ithin a dynamic external environment. Researchers also tend to think that innovation is fostered by an organic organizational structure, while innovation tends to be stifled by a mechanistic organizational structure (Kennedy, 1991, p. 34).
Researchers have also observed, however, that, while organic structures tend to foster innovation, they are often somewhat ineffective for the implementation of that innovation (Daft, 1992, pp. 193 218). In such instances, it has been suggested that organizations adopt a composite organizational structure that incorporates characteristics of both the organic and the mechanistic organizational concepts (Daft, 1992, pp. 219 221). This ambidextrous organizational structure permits a shifting emphasis as required.
Team based organization is another form of structure "in which members of different functional departments work together in small, but more or less permanent, teams headed by the member from the most professional prestigious specialty" (Gortner, Mahler, and Nicholson, 1989, p. 111). Team members "maintain their ties to functional departments for personnel, training, promotion, and other such matters, but they work face to face principally with members of other departments to achieve the level of coordinated expertise demanded by their tasks" (Gortner, Mahler, and Nicholson, 1989, p. 111).
Team development promotes the idea that individuals who have working relationships with one another within an organizational structure can be trained to work as a team (Larson and LaFasto, 1989, pp. 13 26). Participants in a team building process learn to build good relationships with other team members, to engage in joint problem solving, and to reduce interpersonal friction.
Successful implementation and execution of the team development technique leads to improved communication, enhanced creativity, more effective decision making, and higher levels of organizational performance (Larson...