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 Chapter 6 – Organizational Structure and Design

CHAPTER ORGANIZATIONAL
6 STRUCTURE AND
DESIGN

LEARNING OUTCOMES
After reading this chapter students should be able to:
1. Describe 6 key elements in organizational design.
2. Identify the contingency factors that favor the mechanistic model or the organic model.
3. Compare and contrast traditional and contemporary organizational designs.
4. Discuss the design challenges faced by today’s organizations.

Opening Vignette – Volunteers Work

SUMMARY
As a business owner, it sounds like a dream come true – employees working for free! In this
introduction, the authors explore this novel concept from a manager’s perspective. Habitat for
Humanity has years of experience building homes with volunteers. The concept of free labor is
now being explored as volunteers who are passionate about a product or service, help answer
customer questions. While this sounds like a win-win (people who are knowledge experts
working for free), it has the potential to create a lot of problems for the organization.
Teaching Tips:
Have students explore the concept of management control and structure for this new type of
arrangement. Questions that might arise include:
How do you make sure people show up for ‘work?’
What if these volunteers make a mistake that puts the company at risk for a lawsuit?
What if they are rude to customers?

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 Chapter 6 – Organizational Structure and Design

I. WHAT ARE THE SIX KEY ELEMENTS IN ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN?

A. Introduction
1. Organization design decisions are typically made by senior managers.
2. Organization design applies to any type of organization.
3. Formulated by management writers such as Henri Fayol and Max Weber in the
early 1900s.
4. These principles still provide valuable insights into designing effective and efficient
organizations.
B. What Is Work Specialization?
1. Work specialization is dividing work activities into separate jobs tasks.
a) Individuals specialize in doing part of an activity.
b) Work specialization makes efficient use of the diversity of skills that workers
hold.
2. Some tasks require highly developed skills; others lower skill levels.
3. Excessive work specialization or human diseconomies, can lead to boredom,
fatigue, stress, low productivity, poor quality, increased absenteeism, and high
turnover. (See Exhibit 6-1.)
4. Today's view is that specialization is an important organizing mechanism for
employee efficiency, but it is important to recognize the economies work
specialization can provide as well as its limitations.
C. What Is Departmentalization?
1. Departmentalization is when common work activities are grouped back together
so work gets done in a coordinated and integrated way.
2. There are five common forms of departmentalization (see Exhibit 6-2).
a) Functional Groups - employees based on work performed (e.g., engineering,
accounting, information systems, human resources)
b) Product Groups - employees based on major product areas in the corporation
(e.g., women’s footwear, men’s footwear, and apparel and accessories)

c) Customer Groups - employees based on customers’ problems and needs

(e.g., wholesale, retail, government)

d) Geographic Groups - employees based on location served (e.g., North,

South, Midwest, East)

e) Process Groups - employees based on the basis of work or customer flow

(e.g., testing, payment)
3. With today's focus on the customer, many companies are using cross-functional
teams, which are teams made up of individuals from various departments and that
cross traditional departmental lines.

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 Chapter 6 – Organizational Structure and Design

D. What are Authority and Responsibility?

1. The chain of command is the continuous line of authority that extends from upper
organizational levels to the lowest and clarifies who reports to whom.
2. An employee who has to report to two or more bosses might have to cope with
conflicting demands or priorities.
3. Authority refers to the rights inherent in a managerial position to give orders and
expect the orders to be obeyed.
4. Each management position has specific inherent rights that incumbents acquire
from the position’s rank or title.
a) Authority is related to one’s position and ignores personal characteristics.
5. When managers delegate authority, they must allocate commensurate
responsibility.
a) When employees are given rights, they assume a corresponding obligation to
perform and should be held accountable for that performance!
b) Allocating authority without responsibility creates opportunities for abuse.
c) No one should be held responsible for something over which he or she has no
authority.
6. What are the different types of authority relationships?
a) The early management writers distinguished between two forms of authority.
(1) Line authority entitles a manager to direct the work of an employee.
(a) It is the employer-employee authority relationship that extends from
top to bottom.
(b) See Exhibit 6-3.
(c) A line manager has the right to direct the work of employees and
make certain decisions without consulting anyone.
(d) Sometimes the term “line” is used to differentiate line managers from
staff managers.
(e) Line emphasizes managers whose organizational function contributes
directly to the achievement of organizational objectives (e.g.,
production and sales).
(2) Staff managers have staff authority (e.g., human resources and payroll).
(a) A manager’s function is classified as line or staff based on the
organization’s objectives.
(b) As organizations get larger and more complex, line managers find that
they do not have the time, expertise, or resources to get their jobs
done effectively.
(c) They create staff authority functions to support, assist, advise, and
generally reduce some of their informational burdens.
(d) Exhibit 6-4 illustrates line and staff authority.

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E. What is Unity of Command?

1. The chain of command is the continuous line of authority that extends from upper
organizational levels to the lowest and clarifies who reports to whom.
2. An employee who has to report to two or more bosses might have to cope with
conflicting demands or priorities.
3. Therefore, the early management writers argued that an employee should have
only one superior (Unity of command)
4. If the chain of command had to be violated, early management writers always
explicitly designated that there be a clear separation of activities and a supervisor
responsible for each.
5. The unity of command concept was logical when organizations were
comparatively simple.
6. There are instances today when strict adherence to the unity of command creates
a degree of inflexibility that hinders an organization’s performance.
7. How does the contemporary view of authority and responsibility differ from the
historical view?
a) The early management writers assumed that the rights inherent in one’s
formal position in an organization were the sole source of influence.
b) This might have been true 30 or 60 years ago.
c) It is now recognized that you do not have to be a manager to have power, and
that power is not perfectly correlated with one’s level in the organization.
d) Authority is but one element in the larger concept of power.
8. How do authority and power differ?
a) Authority and power are frequently confused.
b) Authority is a right, the legitimacy of which is based on the authority figure’s
position in the organization.
(1) Authority goes with the job.
c) Power refers to an individual’s capacity to influence decisions.
(1) Authority is part of the larger concept of power.
(2) Exhibit 6-5 visually depicts the difference.
d) Power is a three-dimensional concept.
(1) It includes not only the functional and hierarchical dimensions but also
centrality.
(2) While authority is defined by one’s vertical position in the hierarchy, power is
made up of both one’s vertical position and one’s distance from the
organization’s power core, or center.
e) Think of the cone in Exhibit 6-5 as an organization.
(1) The closer you are to the power core, the more influence you have on
decisions.
(2) The existence of a power core is the only difference between A and B in
Exhibit 6-5.
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f) The cone analogy explicitly acknowledges two facts:

(1) The higher one moves in an organization (an increase in authority), the closer
one moves to the power core.
(2) It is not necessary to have authority in order to wield power because one can
move horizontally inward toward the power core without moving up.
(a) Example, administrative assistants, “powerful” as gatekeepers with
little authority.
(3) Low-ranking employees with contacts in high places might be close to the
power core.
(4) So, too, are employees with scarce and important skills.
(a) The lowly production engineer with twenty years of experience might
be the only one in the firm who knows the inner workings of all the old
production machinery.
g) Power can come from different areas.
(1) John French and Bertram Raven have identified five sources, or bases, of
power.
(a) See Exhibit 6-6.
(b) Coercive power -based on fear; Reward power - based on the ability
to distribute something that others value; Legitimate power - based on
one’s position in the formal hierarchy; Expert power - based on one’s
expertise, special skill, or knowledge; Referent power -based on
identification with a person who has desirable resources.
F. What is Span of Control?
1. How many employees can a manager efficiently and effectively direct?
2. This question received a great deal of attention from early management writers.
3. There was no consensus on a specific number but early writers favored small
spans of less than six to maintain close control.
4. Level in the organization is a contingency variable.
a) Top managers need a smaller span than do middle managers, and middle
managers require a smaller span than do supervisors.
5. There is some change in theories about effective spans of control.
6. Many organizations are increasing their spans of control.
7. The span of control is increasingly being determined by contingency variables.
a) The more training and experience employees have, the less direct supervision
needed.
8. Other contingency variables should also be considered; similarity of employee
tasks, the task complexity, the physical proximity of employees, the degree of
standardization, the sophistication of the organization’s management information
system, the strength of the organization’s value system, the preferred managing
style of the manager, etc.

