restricted, decision process making could be slowed down as approval may be needed by each of the layers of authority.

2. Flat organisation: in contrast to the tall one, has a small number of management in relation to its size, but wide span of control. There is a ???short chain of command???, the best implies to small organisations such as partnership, co-operatives and some private limited companies.

a) more opportunity for delegation, relatively cheap, in theory speeds up communication between all employees levels.

b) weak sides: implies that jobs can be delegated, managers may only get an official concept, an idea of what goes on, if they are overworked they are more likely to be involved in crisis management.

There is greater communication between management and workers, better team spirit, less bureaucracy and easier decision making environment.
Small hierarchy may limit the growth of the organisation.

Many organisations have been ???delayering???, means middle line jobs were abandoned, increased span of control, reducing management levels and becoming flatter.
Modern technology reduces a need for middle managers to process information.

MATRIX Organisations:

This type of organisation ???crosses??? functional and product/ customer/ project organisations purposes.
A matrix structure organisation contains teams of people created from various sections of the business.
Authority is shared between the managers, project coordinators and the heads of the functional departments, which oversee and manage employees at all structures layers.
Contains teams of people created from various sections of business. These teams are designed for the purposes of a specific project and led by a project manager.
Matrix structures are usually deployed to develop new products and services, employees are chosen according to the needs of the project. There is increased flexibility and greater cooperation, mixing skills.
The product managers are co-ordinators of all the different functions towards their particular objectives.
A multi-disciplinary project team, members which are drawn from different functions is next example of a matrix strucure.

Matrix disadvantages are:

1. Conflict of loyalty between managers over the use of resources.
2. Increased autonomy of teams can make them difficult to monitor.
3. Employees supervised by more managers are more likely to suffer from stress at work.

Culture influences the decision making process, style management and what everyone determine a success in the organisation.

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE TYPES:

* power culture- Frequently found in small organisations, control and decision are made by key personnel, and there are little rules and procedures with minimal bureaucracy.
The organisation is not clearly structured, but flexible and quickly adopting to changes.
There is need for good employees relations in order for this type of structure to be successful.
Leaders have direct communication with all employees.
* role culture- There is a hierarchy and chain of command with authority and responsibility, clear job description rules and policies.
This suit to a tall organisational structure which makes it inflexible and slow to change.
That type of culture is mainly in stable economic environment or where work is predictable.
* task culture- Seeks to use the right resources for employees to complete certain tasks.
Its small team approach, cooperating together to deliver a project, the importance is on results and achieving objectives. Every member of the team has expertise in particular area.
There is no clear leader, management based more on expert power than position/personal power.
Performance is judged by results and completion of objectives by teams.
This type of culture is reflected in matrix organisations.
* person culture- The organisation depends on the knowledge, skill and ability of the individual.
???The individual is the central focus and any structure exists to serve the individuals within it.??? Mullins ( 2005. p.892 )
Management and control is achieved only through mutual agreement.
This type of culture is rare and found in law firms, studio artists, architects and consultants.

The ability to learn from experiences will affect an individuals behaviour at work; abilities
are things that people can do, or are good at, believed to be inherited.

The aptitude is the capacity to learn and develop abilities or skills.

The attitude is an individual characteristic, which pays big contribution towards business performance and work behaviour. Employees attitudes level at work which is perspective on working, management, organisation and their stance about politics, religion, education are meaningful for any healthy, prospectful organisation.

Perception is ??? the dynamic and complex way in which individuals select information from the environment, interpret and translate it so that a meaning is assigned which will result in a pattern of behaviour and thoughts.??? Mullins ( 2005. p.1060 )
Above sentence means the way an individual see things, and this explains why people have different views because they perceive things differently.
This is why communication within the organisation has to be clear so everyone receives the same core of the message.

Personality are groups of particular traits, the way person behave. Specific combination determine the type of personality an individual possesses. Someone who is not open to experience, is not very active, and is not extremely motivated can be referred to as an introvert.

1) Multifunctional structure: Organisation can spread their activities, where are areas of speciality. For example; accounting and human resources specialists are hired to handle these specialised tasks. These specialists report to the CEO, but usually have autonomy for daily decisions, eg.; hiring, firing personnel.

2) Multidivisional structure: Use of seperate businesses or profit centres. The M-form is used by many organisations that compete in the global economy.
The overall goal is to maximise the organisation s performance. In order to achieve this managers at the ???parent unit??? use a combination of strategic and financial controls.

3) Geographic structure: Cover a span of geographic regions, this is done to support better logistical demands and differences in geographic customer needs.
Typically a structure organised by geographical regions up to a central oversight structure body.

CONCLUSION

In modern times is trend to make the organisational structure flatter, means less middle management, giving individuals and groups a greater autonomy.
Introducing a reward systems and career management workshops to suit individual interests.
Organisation structure strategically designed to apply to the nature of the enterprise, because wrongly chosen structure may result in side effects like low employee motivation, morale, inappropriate communication decreasing profits.
The organisation should treat employees as their most valuable resources, its critical to select the right type of workers suited for the job.
An organisation adopting these practises should experience higher competitiveness and business performance even through rough times.
The right structure and ???strong culture??? with properly selected employees will path organisations bright, prospective future.

Bibliography:

1. ??? Behaviour in organisation??? Greenberg & Baron (1997)
2. ??? Management and organisational behaviour??? Laurie J. Mullins (2005)
3. ??? Organisation and Behaviour??? BPP Learning Media Ltd (2010)
4. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ( en.wikipedia.org/ )