Organizations are made up of five basic elements. These elements are job specialization, departmentalization, reporting relationships, authority, and coordination.

One early universal model of organization design was the bureaucratic model. This model was based on the presumed need for rational and logical rules, regulations, and procedures.

The situational view of organization design is based on the assumption that the optimal organization design is a function of situational factors. Four important situational factors are technology, environment, size, and organizational life cycle. Each of these factors plays a role in determining how an organization should be designed.

Many organizations today adopt one of four basic organization designs: functional (U-form), conglomerate (H-form), divisional (M-form), or matrix. Other organizations use a hybrid design derived from two or more of these basic designs.

Three emerging issues in organization design are the team organization, the virtual organization, and the learning organization