Managerial competencies and organizational structures

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is a relationship among leadership, action, social, and personal competencies of managers in modern organizational structure types and whether a relationship exists between a company's organizational structure and performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire was carried out among top managers in Slovene mid- and large-sized companies. The relationship among managerial competencies, the choice of organizational structure type and the company effectiveness were measured with a value-added approach. The method of structural models was used for establishing the affect among individual variables.

Findings

The results support the hypothesized effect of managerial competencies on a company's organizational structure type. The effect of a modern, horizontal organizational structure on a company's performance and growth on the market facilitates the achievement of higher value added as well as has a direct impact of managerial competencies on a company's performance.

Research limitations/implications

The study was limited to mid- and large-sized companies in Slovenia. Only top managers were included in the study as they are the ones that are responsible and have the largest influence in creating a company's organizational structure.

Practical implications

The paper includes implications to those organizations in the process of restructuring and for those companies that are prepared to modify traditional principles of management participation.

Originality/value

To the authors knowledge no research studies were found that examined the affect and relation of top management competencies with respect to different organizational structures.

Citation

Verle, K., Markič, M., Kodrič, B. and Gorenc Zoran, A. (2014), "Managerial competencies and organizational structures", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 114 No. 6, pp. 922-935. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-01-2014-0019