Strategic Apex The strategic apex refers to the management board, directors, and senior executives of an organization that ensure the company’s objectives/goals align with its mission and vision (Yu et al., 2018). Operating Core The operating core are agents who conduct the basic processing and support tasks that produce the desired outcomes or services (Zakaryaei & Noubar, 2016). Middle-Line Middle-line managers act as their respective unit’s figurehead, develop their network’s contact, monitor their unit’s activities, lead members, and convey information generated from their team up the command chain (Zeqiri & Alijah, 2016). Technostructure The technostructure consists of analysts who plan, control, and standardize other agents’ work in the organization. They are highly-trained specialists who can schedule production, middle-line managers’ roles, and design the organization’s systems. Support Systems The support staff indirectly supports the operating core’s function. Their activities’ outcomes contribute to the operating apex’s efficiency and effectiveness. Significance to a Firm’s Organizational Design They demonstrate the flow of systems in the organization An organizational chart provides an accurate representation of labor division, job positions within an organization, these positions’ categorization into workgroups, and the authority flow between these units. Similarly, Mintzberg’s organogram depicts the order, functioning systems, and informational processes’ flow within an organization (Mintzberg, n.d.). The organogram shows the vertical decisions and information’s flow from the strategic apex to the operational core through the middle line. For example, the strategic apex may develop strategic plans, while the technostructure transforms these programs into operating plans, budgets, and programs. The strategic plans then reach the operating core as task instructions generated by the middle line. The technostructure controls and regulates these system’s flow (Mintzberg, n.d.). The middle-line implements decisions, collects work process data from the operational units, and summarizes it as it goes through each hierarchy level. This information’s total compilation later reaches the strategic apex as an organization’s performance summary. It Defines Workflow Systems The above-mentioned organizational parts help elucidate the flow of processes, power, and formal authority in the organization. However, according to Mintzberg (n.d.), 60% of communications in organizations are informal: they happen through face-to-face communication. Often, operators bypass formal communication systems to convey information directly to pertinent parties. These informal contacts suggest that people in organizations work in small peer groups or cliques whose relationships are horizontal rather than vertical. Organizations have different cliques, communication networks at different levels in organization. Similarly, work constellations can be formal or informal, with workgroups in each unit corresponding with other units in the organogram. For example, operating core’s workgroups will correspond with the technostructure’s workflows. The support staff would loosely interact with many formal work units. The technostructure and middle-line’s relationships