Lateral Structural Arrangements in Organizations
In order that the organisation can achieve its goals and objectives the work of individual members must be linked into coherent patterns of activities and relationships. This is achieved through the structure of the organization and the nature of relations. Decision about the future strategy of the organization are made by people and strategies are implemented by people. The success or failure of a current strategy will depend not only on decisions made in the past but also on how those decisions are being implemented now by people employed by the organization.
Lateral organizational arrangements include individuals of different departments and groups. These relations exist on the same organizational level and involve coordination and consultation. This type of arrangements depends upon the co-operation activities and of informal relations. It is therefore important to questions about who, how and why people are doing what they are doing and what they should do in strategic implementation. In short effective lateral organizational arrangements add value, manage the business and can contribute to strategic success but, conversely, they can make spectacular errors that can be very costly to the organization (Galbraith, 1995).
Lateral organizational arrangements depend upon the roles of each individual which implies the expected pattern of behaviours associated with members occupying a particular position within the structure of the organisation. It also describes how a person perceives their own situation.
The concept of 'role' is important not only to the functioning of groups but for understanding cooperation processes and behaviour. It is through role differenti¬ation that the structure of relationships among the mem¬bers are established. The development of lateral arrangements entails the identification of distinct roles for each of its members. Some form of structure is necessary for team-work and co-operation. The concept of roles helps to clarify the structure and to define the pattern of complex relationships within the group.
Lateral organisational arrangement belong to tThe formal relationships which can be seen as forms of role relation¬ships. These individual authority relationships determine the pattern of inter¬action with other roles. The role, or roles, that the individual plays within the group is influenced by a combination of: situational factors, such as the requirements of the task, the style of leader¬ ship, position in the communication network; and personal factors such as values, attitudes, motivation, ability and personality.
The role that a person plays in one work group may be quite different from the role that person plays in other work groups. However, everyone within a group is expected to behave in a particular manner and to fulfil certain role expectations. Also, the role relationships with members of their own group - peers, superiors, subordinates - the individual will have a number of role-related relationships with outsiders, for example members of other work groups, trade union officials, suppliers, consumers, and this patterns determine the nature of lateral organizational arrangements. This is a person's 'role-set'. The role-set comprises the range of associations or contacts with whom the indi¬vidual has meaningful interactions in connection with the performance of their role (Galbraith, 1995).
An important feature of lateral relations is the concept of 'role incongruence'. This means that a member of staff should not be perceived as having a high and responsible position in one respect but a low standing in another respect. Difficulties with role congruence can arise from the nature of groupings and formal relationships within the structure of the organisation. Lateral organizational arrangements help to overcome problems which cannot be solved with the help of vertical relations only. "Howev