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Right or Wrong

You hear it in the news every week, a hacker (or hackers) has gained access to personal data
of thousands of customers or employees. In the dilemma described here, a security hole in an
AT&T website allowed Goatse Security, a group of computer security experts, to retrieve the
email addresses for thousands of new iPad users. The head of Goatse Security pointed out
they were doing AT&T a favor by identifying the problem. On the other hand, the information
released by Goatse could have helped hackers break into AT&T’s website.

Questions for students to consider:

• Is there such a thing as “ethical hacking?”
• What ethical issues they see in the case?
• What are the implications for various stakeholders in this situation?

G. How Do Centralization and Decentralization Differ?

1. Centralization is a function of how much decision-making authority is pushed
down to lower levels in the organization.
2. Centralization-decentralization is a degree phenomenon.
3. By that, we mean that no organization is completely centralized or completely
decentralized.
4. Early management writers felt that centralization in an organization depended on
the situation.
a) Their objective was the optimum and efficient use of employees.
b) Traditional organizations were structured in a pyramid, with power and
authority concentrated near the top of the organization.
c) Given this structure, historically, centralized decisions were the most
prominent.
5. Organizations today are more complex and are responding to dynamic changes.
a) Many managers believe that decisions need to be made by those closest to
the problem.
6. Today, managers often choose the amount of centralization or decentralization
that will allow them to best implement their decisions and achieve organizational
goals.
7. One of the central themes of empowering employees was to delegate to them the
authority to make decisions on those things that affect their work.
a) That’s the issue of decentralization at work.
b) It doesn’t imply that senior management no longer makes decisions!
H. What is Formalization?
1. Formalization refers to how standardized an organization’s jobs are and the extent
to which employee behavior is guided by rules and procedures.
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2. Early management writers expected organizations to be fairly formalized, as

formalization went hand-in-hand with bureaucratic-style organizations.
3. Today, organizations rely less on strict rules and standardization to guide and
regulate employee behavior.
Teaching Notes
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II. WHAT CONTINGENCY VARIABLES AFFECT STRUCTURAL CHOICE?
A. Introduction
1. The most appropriate structure to use will depend on contingency factors.
2. The more popular contingency variables are strategy, size, technology, and
environment.
B. How Is a Mechanistic Organization Different from an Organic Organization?
1. Exhibit 6-7 describes two organizational forms.
2. The mechanistic organization (or bureaucracy) was the natural result of combining
the six elements of structure.
a) The chain-of-command principle ensured the existence of a formal hierarchy
of authority.
b) Keeping the span of control small created tall, impersonal structures.
(1) Top management increasingly imposed rules and regulations.
c) The high degree of work specialization created simple, routine, and
standardized jobs.
d) Departmentalization increased impersonality and the need for multiple layers
of management.
3. The organic form is a highly adaptive form that is a direct contrast to the
mechanistic one.
a) The organic organization’s loose structure allows it to change rapidly as needs
require.
(1) Employees tend to be professionals who are technically proficient and trained
to handle diverse problems.
(2) They need very few formal rules and little direct supervision.
b) The organic organization is low in centralization.
4. When each of these two models is appropriate depends on several contingency
variables.
C. How Does Strategy Affect Structure?
1. An organization’s structure should facilitate goal achievement.
a) Strategy and structure should be closely linked.
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b) Example, if the organization focuses on providing certain services—police

protection in a community—its structure will be one that promotes
standardized and efficient services.
c) Example, if an organization is attempting to employ a growth strategy by
entering into global markets, it will need a structure that is flexible, fluid, and
readily adaptable to the environment.
2. Accordingly, organizational structure should follow strategy. If management
makes a significant change in strategy, it needs to modify its structure as well.
3. The first important research on the strategy-structure relationship was Alfred
Chandler’s study of close to 100 large U.S. companies.
4. After tracing the development of these organizations over fifty years and compiling
extensive case histories, Chandler concluded that changes in corporate strategy
precede and lead to changes in an organization’s structure.
a) Organizations usually begin with a single product or line.
b) The simplicity of the strategy requires only a simple form of structure to
execute it.
c) Decisions can be centralized and complexity and formalization will be low.
d) As organizations grow, their strategies become more ambitious and elaborate.
5. Research has generally confirmed the strategy-structure relationship.
a) Organizations pursuing a differentiation strategy must innovate to survive.
(1) An organic organization matches best with this strategy because it is flexible
and maximizes adaptability.
b) A cost-leadership strategy seeks stability and efficiency.
(1) Stability and efficiency help to produce low-cost goods and services and can
best be achieved with a mechanistic organization.
D. How Does Size Affect Structure?
1. There is historical evidence that an organization’s size significantly affects its
structure.
2. Large organizations—employing 2,000 or more employees—tend to have more
work specialization, horizontal and vertical differentiation, and rules and
regulations than do small organizations.
3. The relationship is not linear; the impact of size becomes less important as an
organization expands.
a) Example, once an organization has around 2,000 employees, it is already
fairly mechanistic—an additional 500 employees will not have much effect.
b) Adding 500 employees to an organization that has only 300 members is likely
to result in a shift toward a more mechanistic structure.
E. How Does Technology Affect Structure?
1. Every organization uses some form of technology to convert its inputs into
outputs.

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 Chapter 6 – Organizational Structure and Design

2. To attain its objectives, the organization uses equipment, materials, knowledge,

and experienced individuals and puts them together into certain types and
patterns of activities.
a) Example, workers at Whirlpool build washers, dryers, and other home
appliances on a standardized assembly line.
b) Example, employees at Kinko’s produce custom jobs for individual customers.
c) Example, employees at Bayer AG in Pakistan work on a continuous flow
production line for manufacturing its pharmaceuticals.
From the Past to the Present
Joan Woodward (British scholar) found that distinct relationships exist between size of
production runs and the structure of the firm. The effectiveness of organizations was related to
“fit” between technology and structure. Most studies focused on the processes or methods that
transform inputs into outputs and how they differ by their degree of routine.
Three categories, representing three distinct technologies, had increasing levels of complexity
and sophistication. Unit production described the production of items in units or small batches.
Mass production described large batch manufacturing. The most technically complex group,
process production, included continuous-process production. The more routine the technology,
the more standardized and mechanistic the structure can be. Organizations with more non-
routine technology are more likely to have organic structures. See Exhibit 6-8.

F. How Does Environment Affect Structure?

1. Mechanistic organizations are most effective in stable environments.
2. Organic organizations are best matched with dynamic and uncertain
environments.
3. The environment-structure relationship is why so many managers have
restructured their organizations to be lean, fast, and flexible.
4. Global competition, accelerated product innovation, knowledge management, and
increased demands from customers for higher quality and faster deliveries are
examples of dynamic environmental forces.
5. Mechanistic organizations tend to be ill-equipped to respond to rapid
environmental change.
Teaching Notes
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III. WHAT ARE SOME COMMON ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGNS?

