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ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Business organisational structure

Mintzberg described a professional bureaucracy. Which of the following organisations best fits it, and why?

A hospital best fits a professional bureaucracy. Its operating core is made up of highly trained professionals who work autonomously, with standards set by their training and professional bodies. A family shop is entrepreneurial, an assembly plant is a machine bureaucracy, and a temporary film team resembles an adhocracy.

  1. AA hospital, because power rests with skilled professionals whose standards come from their trainingCorrect
  2. BA family-run shop, because the owner directs every task
  3. CA car assembly plant, because work is standardised by rules set by technocrats
  4. DA short-term film project team, because members form temporary adhoc groups

Explanation

In a professional bureaucracy, the operating core consists of highly trained specialists who control their own work using standards learned through training, as in hospitals or universities. The shop is entrepreneurial, the assembly plant a machine bureaucracy, and the film team an adhocracy.

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