Mintzberg's coordination mechanisms in organisations

Coordination mechanisms

Every organisation must solve two problems: dividing work into tasks, and coordinating those tasks so that they come together as a whole. Henry Mintzberg, in his work on the structuring of organisations, identified the basic ways in which organisations coordinate work. These are called coordination mechanisms; he described them as the glue that holds an organisation together. The question asks for five dimensions; Mintzberg's original list has five mechanisms, and he later added a sixth (standardisation of norms).

The basic mechanisms identified by Mintzberg

1. Mutual adjustment. Workers coordinate their own work through simple informal communication with one another. It is used in the simplest situations (two people paddling a canoe) and also in the most complex ones, such as a research team where nobody knows in advance exactly what must be done. Example: a small design studio where the three designers sort out work by talking across their desks.
2. Direct supervision. One person takes responsibility for the work of others, giving them instructions and monitoring their actions. As a group grows, a leader is needed. Example: a supervisor in a restaurant kitchen assigning tasks to each cook.
3. Standardisation of work processes. The content of the work is specified or programmed, rules, procedures, manuals, assembly-line methods, so that coordination is built into the job. Example: a fast-food chain's fixed method of preparing each item.
4. Standardisation of outputs. The results of the work are specified, product dimensions, performance targets, profit goals, while the method is left to the worker or unit. Example: divisions of a conglomerate given annual sales and profit targets.
5. Standardisation of skills (and knowledge). The training and knowledge required to do the work are specified, so that people coordinate almost automatically because they share a common training. Example: a surgeon and an anaesthetist who coordinate in an operation with few words, because each knows what the other will do.
6. Standardisation of norms (added later). Workers share common beliefs and values, so that everyone acts in keeping with the organisation's culture. Example: a volunteer organisation whose members act on a shared mission.

How the mechanisms change with complexity

Mintzberg suggested that, as work becomes more complex, coordination moves from mutual adjustment to direct supervision, then to standardisation, first of processes, then of outputs, then of skills, and finally back to mutual adjustment when the work is highly complex and unpredictable. Each mechanism is linked with one of his structural configurations: the simple structure relies on direct supervision, the machine bureaucracy on standardised processes, the professional bureaucracy on standardised skills, the divisionalised form on standardised outputs, and the adhocracy on mutual adjustment.

Conclusion

Most organisations use a mix of mechanisms, but one usually dominates and shapes the structure. Understanding them helps managers choose the right way to coordinate a given kind of work.