A. The main designs are simple, functional and divisional.
1. See Exhibit 6-9.
B. What Is a Simple Structure?
1. Most organizations start as an entrepreneurial venture with a simple structure.
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2. There is low departmentalization, wide spans of control, authority centralized in a

single person, and little formalization.
3. The simple structure is most widely used in smaller businesses.
4. The strengths of the simple structure are that it is fast, flexible, and inexpensive to
maintain, and accountability is clear.
5. Major weaknesses.
a) It is effective only in small organizations.
b) It becomes increasingly inadequate as an organization grows; its few policies
or rules to guide operations and its high centralization result in information
overload at the top.
c) As size increases, decision making becomes slower and can eventually stop.
d) It is risky since everything depends on one person.
C. What is the functional structure?
1. Many organizations do not remain simple structures because structural
contingency factors dictate it.
2. As the number of employees rises, informal work rules of the simple structure give
way to more formal rules.
3. Rules and regulations are implemented; departments are created, and levels of
management are added to coordinate the activities of departmental people.
4. At this point, a bureaucracy is formed.
5. Two of the most popular bureaucratic design options are called the functional and
divisional structures.
6. Why do companies implement functional structures?
a) The functional structure merely expands the functional orientation.
b) The strength of the functional structure lies in work specialization.
(1) Economies of scale, minimizes duplication of personnel and equipment,
makes employees comfortable and satisfied.
c) The weakness of the functional structure is that the organization frequently
loses sight of its best interests in the pursuit of functional goals.
D. What is the divisional structure?
1. An organization design made up of self-contained units or divisions.
2. Health care giant Johnson & Johnson, for example, has three divisions:
pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics, and consumer products.
3. The chief advantage of the divisional structure is that it focuses on results.
a) Division managers have full responsibility for a product or service.
b) It also frees the headquarters from concern with day-to-day operating details.
4. The major disadvantage is duplication of activities and resources.
a) The duplication of functions increases the organization’s costs and reduces
efficiency.

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E. What Contemporary Organizational Designs Can Managers Use?

1. See Exhibit 6-10 for the three contemporary organization designs.
a) Team structure is when the entire organization consists of work groups or
teams.
b) Team members have the authority to make decisions that affect them,
because there is no rigid chain of command.
c) Companies such as Amazon, Boeing, Hewlett-Packard, Louis Vuitton,
Motorola, and Xerox extensively use employee teams to improve productivity.
d) In these teams, Employees must be trained to work on teams, receive cross-
functional skills training, and be compensated accordingly.
2. The matrix structure assigns specialists from different functional departments to
work on projects led by a project manager.
a) Exhibit 6-11 illustrates the matrix structure of a firm.
b) The unique characteristic of the matrix is that employees in this structure have
at least two bosses, a dual chain of command: their functional departmental
manager and their product or project managers.
c) Project managers have authority over the functional members who are part of
that manager’s team.
d) Authority is shared between the two managers.
(1) Typically, the project manager is given authority over project employees
relative to the project’s goals.
(2) Decisions such as promotions, salary recommendations, and annual reviews
remain the functional manager’s responsibility.
e) To work effectively, project and functional managers must communicate and
coordinate.
f) The primary strength of the matrix is that it can facilitate coordination of a
multiple set of complex and interdependent projects while still retaining the
economies that result from keeping functional specialists grouped together.
g) The major disadvantages of the matrix are in the confusion it creates and its
propensity to foster power struggles.
3. Project structure - is when employees continuously work on projects.
a) Tends to be more flexible
b) The major advantage of that is that employees can be deployed rapidly to
respond to environmental changes.
c) The two major disadvantages of the project structure are the complexity of
assigning people to projects and the inevitable task and personality conflicts
that arise.
F. What is a Boundaryless Organization?
1. A boundaryless organization, coined by former GE CEO, Jack Welch, is not
defined or limited by boundaries or categories imposed by traditional structures.

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2. It blurs the historical boundaries surrounding an organization by increasing its

interdependence with its environment.
3. There are two types of boundaries:
a) Internal—the horizontal ones imposed by work specialization and
departmentalization and the vertical ones that separate employees into
organizational levels and hierarchies.
b) External—the boundaries that separate the organization from its customers,
suppliers, and other stakeholders.
4. A virtual organization consists of a small core of full-time employees and outside
specialists temporarily hired as needed to work on projects.
5. A network organization - is one that uses its own employees to do some work
activities and networks of outside suppliers to provide other needed product
components or work processes. Also called a modular organization by
manufacturing firms.
Technology and the Manager’s Job - The Changing World of Work
It is almost cliché to say that technology has had a dramatic impact on how people work. Mobile
communication and technology has allowed organizations to stay connected. Hand-held
devices, cellular phones, webcams, etc. allow employees to work virtually. Information
technology continues to grow and become an integral part of the way business is conducted.
However, one challenges caused by some the high level of integrated technology is security.
Software and other disabling devices have helped in this arena and many companies are
developing creative applications for their workforce.
Questions for students to consider:
• What technology has changed in your lifetime?
• In what ways has technology made your life better?
• In what ways has technology had a negative impact?
• What do students see as the next big challenge in integrating technology and work? In our
personal lives?

IV. WHAT ARE TODAY'S ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN CHALLENGES?

A. How Do You Keep Employees Connected?

1. Choosing a design that will best support and facilitate employees doing their work
efficiently and effectively, creates challenges.
2. A major structural design challenge for managers is finding a way to keep widely
dispersed and mobile employees connected to the organization.
B. How Do Global Differences Affect Organizational Structure?
1. Researchers have concluded that the structures and strategies of organizations
worldwide are similar, “while the behavior within them is maintaining its cultural
uniqueness.”
2. When designing or changing structure, managers may need to think about the
cultural implications of certain design elements, such as rules and bureaucratic
mechanisms.

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C. How Do You Build a Learning Organization?

1. Building a learning organization is a mindset in which the learning organization
has developed the capacity to continuously adapt and change because all
members take an active role in identifying and resolving work-related issues.
2. Employees are practicing knowledge management.
a) Continually acquiring and sharing new knowledge.
b) Willing to apply that knowledge in making decisions or performing their work.
3. According to some organizational design theorists, an organization’s ability to
learn and to apply that learning may be the only sustainable source of competitive
advantage.
See Exhibit 6-12 for characteristics of a learning organization.
a) Members share information and collaborate on work activities throughout the
entire organization.
b) Minimize or eliminate existing structural and physical boundaries.
(1) Employees are free to work together and to collaborate.
(2) Teams tend to be an important feature of the structural design.
(3) Managers serve as facilitators, supporters, and advocates.
c) For a learning organization to "learn" information is shared openly, in a timely
manner, and as accurately as possible.
d) Leadership creates a shared vision for the organization’s future and keeps
organizational members working toward that vision.
(1) Leaders should support and encourage the collaborative environment.
e) A learning organization’s culture is one in which everyone agrees on a shared
vision and everyone recognizes the inherent interrelationships among the
organization’s processes, activities, functions, and external environment.
f) There is a strong sense of community, caring for each other, and trust.
(1) Employees feel free to openly communicate, share, experiment, and learn
without fear of criticism or punishment.
g) Organizational culture is an important aspect of being a learning organization.
A learning organization’s culture is one in which everyone agrees on a shared
vision and everyone recognizes the inherent interrelationships among the
organization’s processes, activities, f functions, and external environment.
D. How Can Managers Design Efficient and Effective Flexible Work Arrangements?
1. As organizations adapt their structural designs to fit a diverse workforce, growing
competition, customer demands and new technology, we see more of them
adopting flexible working arrangements.

2. Such arrangements not only exploit the power of technology, but give organizations
the flexibility to deploy employees when and where needed.

3. Telecommuting is a work arrangement in which employees work at home and are

linked to the workplace by computer.

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a) Telecommute provides the company a way to grow without having to incur any
additional fixed costs such as office buildings, equipment, or parking lots.

b) Some companies view the arrangement as a way to combat high gas prices
and to attract talented employees who want more freedom and control.

c) Some managers are reluctant to have their employees become “laptop hobos”
wasting time surfing the Internet or playing online games instead of working.

d) Employees often express a concerns about being isolated.

e) Managing the telecommuters then becomes a matter of keeping employees

feeling like they’re connected and engaged, a topic we delve into at the end of
the chapter as we look at today’s organizational design challenges.

4. Compressed workweek, which is a workweek where employees work longer hours

per day but fewer days per week.

a) Flextime (also known as flexible work hours), which is a scheduling system in

which employees are required to work a specific number of hours a week but
are free to vary those hours within certain limits.

b) Job sharing—the practice of having two or more people split a full-time job.

