1999 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium (CCRTS), June 29 - July 1, 1999, U.S. Naval War College, Rhode IslandDifferent organizational structures are better matched to certain mission types than others
(organizational congruence). Consequently, one way to achieve superior mission
effectiveness is to switch between organizational structures when circumstances dictate.
However, little is known about the variables that signal the need for such structural
adaptation. To explore this issue, we used a model-based design process to create
mission scenarios that were either matched (congruent) or mismatched (incongruent) with
two organizational structures (Functional, Divisional). Results indicated that, as
predicted on the basis of the coordination requirements imposed by the model-based
design process, performance in the incongruent cases was characterized by increased
communication, increased perceived workload, and degraded performance. Given these
overall results, we explored these data further by analyzing communication patterns to
identify how the organizations attempted to cope with the congruence problem. Our
results indicated that the communication strategies employed in the face of incongruence
depended on organizational structure/mission scenario pairings, suggesting that the
specific signals of the need for structural adaptation will likely depend on context.The research reported here was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, Contract No. N00014-02-C- 0233, under the direction of Gerald Malecki.The research reported here was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, Contract No. N00014-02-C- 0233, under the direction of Gerald Malecki
