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ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · The formal and informal business organisation

A hospital employs highly trained surgeons who largely control their own work, with standards set by their professional bodies and training. Which coordinating mechanism and configuration does this most closely match in Mintzberg's model?

This matches a professional bureaucracy using standardisation of skills. The professionals in the operating core are trained externally and work with considerable autonomy. Output standardisation belongs to divisionalised forms, and mutual adjustment to adhocracies, so neither fits the hospital as well.

  1. AStandardisation of outputs in a divisionalised form
  2. BStandardisation of skills in a professional bureaucracyCorrect
  3. CMutual adjustment in an adhocracy

Explanation

Professional bureaucracies depend on the operating core, whose members are skilled professionals. Coordination is achieved by standardisation of skills, gained through training outside the organisation. Standardisation of outputs fits the divisionalised form, and mutual adjustment fits the adhocracy.

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