Final answer:
Organizations should be open to changing their structures even if they currently align with the strategy due to the rapid changes in the workplace resulting from technological and economic shifts, globalization, and demographics. Team-based and flat organizational structures have become more common but need regular reassessment to ensure continued productivity and competitiveness.
Step-by-step explanation:
Even when there is an alignment between an organization's structure and its strategy, it should not always maintain its current structure. This is because the workplace is rapidly changing due to factors like technology, economic shifts, globalization, and changes in workplace demographics. Organizations must be agile and adaptable to these changes. A popular response to this need for flexibility has been the adoption of team-based structures where a diverse set of skills and experiences can be capitalized on to tackle specific tasks or goals.
However, despite the popularity of team-based structures, they do not guarantee increased productivity. A poor initial design choice can lead to a failure in adequately addressing customer needs. Furthermore, there has been a shift towards flat organizational structures, which encourages more collaborative relationships between different levels of employees and may require reevaluation and adaptation of existing structures over time.
Adapting to market conditions could also mean that, in some cases, it makes more sense for a firm to close rather than continue operating without making needed structural changes. Just as markets evolve, so must the organizations that operate within them in order to remain competitive and responsive to their environment.