5. Contingent Workers are temporary, freelance, or contract workers whose

employment is contingent upon demand for their services.

a) As organizations eliminate full-time jobs through downsizing and other

organizational restructurings, they often rely on a contingent workforce to fill in
as needed.

b) One of the main issues businesses face with their contingent workers,
especially those who are independent contractors or freelancers, is classifying
who actually qualifies as one.

c) Another issue with contingent workers is the process for recruiting, screening,
and placing these contingent workers where their work skills and efforts are
needed.

d) As with full-time employees, it’s important that managers have a method of

establishing goals, schedules, and deadlines with the contingent employees

Teaching Notes
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REVIEW AND APPLICATIONS

CHAPTER SUMMARY
6.1 Describe six key elements in organizational design. The first element, work
specialization, refers to dividing work activities into separate job tasks. The second,
departmentalization, is how jobs are grouped together, which can be one of five types:
functional, product, customer, geographic, or process. The third— authority,
responsibility, and power—all have to do with getting work done in an organization.
Authority refers to the rights inherent in a managerial position to give orders and expect
those orders to be obeyed. Responsibility refers to the obligation to perform when
authority has been delegated. Power is the capacity of an individual to influence
decisions and is not the same as authority. The fourth, span of control, refers to the
number of employees a manager can efficiently and effectively manage. The fifth,
centralization and decentralization, deals with where the majority of decisions are
made—at upper organizational levels or pushed down to lower-level managers. The
sixth, formalization, describes how standardized an organization’s jobs are and the
extent to which employees’ behavior is guided by rules and procedures.
6.2 Identify the contingency factors that favor the mechanistic model or the organic
model. A mechanistic organizational design is quite bureaucratic whereas an organic
organizational design is more fluid and flexible. The strategy-determines structure factor
says that as organizational strategies move from single product to product
diversification, the structure will move from organic to mechanistic. As an organization’s
size increases, so does the need for a more mechanistic structure. The more non-
routine the technology, the more organic a structure should be. Finally, stable
environments are better matched with mechanistic structures, but dynamic ones fit better
with organic structures.
6.3 Compare and contrast traditional and contemporary organizational designs.
Traditional structural designs include simple, functional, and divisional. A simple
structure is one with low departmentalization, wide spans of control, authority centralized
in a single person, and little formalization. A functional structure is one that groups
similar or related occupational specialties together. A divisional structure is one made up
of separate business units or divisions. Contemporary structural designs include team-
based structures (the entire organization is made up of work teams); matrix and project
structures (where employees work on projects for short periods of time or continuously);
and boundaryless organizations (where the structural design is free of imposed
boundaries). A boundaryless organization can either be a virtual or a network
organization.
6.4 Discuss the design challenges faced by today’s organizations. One design
challenge lies in keeping employees connected, which can be accomplished through
using information technology. Another challenge is understanding the global differences
that affect organizational structure. Although structures and strategies of organizations
worldwide are similar, the behavior within them differs, which can influence certain
design elements. Another challenge is designing a structure around the mind-set of
being a learning organization. Finally, managers are looking for organizational designs
with efficient and effective flexible work arrangements. They’re using options such as
telecommuting, compressed workweeks, flextime, job sharing, and contingent workers.

6-15
Copyright ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
 Chapter 6 – Organizational Structure and Design

UNDERSTANDING THE CHAPTER

1. Describe what is meant by the term organizational design.
Answer: Once decisions regarding corporate strategies are made, an effective structure
must be implemented to facilitate the attainment of those goals. When managers develop or
change the organization’s structure, they are engaging in organization design. Organization
design decisions are typically made by senior managers. Organization design applies to any
type of organization.
2. Discuss the traditional and contemporary views of each of the six key elements of
organizational design.

Answer: Traditionally, work specialization was viewed as a way to divide work activities into
separate job tasks. Today’s view is that it is an important organizing mechanism but it can
lead to problems. The chain of command and its companion concepts—authority,
responsibility, and unity of command—were viewed as important ways of maintaining control
in organizations. The contemporary view is that they are less relevant in today’s
organizations. The traditional view of span of control was that managers should directly
supervise no more than five to six individuals. The contemporary view is that the span of
control depends on the skills and abilities of the manager and the employees and on the
characteristics of the situation.

3. Can an organization’s structure be changed quickly? Why or why not? Should it be

changed quickly? Why or why not?
Answer: No, it takes time and a lot of planning and communication. Cultures usually evolve
based initially on the founder's values. Whether or not it should be changed quickly is
dependent upon the competition, its efficiency and success and its financial viability. A
boundaryless organization provides the flexibility and fluid structure that facilitates quick
movements to capitalize on opportunities. An organic structure versus a bureaucracy could
adapt more quickly to changes.
4. “An organization can have no structure.” Do you agree or disagree with this
statement? Explain.
Answer: A boundaryless or virtual organization is not without structure, structure is
minimized but not eliminated. There is always some degree of reporting relations, some type
of division of labor, some need for the management of processes, etc. Boundaryless
organizations are not merely flatter organizations. They attempt to eliminate vertical,
horizontal, and inter-organizational barriers.
5. Contrast mechanistic and organic organizations.

Answer: A mechanistic organization is a rigid and tightly controlled structure. An organic

organization is highly adaptive and flexible. See Exhibit 6-7 for additional differences.

6. Explain the contingency factors that affect organizational design.

Answer: An organization’s structure should support the strategy. If the strategy changes the
structure also should change. An organization’s size can affect its structure up to a certain
point. Once an organization reaches a certain size (usually around 2,000 employees), it’s
fairly mechanistic. An organization’s technology can affect its structure. An organic structure
is most effective with unit production and process production technology. A mechanistic
structure is most effective with mass production technology. The more uncertain an
organization’s environment, the more it needs the flexibility of an organic design.
6-16
Copyright ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
 Chapter 6 – Organizational Structure and Design

7. With the availability of advanced information technology that allows an organization’s

work to be done anywhere at any time, is organizing still an important managerial
function? Why or why not?

Answer: Although an organization’s work may be done anywhere at any time, organizing
remains a vital managerial function because the work that must be accomplished still must
be divided, grouped, and coordinated. Regardless of where employees work, there are
basic managerial functions that must be served, such as scheduling of work, setting goals,
and maintaining employee morale.

8. Researchers are now saying that efforts to simplify work tasks actually have negative
results for both companies and their employees. Do you agree? Why or why not?
Answer: Student responses may vary based on their respective opinion. Simplifying tasks
may result in monotony and boredom, even turnover. The 21st century workforce is smarter,
more independent, better educated and more trustworthy employees, so they will demand
more challenging work. They will work with more individual authority and less direct
supervision.
9. The boundaryless organization has the potential to create a major shift in the way we
work. Do you agree or disagree? Explain.

Answer: Students’ responses to this will vary with most students focusing on the topics of
flexibility at work. Some organizations that adopt a boundaryless design also implement
flextime and flexplace work arrangements for their employees. This question could serve as
an interesting springboard for a class debate. Students could break into teams, with each
team taking the opposite position in the debate. Give students an opportunity to discuss
their strategy as a team before presenting their viewpoints to the class.

10. Draw an organization chart of an organization with which you’re familiar (where you
work, a student organization to which you belong, your college or university, etc.). Be
very careful in showing the departments (or groups) and especially be careful to get
the chain of command correct. Be prepared to share your chart with the class.
Answer: Student answers will depend on the organization that they choose.

6-17
Copyright ©2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
Another random document with
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so attracted. So far as we know, light has no fascination for Insects
except when they are on the wing. The phenomenon is not
understood at present.

