Security Concerns in an Organizational Structure

Security Concerns in an Organizational Structure. Cash is a liquid asset that can be converted to personal use instantly. Related Articles. 1 Alternative Organizational Structures 2 What Are the Differences Between Flat & Hierarchical Organizations? 3 Presentation on Organizational Structure 4 Can National Culture Explain Differences in Organizational Structure? Trade secrets, sensitive information and money handling are a few of the concerns companies have to consider when developing their organizational structures. Not only have experts on security and cash handling helped industries develop protocols for ensuring the integrity of operations, but they have also devised ways to divide responsibilities -- including management structures -- to reduce theft and safeguard valuables, including intellectual property. Information Security. Information technology or information systems departments don't just make sure your computers and networks are up and running. In today's business environment, critical data and communications run at high speeds through IT systems, and the people monitoring them have to have the highest integrity. Unfortunately, not everyone is honest. Therefore, companies design their structures to ensure that no one person has all the authority over a company's technology. Positions are structured in such a way that there are checks, balances and supervision to curb potential security breaches and indiscretions. Cash Handling. Whether in paper or actual cash form, money requires controls and security. Actual cash, however, requires even tighter controls, as funds and their whereabouts can be harder to track. Banks, supermarkets, the post office and numerous other organizations that deal in large amounts of cash structure their personnel hiring to include cash-handling controls and systems. Several layers of management are put in place to ensure cash drawers and totals match and deposits and withdrawals are handled honestly. Banks also typically have fraud departments that help prevent cash from being mishandled. Intellectual Property. In the postindustrial world, many of America's top companies are producing and selling ideas. Innovation is a foundation of American business. As such, companies have to go to great lengths to safeguard their assets. While contracts such as nondisclosure agreements play an important role, many companies create organizational separations between departments and divisions to limit employees' access to information. For instance, a software development department might subdivide employees into teams to work on particular products and then physically separate them from other teams. In fact, many companies use employee identification and security badges to prevent people in one department from entering offices in other departments.