START HERE: Meet Your Organization's Structural Typology!

Three scholarly perspectives on org structure.

Ever wanted to pop the hood on what makes the culture at your AEC firm tick…or not tick?

With workplace culture among the most important qualities to job seekers, understanding the engineering of your org structure is unequivocally imperative, now more than ever, to retain top talent.

You're in luck! I’ve studied a few fun thinkers out there (so you don’t have to!). These folks framed and categorized organizational structure and culture to help us be better leaders of our people, businesses, and operations. I’m here to share the wealth (of knowledge) with you.

Keep reading and peep the image above to get an intro to our cast of scholarly characters including Trompenaars, Handy, and Mintzberg. Follow along with my blog as we unpack their theories and discuss ways you can use them to your advantage.

What’s in it for you? Unlocking the complete potential of your organization’s structure + cultural dynamic for optimal productivity, operations, employee happiness, and ultimately… Client Satisfaction! Don’t miss out on grassroots hacks, impactful value-adds, and tiny tweaks you can make at your firm to harmonize culture at its foundation.

1.     The first character in our tapestry of theories is Dutch organizational theorist, Fons Trompenaars (whom I affectionately refer to as "T-dawg.") He created four types of org structure using illustrative titles like "Eiffel Tower." Relatable for us in the AEC industry, right?

2.     The second is Irish organizational behavior and management philosopher, Charles Handy. He creatively uses Greek mythological characters to also describe four typologies of org structure; complete with his own illustrations perfect for communicating with us highly visual folks.

3.     While his stats on being a gentleman are unavailable, we can be confident that our third character, Canadian Professor of Management, Henry Mintzberg, is indeed a total scholar. While four typologies were enough for T-dawg and Handy, Mintzberg's theory discusses FIVE org typologies organized around infrastructure design.

Now, I know you’re asking: Why three different theories, Rachel? This is already a long post. Isn't one enough? Perhaps. However, I feel like we in the AEC industry have much to gain from dissecting all three theories. No one firm falls neatly into one of the 13 typologies. They exhibit traits of each to varying magnitudes. To truly grasp the power of your firm’s structure + culture, understanding each type and its relationship to the next will be of the most value to you.

Rachel R Gresham