The food of Blattidae is believed to be of a very mixed character,

though Brunner considers that dead animal matter is the natural
nutriment of the members of this family. It is well known that the
common cockroach eats a variety of peculiar substances; its
individuals undoubtedly have the somewhat too economical habit of
eating their own cast skins and empty egg-capsules, but in this they
only act like many other much admired Insects. S. orientalis is
gregarious, and the individuals are very amicable with one another;
small specimens sit on, or run over the big individuals, and even
nestle under them without their displaying the least resentment. The
common cockroach is a rather amusing pet, as the creatures
occasionally assume most comical attitudes, especially when
cleaning their limbs; this they do somewhat after the fashion of cats,
extending the head as far as they can in the desired direction, and
then passing a leg or antenna through the mouth; or they comb other
parts of the body with the spines on the legs, sometimes twisting and
distorting themselves considerably in order to reach some not very
accessible part of the body.

There is very little information extant as to the domestic Blattidae

found in parts of the world outside Europe, but it seems that there
are numerous species that prefer the dwellings of man, even though
they only tolerate the owners. Belt says[159] "the cockroaches that
infest the houses of the tropics are very wary, as they have
numerous enemies—birds, rats, scorpions, and spiders; their long
trembling antennae are ever stretched out, vibrating as if feeling the
very texture of the air around them; and their long legs quickly take
them out of danger. Sometimes I tried to chase one of them up to a
corner where on a wall a large cockroach-eating spider stood
motionless looking out for his prey; the cockroach would rush away
from me in the greatest fear, but as soon as it came within a foot of
its mortal foe nothing would force it onwards, but back it would
double, facing all the danger from me rather than advance nearer to
its natural enemy." To this we may add that cockroaches are the
natural prey of the fossorial Hymenoptera of the group Ampulicides,
and that these wasps sometimes enter houses in search of the
Insects.

Fig. 127.—Nocticola simoni. A, male; A1, tegmen and rudiment of wing;

A2, front of head; B, female. The cerci are broken, in B the right
one is restored in outline. (After Bolivar.)

We have already noticed the considerable difference that exists in

many cases between the sexes of the same species. This is
sometimes carried to such an extent that nothing but direct
observation could make us believe that the males and females are of
one kin. Fig. 118 (p. 220) shows a case of this kind. Though the
young as a rule are excessively similar to the adults, yet this is by no
means invariably the case. In some of the more amply winged forms,
such as Blabera, the young is about as different from the adult as the
female of Heterogamia is from its male. In Blattidae it is always the
case—so far as is yet known—that when there is a difference as
regards the alar organs between the two sexes, it is the male that
has these structures most developed, and this even when they can
be of little or no use for purposes of flight.

Among the most interesting forms of the family are the two species
of the genus Nocticola, recently discovered by M. Simon in caves in
the Philippine Islands.[160] They are amongst the smallest of the
Orthoptera, the male being scarcely ⅛ of an inch long. In the larval
state of N. simoni the ocular organs exist as three ocelli, or facets,
on each side of the head, and in the perfect state the number is
increased somewhat, as shown in Fig. 127, A2. In the second
species of the genus the female is quite blind (the male being still
undiscovered). The fenestræ in Nocticola are absent; the tegmina
and wings are totally wanting in the female (Fig. 127, B), but are
present in a very peculiar condition in the male (Fig. 127, A1). There
are other anomalies in the structure of these cavernicolous Insects,
the cerci being apparently of peculiar structure, and the spines of the
legs more hair-like than usual. The condition of the eyes is
remarkable; the peculiarity in their development is worthy of study.

Fig. 128.—Corydia petiveriana, with tegmina extended, A; closed, B.

To those who are acquainted with Blattidae only through our

domestic "black beetle" it may seem absurd to talk of elegance in
connexion with cockroaches. Yet there are numerous forms in which
grace and beauty are attained, and some exhibit peculiarities of
ornamentation that are worthy of attention. Corydia petiveriana (Fig.
128) is a common cockroach in East India. It has an effective system
of coloration, the under wings and the sides of the body being vividly
coloured with orange yellow; when the tegmina are closed the upper
surface of the body is of a velvet-black colour, with cream-coloured
marks; these spots are different on the two tegmina, as shown in Fig.
128, A, but are so arranged that when the tegmina are closed (Fig.
128, B) a symmetrical pattern is produced by the combination of the
marks of the two differently spotted tegmina. It is very curious to
notice the great difference in the colour of the part of the right
tegmen that is overlapped by the edge of the left one; this part of the
tegmen being coloured orange yellow in harmony with the wings.
The result of the remarkable differentiation of the colours of the two
tegmina may be summarised by saying that on the right one the
colour of a part is abruptly contrasted with that of the rest of the
organ, so as to share the system of coloration of the under-wings
and body, while the corresponding part of the other tegmen is very
different, and completes the system of symmetrical ornamentation of
the upper surface.

Many other members of the Blattidae have an elegant appearance,

and depart more or less from their fellows in structural characters,
with the result of adding to their graceful appearance; in such cases,
so far as at present known, these Insects are brightly coloured. Thus
Hypnorna amoena (Fig. 129) has the antennae banded in white,
black, and red, while the overlapping part of the tegmina is arranged
so as to bring the line of junction between them nearly straight along
the middle line of the body, and thus produce a more symmetrical
appearance than we find in other cockroaches. The head in this
Insect is not so concealed as usual, and this undoubtedly adds
somewhat to the effective appearance of this cockroach. This
visibility of the front of the head in Hypnorna is not, as would be
supposed, owing to its being less inflexed than usual. On the
contrary, the head is quite as strongly inflexed as it is in other
Blattidae, but the part just at the front of the thorax is unusually
elongate, so that the eyes are exposed and the Insect has a larger
field of vision. This interesting Insect belongs to the tribe
Oxyhaloides [Plectopterinae Sauss.], in which group the most highly
developed folded wings occur.

Fig. 129.—Hypnorna amoena. Central America. Tribe Oxyhaloides.

(After de Saussure.)
The wingless forms never exhibit the grace and elegance possessed
by some of the more active of the winged Blattidae. One of them,
Gromphadorhina portentosa, found in Madagascar (Fig. 130), is a
very robust Insect, and attains a length of 78 millim.—somewhat
more than 3 inches. This Insect has projections on the thorax that
remind us of the horns that exist in some of the Lamellicorn beetles.

Little has been yet written as to the resemblances of Blattidae to

other species of their own family, or to other creatures, but it is
probable that such similarities will be found to prevail to a
considerable extent. W. A. Forbes has called attention[161] to the
larva of a Blattid from Brazil as being remarkable for its superficial
resemblance to an Isopod crustacean. Some of the wingless forms
have a great resemblance to the small rolling-up Myriapods of the
group Glomerides; Pseudoglomeris fornicata, of which we figure the
female (Fig. 131), has received its name from this resemblance. The
females of the S. African genus Derocalymma possess this Glomerid
appearance, and have a peculiar structure of the prothorax,
admitting of a more complete protection of the head. Brunner states
that the wingless kinds of Derocalymma roll themselves up like
wood-lice. In many of the forms of this tribe—Perisphaeriides—the
males are winged, though the females are so like Myriapods.
According to de Saussure[162] the gigantic Megaloblatta rufipes
bears an extreme resemblance in appearance to the large
cockroaches of the genus Blabera.

Fig. 130.—Gromphadorhina portentosa, × ⅔. Tribe Perisphaeriides.

(After Brunner.)

Fig. 131.—Pseudoglomeris fornicata, ♀. Burma. Tribe Perisphaeriides.

(After Brunner.)
Some of the species of Holocompsa remind us strongly of Hemiptera
of the family Capsidae; they have an arrangement of colours similar
to what prevails in that group, and their tegmina and wings which, as
being those of Blattids may be said to be abnormally formed,
resemble in texture and the distribution of the venation those of the
Hemiptera. These Insects are closely allied to Diaphana, of which
genus we have figured a species (Fig. 122).

