Organizational StructuresThe mechanistic view of an organization began with the industrial revolution. This vision reflects the radical change of society from a rural agricultural base to one based more impersonally on centralized urban industry employing large numbers of people. The first changes began in the late 1600s and early 1700s with rudimentary machines that replaced manual labor or made things that were previously not possible due to size, weight or numbers. Maximum industrial growth occurred during the 1800s, exponential at the end and beginning of our century. The vision and metaphorical analogy of an organization as a machine was the result of the only frame of reference available at that time, and is anchored in the then prevailing conditions, large numbers of uneducated or semi-educated people congregated in clustered centers around the factories. When the vision is combined with what business organizations are designed to do – take raw materials and convert them as quickly and efficiently as possible into commercial products that will generate a profit – the comparison between organization and machine is easy and obvious. As in the case of the new machines made available during the industrial revolution, organizations can be seen as composed of many "parts" which are individual people and/or company departments (milling, stamping, forging, assembly, etc.). Each of them can be changed, modified or replaced individually or completely. The hierarchical and pyramidal representation also coincides with the machine where one part is crucial (energy source), spreading downward through power shafts that turn various wheels (departments) with many gears (people) producing something. The metaphor of... half the paper... and technology. Strategy influences organization design as the structure should change as an organization's strategy changes. Size affects organization design because as organizations grow, they tend to become more formalized and bureaucratic. Finally, technology influences organization design because the production process should adapt to the type of organizational structure to be effective. REFERENCES Gareth Jones - Organizational Theory, Design, and Change – Fourth Edition – Pearson Education International - 2004Mechanistic Organizations, http://www .familypages.net/dawn/mechanistic.htm (accessed 16 March 2006) http://ollie. dcccd.edu/mgmt1374/book_contents/3organizing/org_process/org_process.htm (accessed March 16, 2006) Organic vs Mechanistic Structures http:// www.analytictech.com/mb021/organic_vs_mechanistic_structure.htm (accessed March 16 2006)