Research On The Organizational Structure In Enterprise Informate

Facing the era of the knowledge economics and the rapid development of the Information Technology (IT), enterprises have to take changes and the Informate is a way to adapt the changes. So, a suitable organizational structure should match the informated process. This research found a dynamic Core-Net Model (CNM) to be the primary choice for the organizational structure of the informated enterprises through a series of field studies and laboratory experiments. Different theories and methods from cognitive science, management and organizational psychology, information science were used. These studies focus on factors such as the types of the organizational structure, the communication blocks and the informating problems etc.. 658 subjects including 578 managers and staff members, 40 students and 40 customers were involved in the research project.The whole research carried out in three stages: (1) field investigation; (2) questionnaire survey; (3) lab and quasi lab experiments. The field investigation covered three areas, the status in quo of the organizational structure, the informate and CIS introduction in Chinese enterprises. It was found that the unitary functional form and multivisional form were the main type of organizational structure with the features of structural singleness, high and multiple administrative level, difficult communication and inadaption to environment; and the enterprise informate and CIS introduction were in primary stage.The second stage, quest ionnaire survey, consisted of three studies. The first study was conducted for 216 subjects with questionnaires to analyze the factors influencing the construction of the organizational structure. Seven factors were obtained, background, information, market, technique, staff, management and products of the enterprise. The cognitive rating onthe present structure of Chinese enterprises was made in the second study, and results revealed that the rating was negative, esp. the aspect of information flow and communication within the organizations. However, the individual differences such as subject's status and motivation strength appeared in the rating. In the third study, the relationship between enterprise informate and its structure was analyzed and found that more advanced the enterprise informate, the flatter its structure and higher satisfaction of the subjects. The enterprise informate strongly influenced to the mental activities of persons, esp. the middle-level managers. The traditional structures of organization were difficult to meet the demands of the informated enterprises. On the basis of the results from these studies, a dynamic model, Core-Net Model, of organizational structure for the informated enterprise was established with the following characteristics: low administrative level, flat and network structure, easy communication and small work unit.In the third stage, the Core-net model was proved with easy and positive CIS introduction, high satisfaction and initiative in solving problems in the field experiment and the simulation in the laboratory. The evidences supported the new model as suitable for the informated enterprises.Through the research, multimethods such as interview, questionnaire, experiment and simulation were used. Field and laboratory experiments were designed with multivariate analysis. The research findings provided useful and systematic principles for the design and development of the organizational structure. The theoretical and practical implications of this research were discussed in relation to the applicability of the new organizational structure in modernized Chinese enterprises.