Rethinking Mintzberg’s Organizational Model In The Digital Age

Abstract

Digital transformation is profoundly reshaping organizational structures, challenging the relevance of classical analytical models. This article offers a critical reassessment of Mintzberg’s organizational model in light of digital dynamics, with a specific focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Through an integrative literature review, the study examines the limitations of structural components and coordination mechanisms in a context marked by disintermediation, virtualization, automation, and interconnectivity. The distinctive characteristics of SMEs—agility, informality, and centralized decision-making—amplify the differentiated impacts of digitalization on their organizational configurations. The article underscores the need for a hybridization of organizational models by incorporating sociotechnical logics inherent to digital environments. It proposes theoretical pathways to adapt Mintzberg’s framework to the contemporary realities of SMEs, establishing the foundations of a renewed analytical model capable of capturing the ongoing structural recompositions within organizations in the digital age.