There is very little evidence on which to base an estimate of the

number of species of Blattidae existing in the world at present.
Probably the number extant in collections may amount to 1000 or
thereabouts, and the total existing in the world may be as many as
5000. The species of Blattidae cannot tolerate cold, and are
consequently only numerous in tropical regions. Europe possesses
about twenty species, and in Britain there are only three that are truly
native; these are all small Insects belonging to the genus Ectobia,
and living out of doors, amongst leaves, under bushes, and in
various other places. We have, however, several other species that
have been introduced by the agency of man, and these all live under
cover, where there is artificial warmth and they are protected from
the inclemencies of the winter season. The commonest of these
forms is Stilopyga orientalis, the "black beetle" of our kitchens and
bakehouses. This Insect is said to have been brought to Europe from
"Asia" about 200 years ago, but the evidence as to its introduction,
and as to the country of which it is really a native, is very slight. It is
indeed said[163] that S. orientalis has been found in peat in
Schleswig-Holstein. Periplaneta americana is a larger Insect, and is
common in some places; it is apparently the species that is most
usually found on board ships, where it sometimes multiplies
enormously, and entirely devours stores of farinaceous food to which
it obtains access: it is known that sometimes a box or barrel
supposed to contain biscuits, on being opened is found to have its
edible contents entirely replaced by a mass of living cockroaches.
Fortunately Periplaneta americana has not spread widely in this
country, though it is found in great numbers in limited localities; one
of the best known of which is the Zoological Gardens in the Regent's
Park at London. Periplaneta australasiae is very similar to P.
americana, but has a yellow mark on the shoulder of each tegmen.
This has obtained a footing in some of the glass-houses in the
Botanic Gardens at Cambridge and Kew; and it is said to be fairly
well established in Belfast. Another of our introduced domestic
cockroaches is Phyllodromia germanica, a much smaller Insect than
the others we have mentioned. It has only established itself at a few
places in this country, but it is extremely abundant in some parts of
Northern and Eastern Europe. It has been increasing in numbers in
Vienna, where, according to Brunner, it is displacing Stilopyga
orientalis. In addition to these, Rhyparobia maderae and species of
the genus Blabera have been met with in our docks, and are
possibly always to be found there. They are Insects of much larger
size than those we have mentioned. We figure the alar organs of one
of these species of Blabera of the natural size: the species in this
genus are extremely similar to one another. Blaberae are known in
the West Indies as drummers, it being supposed that they make a
noise at night,[164] but details in confirmation of this statement are
wanting.

Fig. 132.—Alar organs of Blabera sp. A, tegmen; B, wing.

It is a remarkable fact that no satisfactory reasons can be assigned

for the prevalence of one rather than another of these domestic
cockroaches in particular localities. It does not seem to depend at all
on size, or on the period of development, for the three species
Stilopyga orientalis, Periplaneta americana, and Phyllodromia
germanica, which are the most abundant, differ much in these
respects, and replace one another in particular localities, so that it
does not appear that any one is gaining a permanent or widespread
superiority as compared with another. There are, however, no
sufficient records on these points, and further investigation may
reveal facts of which we are at present ignorant, and which will throw
some light on this subject. We may remark that Mr. Brindley has
found it more difficult to obtain hatching of the young from the egg-
capsules of Periplaneta americana and Phyllodromia germanica at
Cambridge, than from those of Stilopyga orientalis.

Although much work has been done on the embryology of Blattidae,

the subject is still very incomplete. The recent memoirs of
Cholodkovsky[165] on Phyllodromia germanica contain so much of
general interest as to the development of the external parts of the
body that we may briefly allude to them. The earliest appearance of
segmentation appears to be due to the centralisation of numerous
cells round certain points in the ventral plate. The segmentation of
the anterior parts is first distinct, and the appearance of the
appendages of the body takes place in regular order from before
backwards, the antennae appearing first; the mandibles, however,
become distinct only subsequent to the maxillae and thoracic
appendages. There are in the course of the development
appendages to each segment of the body (he counts eleven
abdominal segments); the cerci develop in a similar manner to the
antennae; the first pair of abdominal appendages—at first similar to
the others—afterwards assume a peculiar stalked form. The
abdominal appendages subsequently disappear, with the exception
of the ninth pair, which form the ventral styles, and the eleventh pair,
which become the cerci. The last ventral segment is said to be
formed by the union of the tenth and eleventh embryonic ventral
segments.

Fig. 133.—A, Tegmen(?) of Palaeoblattina douvillei; B, of Etoblattina

manebachensis. (After Brauer and Scudder.)
As regards their Palaeontological forms Blattidae are amongst the
most interesting of Insects, for it is certain that in the Carboniferous
epoch they existed in considerable number and variety. A still earlier
fossil has been found in the Silurian sandstone of Calvados; it
consists of a fragment (Fig. 133, A), looking somewhat like an
imperfect tegmen of a Blattid; it was described by Brongniart under
the name of Palaeoblattina douvillei, and referred by him, with some
doubt, to this family. Brauer has, however, expressed the opinion[166]
that the fragment more probably belonged to an Insect like the mole-
cricket, and in view of this discrepancy of authorities we may be
pardoned for expressing our own opinion to the effect that the relic
has no connexion with the Insecta. The figure given by Scudder[167]
has not, however, so uninsect-like an appearance as that we have
copied from Brauer. Whatever may prove to be the case with regard
to Palaeoblattina, it is certain, as we have already said, that in the
Palaeozoic epoch Insects similar to our existing cockroaches were
abundant, their remains being found in plenty in the coal-measures
both of Europe and North America. Fig. 133, B, shows a fossil
tegmen of Etoblattina manebachensis from the upper Carboniferous
beds of Ilmenau in Germany. It will be noticed that the disposition of
the nervures is very much like that which may be seen in some of
our existing Blattidae (cf. the tegmen of Blabera, Fig. 132, A), the
vena dividens (a) being similarly placed, as is also the mediastinal
vein on the front part of the organ. The numerous carboniferous
Blattidae have been separated as a distinct Order of Insects by
Scudder under the name Palaeoblattariae, but apparently rather on
theoretical grounds than because of any ascertained important
structural distinctions. He also divided the Palaeoblattariae into two
groups, Mylacridae and Blattinariae, the former of which was
supposed to be peculiar to America. Brongniart has, however,
recently discovered that in the Carboniferous deposits of Commentry
in France Mylacridae are as common as in America. This latter
authority also states that some of the females of these fossil
Blattidae are distinguished by the presence of an elongate exserted
organ at the end of the body. He considers this to have been an
ovipositor by which the eggs were deposited in trees or other
receptacles, after a manner that is common in certain Orthoptera at
the present day. If this view be correct these Carboniferous Insects
must have been very different from the Blattidae of our own epoch,
one of whose marked characteristics is the deposition of the eggs in
a capsule formed in the body of the parent.

In the strata of the secondary epoch remains of Blattidae have also

been discovered in both Europe and America, in Oolitic, Liassic, and
Triassic deposits. From the Tertiary strata, on the other hand,
comparatively few species have been brought to light. A few have
been discovered preserved in amber.

Fig. 134.—Front leg of Periplaneta australasiae.

The classification of the Blattidae is attended with considerable

difficulty on account of the numerous wingless forms, and of the
extreme difference in the organisation of the two sexes of many
species. It has, however, been brought to a fairly satisfactory state
by the reiterated labours of Brunner von Wattenwyl, and we
reproduce his recently perfected exposition of their characters. His
first division is made by means of a structure which is very easily
observed, viz. whether the femora are armed with spines, as in Fig.
134, or not. The terms used in connexion with the wings and other
parts of the body we have already explained.

Brunner's system is adopted by de Saussure,[168] who, however,

proposes to replace the names Ectobiides and Oxyhaloides by
Anaplectinae and Plectopterinae. He also proposes to apply the
generic name Blatta to the Insect that is now so frequently called
Phyllodromia germanica in zoological works. If that view be adopted,
Brunner's group Phyllodromiides will be called Blattides.

