Towards organisational simplexity — a simple structure in a complex environment

Abstract

The article contributes to the discussion on the validity and ways of simplifying modern organisations. There is an increasing focus on simplifying organisations, especially their organisational structures. However, the environment of contemporary organisations is increasingly complex, dynamic and uncertain. Therefore, the postulate of simplicity seems to question Ashby’s law stating that one kind of variety must be balanced by a different kind of variety. To cope with the indicated discrepancy, it is assumed that the simplification of some elements of an organisation is only possible due to the excessive complexity of others. The paper aims to verify the concept of organisational simplexity developed by e Cunha and Rego, which postulates the fit between simple structural solutions, complex workforce and complex environment. However, organisational performance is a factor verifying the legitimacy of the fit. The literature study explored the contradiction inherent in the postulate on the simplification of modern organisations. The contingency theory provided a major framework for the study. The research hypothesis was developed and empirically verified. The empirical study targeted 1142 organisations operating in Poland and Switzerland, different by their industry, size and the form of ownership. To verify the hypothesis, a statistical analysis was carried out, and the multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) method was used. The main result of the critical literature analysis is the finding that theoretical indications for simplifying modern organisations are fragmented, mainly focused on simplifying selected elements of an organisation, not considering the contradiction inherent in the postulate of simplicity related to environmental features and not verified empirically. The notion of the simplexity has been adopted, and it treats the simplicity and complexity as interrelated issues conditioned by situational factors. According to the empirical research results, the fit has been revealed between the degree of structure simplicity, the workforce complexity and the environment features.

Development trends in organizational and management structures

“…A change in the organizational structure is associated with an obtained competitive advantage (Naveed et al, 2017). At present, a growing number of enterprises seek to make their organizational structures as simple as possible, even though the environment in which they operate is getting more complex and dynamic (Tworek et al, 2019).…”

Ecological Analyses of Social Sustainability for International Production with Fixed and Moveable Technologies

“…Ideally, the introduction of moveable production technologies should support the emergence of simplicity rather than the growth of complexity. Such emergence can be found in the elegant functioning of natural systems and involves reduction of the variables to set or control parameters [100,101]. Accordingly, an important direction for action research is to determine how to combine moveable production technologies with local production capabilities in order to support emergence of simplicity rather than growth of complexity.…”

The practical relevance of strategy education: Evidence from the lived experiences of business school alumni

“…Contemporary strategy practice environments are increasingly complex, dynamic, equivocal, eclectic, chaotic and uncertain (Milite et al, 2013; Pina e Cunha and Rego, 2010; Tworek et al, 2019). To navigate these uncertain environments sucessfully, strategy practitioners draw on academic knowledge and skills as well as tacit knowledge and experience.…”