To Study the Effect of Organizational Structure on Employees' Psychological Empowerment : Case of Pakistan International Airline PIA

Abstract

In an ever evolving environment nearly every firm undergoes re-organization at some point in time. Structural modifications are considered as a pre-requisite to bring change in the overall strategy of an organization, and it must be aligned with the environment, technology, size & culture, and life-cycle of the organization. While there is no doubt that hierarchy acts as a backbone for conventional organizations, its appropriate applicability by managers harnesses undeserved criticism. The problem lies in its adequate use. This research has been conducted to evaluate the dependency of formal organization structure on employees’ psychological empowerment in Pakistan International Airline (PIA). In this research, formal organizational structure variable has been defined on the basis of Robins’ theory of organizational structure in three dimensions: formality, complexity, and centralization; whereas, psychological empowerment variable has been taken from Spreitzer’s research with four dimensions: meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact. Research sample comprises of middle managers of PIA based in Islamabad & Rawalpindi. A total of sixty employees were selected randomly. Rationale for selecting middle managers for this research is based on their role of implementing the strategic goals/objectives chalked out by the top managers. In organizations having tall/vertical hierarchal structures, the autonomy granted to the middle managers is less as compared to flat/horizontal hierarchal structures. Considering PIA’s tall hierarchal structure, this research is an attempt to study the effect of formal vertical structure and employees’ psychological empowerment. The following research is quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional in nature. Questionnaires were used for data collection and analysis. By means of descriptive statistical tools like Regression analysis and Cronbach alpha, obtained information was accumulated and summarized. Results of the research indicate that formal organization structure has a significant effect on employees’ psychological empowerment. It also indicates that vertical organizational structure has negative effect on employees’ psychological empowerment in PIA.