Table of the tribes of Blattidae, after Brunner:—

1. Femora spiny beneath.[169]

2. The last ventral plate of the female large, without valves.
3. Supra-anal lamina of both male and female transverse, narrow.
Wings, when present, furnished with a triangular apical field.
Posterior femora unarmed beneath, or armed with two spines on
the anterior margin. Egg-capsules furnished with a longitudinal
suture. Tribe 1. Ectobiides. [Anaplectinae Saussure.]
3′. Supra-anal lamina of each sex more or less produced, triangular, or
emarginate. Wings, when present, without apical field. Posterior
femora with both edges spiny.
4. Supra-anal lamina of each sex triangular, not notched. Cerci
projecting much beyond this lamina.
5. Pronotum and elytra smooth (i.e. without peculiarity of surface
other than punctuation). The radial nervure of the wing giving
off several parallel branches, pectinate on the anterior margin
(except in the genus Abrodiaeta). Tarsal joints without pads.
Tribe 2. Phyllodromiides. [Blattinae Saussure.]
5′. Pronotum and elytra holosericeous. Radial nervure of the wings
giving off irregular branches on the anterior margin (ulnar vein
many-branched). Tarsal joints furnished with pads. Tribe 3.
Nyctiborides.
4′. Supra-anal lamina of males more or less four-sided, with obtuse
angles, of females broad, rounded, or lobed. Cerci not projecting
beyond the lamina. (Tarsal joints with distinct pads.) Ulnar
nervure of the wings giving off parallel branches towards the vena
dividens. Tribe 4. Epilamprides.
2′. The last ventral plate of the female furnished with valves. Tribe 5.
Periplanetides.[170] (Fig. 119, Periplaneta australasiae.)
1′. Femora unarmed beneath. (In the tribe Panesthiides the anterior femora
are frequently armed with two spines.)
 2. Supra-anal lamina of each sex more or less produced, posterior margin
notched.
3. A distinct pad between the claws. Tribe 6. Panchlorides.
3′. No pad between the claws, or only an excessively small one.
4. Wings with a folded fan-like anal field. Pronotum smooth. Tribe 7.
Blaberides. (Fig. 132, Blabera sp. wings.)
4′. Anal field of the wing with a single fold. Pronotum more or less
pilose. Tribe 8. Corydiides. (Fig. 128, Corydia petiveriana. Fig.
118, Heterogamia aegyptiaca.)
2′. Supra-anal lamina of each sex, short, transverse, posterior margin
straight or rounded.
3. Subgenital lamina of the male somewhat produced, furnished with a
single style. Tarsal claws with a distinct pad (except in the genus
Paranauphoeta).
4. Anterior portion of the wings pointed, either the apical field of the
wing very much produced, or the wings twice as long as the
tegmina, folded in repose. Tribe 9. Oxyhaloides. [Plectopterinae
Saussure.] (Fig. 129, Hypnorna amoena.)
4′. Anterior portion of wing, when present, rounded, with no apical
field. Tribe 10. Perisphaeriides. (Fig. 130, Gromphadorhina
portentosa; Fig. 131, Pseudoglomeris fornicata.)
3′. Subgenital lamina of males extremely small, without styles. No pad
between claws. Tribe 11. Panesthiides.

To the above tribes another one—Geoscapheusides—has been

recently added by Tepper,[171] for an extraordinary Australian Insect
of fossorial habits, with front legs formed somewhat like those of
Gryllotalpa.

CHAPTER X

ORTHOPTERA CONTINUED—MANTIDAE—SOOTHSAYERS
 Fam. IV. Mantidae—Soothsayers or Praying Insects.

Orthoptera with exserted but deflexed head and elongate

prothorax, the first pair of legs largely developed, raptorial, the
coxae elongate, free, femora and tibiae armed with spines:
second and third pair of legs simple and similar; the tarsi five-
jointed, without a pad (arolium) between the claws; a pair of
jointed cerci near the extremity of the body.

The Mantidae are an extensive family of Orthoptera, showing

extreme variety in the shapes and outlines of the body, and
characterised by the very remarkable front legs; the function of these
legs being to seize and hold their prey, which consists of living
Insects, Mantidae being carnivorous and highly voracious.

The labium is deeply divided, each half exhibiting a very near

approach to the structure of a maxilla; there is a large membranous
lingua reposing on the inner face of the lower lip. The head is quite
free from the thorax, its front part being deflexed, and even
somewhat inflexed, so that the mouth is directed downwards and
somewhat backwards: it is very mobile, being connected to the
thorax by a comparatively slender neck, which is, however,
concealed by the pronotum. There are two large, prominent eyes,
the antennae are frequently very slender, but they sometimes differ
according to sex, and in some genera are pectinate in the male; just
above and between their insertion are three ocelli placed in a
triangle, two above, one below; between the antennae and the
clypeus there is an interval called the scutellar space. In some forms
of Mantidae the head assumes most extraordinary shapes; the eyes
may become elongate and horn-like; there may be a projection
between them bearing the ocelli, and attaining occasionally a great
length; the scutellar space also may have a remarkable
development, the whole thus forming a peculiar ornamental
structure, as in Fig. 136.
 Fig. 135.—Deroplatys sarawaca, female. Borneo. (After Westwood.)

The prothorax is elongate, but there are a few genera, e.g.

Eremiaphila, in which it is exceptionally short, and there are several
others in which the elongate form is more or less masked by
foliaceous expansions of the sides. The pronotum shows near the
front a transverse depression or seam, which marks the position of
an internal chitinous ridge. The anterior legs are inserted near the
front of the prosternum, which extends less far forwards than the
pronotum does; the posterior part of the prosternum is very elongate,
and is completely separated from the anterior part by the base of the
coxae and the membranes attached to them; the pronotum and
sternum are closely connected at the sides till near the posterior part
where they diverge, the space so formed being occupied by a
membrane in which the prothoracic stigma is situated. The
mesothorax is as long as broad, and the front wings are attached to
the whole length of the sides; the mesosternum is a triangular piece
pointed behind, and bearing very large side-pieces, to the hinder
portion of which the middle coxae are attached; these latter are large
and quite free, and repose on the metasternum which they cover; the
mesothoracic stigma may be detected as a slit situated on a slight
prominence just behind and a little below the membranous hind-
margin of the tegmen. The metathorax differs comparatively little in
size and structure from the mesothorax; the membranous hind wings
are attached to the sides of the notum along nearly the whole length
of the latter. The abdomen is moderately long; in each sex ten dorsal
plates may be detected, and there is a pair of ringed cerci projecting
from beneath the sides of the tenth plate. The number of ventral
plates is more difficult to verify, the first one being much reduced;
eight other plates can be demonstrated in the male and six in the
female.

Fig. 136.—Head of Harpax variegatus, seen from the front.

The anterior legs are formed in a remarkable manner in the

Mantidae, and are, in fact, the most characteristic feature of the
family. Attached near the front of the thorax there is a very long coxa,
to the apex of which is articulated the triangular trochanter; this
bears the elongate femur, which is furnished on its lower face with
sharp spines and teeth; the tibia which follows is much shorter and
smaller than the femur; its lower face bears also an armature of
teeth, and it is so articulated with the femur that it can be completely
closed thereon, its teeth fitting in among those of the femur (Fig. 137,
B); the latter has one or more longer spines overlapping the apical
part of the tibia when contracted. The tarsus is slender, five-jointed,
without pad. The other two pairs of legs are simple; the hinder
usually a little the longer, and in some species that possess powers
of leaping (Ameles), with the femora a little thicker at the base.
 Fig. 137.—Front leg of Empusa pauperata, female: A, with tibia
extended and tarsus wanting; B, more magnified (the basal parts
removed), showing the mode of closure.

