Systems and Behavior The organizational pattern in each archetype is largely determined by two factors: its natural and appropriate organizational structure, and the nature of professional relationships among its leaders and employees.
We can understand the structural needs of organizations through the following diagram:
In organizations with vertical systems - mostly rulers, plus some warriors and pioneers - the emphasis in the organization is on efficiency and meeting high demand. These systems tend to focus on the organization itself - on deliveries, deadlines, profits, etc. - rather than on customer requirements. Such organizations perform best when they have clear delivery channels and products that are simple to deliver and easy to understand. Their vertical structures serve to keep order and direct employee efforts toward internally-developed goals of production and profit.
In contrast, those organizations that use horizontal systems - primarily hunters, as well as certain pioneers and warriors - attempt to create order and effectiveness for the benefit of the customer. Managers who represent groups of customers normally have more authority than function managers. Effectiveness in these systems is measured in terms of customer satisfaction, as well as competitive acumen (e.g., reduction of costs).
Because jungle markets are so competitive, hunter organizations normally need horizontal structures that are close to the customer. Planning here is a function of the particular situation. The organization often needs to be able to satisfy the customer without going up and down a hierarchy for approval. The issues here are speed, preserving scarce resources, and exerting the least possible effort in order to achieve very difficult goals.
While some companies clearly fall into one area of the above grid, others (usually warriors and pioneers, which both fall into cusp quadrants) may require a mix of structures. Most warrior organizations, for example, work best if they have a combination of vertical structures that govern the whole system and smaller horizontal structures that deal with the parts, such as franchises. Both, however, are managed with tight central plans. People who work inside these systems expect that these clear, carefully-delineated plans will exist and will provide them with most of their direction. Managers in the corporate headquarters of these organizations - companies such as Burger King and Office Depot - spend a good deal of their time developing these central plans. Yet those who carry out those plans on the front line are much less vertical in their management.
Pioneer organizations also typically function using a combination of vertical and horizontal structures. They allow products and markets to evolve, and they expect less order and more freedom and redundancy. Scientists and engineers in the lab also expect this of management. As a result, these companies may employ a vertical management that is responsible for allocating resources and creating environments that support innovation. Yet within the development groups themselves, there is normally some form of horizontal management. Typically, this consists of egalitarian teams, with team leaders who support the activities of both the team and each of its members.
The type of professional behavior needed to support organizational activity and fulfill a company's central mission also varies from one archetype to another. If an organization's central mission is to manufacture and deliver a commodity product (e.g., computer discs or frozen orange juice) quickly and at a low cost, then order and control are essential. Relationships in such an organization are (and should be) based on compliance and tight adherence to central plans. Such a structure and set of behaviors enables beer companies to move millions of bottles around the world quickly and efficiently.
This does not mean there is no room for individuality in these organizations, but that the balance is clearly on the side of central plans and standard, repeatable behaviors over large territories.
In contrast, frontier markets demand innovation and discovery. These tend not to happen in centrally planned organizations. Thus the behaviors most needed in pioneer organizations (and in some rulers and hunters) are a lack of standard procedure and a willingness to seek and exploit opportunity.
