Culture, Power, and Politics in the WorkplaceAs far back as history can be told, humanity has struggled between culture, power, and politics. Many wars have taken place and many people have risked their lives to defend their beliefs. Combinations of culture, power and politics have carried over into the workplace. In today's business environment, individuals have much more to worry about than simply completing the tasks assigned to them. Organizational culture, power, and office politics influence daily operations and govern the atmosphere within the organization. The extent to which power and politics impact the workplace directly reflects the culture of the organization, both formally and informally. Organizational Structure The organizational structure within an organization is an essential part of the day-to-day operations of a business. An organization benefits from organizational structure because of all that it encompasses. It is used to define how tasks are divided, grouped and coordinated. Six elements must be considered when designing the organization structure: work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, spans of control, centralization, and decentralization. These components are a direct reflection of the culture, power and politics of the organization. Common Organizational Designs Most organizations fall into one of three organizational designs: simple structure, bureaucracy, and matrix structure. A company's organizational design dictates who makes executive decisions and how they are implemented. Organizational design is usually decided based on the size of the company and the market. Simple StructureThe simple structure is widely used by small businesses in which the owner directly manages the day-to-day operations. The advantage of using the simple structure is that it is simple. One person normally makes the decisions and takes full responsibility for the success and failure of the business. “It's fast, flexible, and inexpensive to maintain, and the accountability is clear” (Judge & Robbins, 2007, p.546). Unfortunately, using a simple structure as an organizational design limits the business from its full potential, because as it grows, it becomes more difficult for a single person to oversee daily operations and make executive decisions fast. Once an organization reaches this point, it must change its organizational design in order to remain competitive in its market.BureaucracyBureaucracy is an organizational design based on the concept of standardization. “It is characterized by highly routine operational tasks achieved through specialization, highly formalized rules and regulations, tasks grouped into functional departments, centralized authority, narrow spans of control, and decision-making that follows the chain of command » (Judge & Robbins, 2007, p...