The alar organs of the Mantidae are as regards the nervures and
areas fairly similar to those of the Blattidae. The tegmina are usually
narrow, and exhibit three well-marked areas; the one in front or
external (according as the wing is expanded or closed) is the
mediastinal area; it is usually more elongate and occupies a larger
portion of the surface of the tegmen than in Blattidae. The middle
area, forming the larger part of the wing, is occupied by the branches
of the radial and ulnar nervures. The third area, the anal, possesses
a sort of appendage in the form of a small space of a more delicately
membranous nature at the inner part of the base. The tegmina are
often more or less leaf-like in texture and consistence; this character
is as a rule not very marked, but there are a few species with the
tegmina very like foliage, this being more marked in the female; in
some, if not in all, of these cases the mediastinal area is
considerably increased. One tegmen overlaps the other, as in
Blattidae, but to a less extent, and the correlative asymmetry is but
slight: there is frequently a pallid spot close to the main vein on the
principal area, nearer to the base than to the extremity. The hind
wings are more ample than the front, and of much more delicate
consistence; they possess numerous veins converging to the base;
the anterior part of the wing is firmer in consistence, and its veins are
more numerously furcate; there are many more or less distinct
minute cross-veinlets, and an elegant tinting is not infrequent. They
close in a fan-like manner, transverse folding being unknown in the
family.

But little has been written on the internal anatomy of the Mantidae.
Dufour has described only very partially that of M. religiosa. The
salivary glands are largely developed, salivary receptacles exist; the
alimentary canal possesses eight elongate coecal diverticula placed
on the chylific ventricle; there are about one hundred Malphigian
tubules. In each ovary there are about 40 egg-tubes, and they are
joined at their bases in clusters of about half a dozen; each cluster
has a common sinus; these sinuses are placed at intervals along a
tube, which is one of two branches whose union forms the oviduct;
there are a large number of "serific glands" of two kinds in the
female. The testes are unusually complex in their structure.

According to Schindler[172] the Malphigian tubes in Mantis are not

inserted, as usual, at the base of the intestine, but on the intestine
itself at about one-third of its length from the base. There is some
doubt about this observation. Schindler considers the fact, if it be
such, unique.

The eggs of the Mantidae are deposited in a singular manner: the

female, placing the extremity of the body against a twig or stone,
emits some foam-like matter in which the eggs are contained. This
substance dries and forms the ootheca; whilst attaining a sufficient
consistence it is maintained in position by the extremity of the body
and the tips of the elytra, and it is shaped and fashioned by these
parts. The eggs are not, as might be supposed, distributed at
random through the case, but are lodged in symmetrically-arranged
chambers, though how these chambers come into existence by the
aid of so simple a mode of construction does not appear. The
capsule is hard; it quite conceals the eggs, which might very
naturally be supposed to be efficiently protected by their covering:
this does not, however, appear to be the case, as it is recorded that
they are subject to the attacks of Hymenopterous parasites. The time
that elapses after the eggs are laid and before they hatch varies
greatly according to circumstances. In France, Mantis religiosa
deposits its eggs in September, but they do not hatch until the
following June; while in E. India the young of another species of
Mantis emerge from the eggs about twenty days after these have
been deposited. Trimen has recorded some particulars as to the
formation of its egg-case by a Mantis in S. Africa. This specimen
constructed four nests of eggs at intervals of about a fortnight, and
Trimen states that the four were "as nearly as possible of the same
size and of precisely similar shape." He also describes its mode of
feeding, and says that it was fond of house-flies, and would eat
"blue-bottles," i.e. Musca vomitoria, but if while eating one of the
latter a house-fly were introduced, the "blue-bottle" was generally
dropped, even though it might be in process of being devoured. The
young have to escape from the chambers in which they are confined
in these egg-cases; they do so in a most curious manner; not by the
use of the feet, but by means of spines directed backwards on the
cerci and legs, so that when the body is agitated advance is made in
only one direction. The eggs last deposited are said to be the first to
hatch. On reaching the exterior the young Mantids do not fall to the
ground, but remain suspended, after the manner of spiders, to the
ootheca by means of two threads attached to the extremities of the
cerci; in this strange position they remain for some days until the first
change of skin is effected, after which they commence the activity of
their predatory life.

Fig. 138.—Egg-case of Mantis with young escaping: A, the case with

young in their position of suspension; B, cerci magnified, showing
the suspensory threads. (After Brongniart.)

Dr. Pagenstecher has given an account[173] of the development of

Mantis religiosa, from which it would appear that the statements of
Fischer and others as to the number of moults are erroneous, owing
to the earliest stages not having been observed. When the young
Mantis emerges from the egg it bears little resemblance to the future
Insect, but looks more like a tiny pupa; the front legs, that will
afterwards become so remarkable, are short and not different from
the others, and the head is in a curious mummy-like state, with the
mouth-parts undeveloped and is inflexed on the breast: there are, he
says, nine abdominal segments. The first ecdysis soon takes place
and the creature is thereafter recognisable as a young Mantis.
Pagenstecher's specimens at first would only eat Aphididae, but at a
later stage of the development they devoured other Insects greedily:
the number of ecdyses is seven or eight. The ocelli appear for the
first time when the wing rudiments do so; the number of joints in the
antennae increases at each moult. Dr. Pagenstecher considers that
this Insect undergoes its chief metamorphosis immediately after
leaving the egg, the earlier condition existing apparently to fit the
Insect for escaping from the egg-case. In the immature stage of the
Mantidae the alar organs appear (Fig. 139) as adjuncts of the sides
of the meso- and meta-notum, projecting backwards and very deeply
furrowed and ribbed in a wing-like manner. According to
Pagenstecher, this wing-like appearance only commences in the fifth
stadium, but he has not given particulars of the conditions of these
parts in the preceding instars. According to de Saussure[174] the
wings of the females of some species remain permanently in this
undeveloped or nymphal state.

Fig. 139.—Tegmina (t) and wings (w) of immature Mantis.

Fig. 140.—Iris oratoria, female. South Europe. Natural size.

The Mantidae, as a rule, have a quiet unobtrusive mien, and were it

not for their formidable front legs would look the picture of
innocence; they, however, hold these legs in such manner as to
greatly detract from the forbidding appearance thereof, stretching
them out only partially so as to give rise to an appearance of
supplication or prayer;[175] this effect is increased by their holding
themselves in a semi-erect position, standing on the hind and middle
legs with the upper parts of the body directed somewhat forwards,
hence they are called by various names indicating prayer or
supplication, and it is said that in some countries they are considered
sacred. Some of the older writers went so far as to say that a Mantis
would indicate the road a child should take by stretching out one of
its arms in the right direction. The traveller Burchell, speaking of a
species since described by Westwood under the name of
Tarachodes lucubrans, says: "I have become acquainted with a new
species of Mantis, whose presence became afterwards sufficiently
familiar to me by its never failing, on calm warm evenings, to pay me
a visit as I was writing my journal, and sometimes to interrupt my
lucubrations by putting out the lamp. All the Mantis tribe are very
remarkable Insects; and this one, whose dusky sober colouring well
suits the obscurity of night, is certainly so, by the very late hours it
keeps. It often settled on my book, or on the press where I was
writing, and remained still, as if considering some affair of
importance, with an appearance of intelligence which had a
wonderful effect in withholding my hand from doing it harm. Although
hundreds have flown within my power, I never took more than five. I
have given to this curious little creature the name of Mantis
lucubrans; and having no doubt that he will introduce himself to
every traveller who comes into this country [Southern Africa] in the
months of November and December, I beg to recommend him as a
harmless little companion, and entreat that kindness and mercy may
be shown to him." This appearance of innocence and quietness
must have struck all who have seen these Insects alive;
nevertheless, it is of the most deceptive character, for the creature's
activity consists of a series of wholesale massacres carried on day
after day, the number of victims it sacrifices being enormous. The
Mantis does not even spare its own kind; it is well known that the
female not unfrequently devours its own mate. A very different
picture to that of Burchell has been drawn by Potts, who observed
the habits of a species in New Zealand.[176] He informs us that when
about making an attack it approaches its intended prey with slow,
deliberate movements, its anterior limbs folded in an innocent