10 | Structure and Coordination

Question 1

What is structure?

Answer 1

how job tasks in an org are divided, grouped and coordinate

Question 2

What does structure-environment fit mean?

Answer 2

an organisation’s structure needs to serve its strategy and match the needs of the environment

Question 3

What is work specialisation?

Answer 3

Division of labour

• High specialisation: Jobs broken down into smaller, standardised tasks e.g. Adam Smith’s pin factory
• Specialisation => efficiency + higher prod.
• However.. too much specialisation => boredom, fatigue, greater absenteeism, high turnover => lower prod.
• So after 1900s ^ this has been understood and managerial interventions have been adopted to improve prod. —> giving workers larger partition of a job, allowing them to switch between tasks

Question 4

What is span of control?

Answer 4

• How managers control their team/employees

Narrow span of control: Manager at top, managers and employee, employee underneath

Wide span of control: Manager, then manager with a lot of employees

• Taller triangle - more common in 1900s hierarchical - narrow span of control
• Shorter triangle - now more common - less hierarchical, wide span of control. - in recent years the trend has. Even to move towards wider span of control - reduce costs, make org more faster reacting

Question 5

What is halocracy?

Answer 5

self-managing organizations - org without bosses/middle management

Question 6

Potential disadvantages of halocracy?

Answer 6

• ambiguity, lack of clarity around progression, compensation and responsibilties
• informal power structures can arise => lack of checks and balances
  –> no one to curb the power of emergent informal leaders

SO: a certain level of hierarchy is needed in orgs

Question 7

What is centralisation?

Answer 7

The degree to which decision making authority is concentrated at higher levels of the hierarchy

Question 8

What is decentralisation?

Answer 8

DM authority is given to employees who are closer to the dm context => faster reaction time

Question 9

What is a positive of centralisation?

Answer 9

centralized operations can be very effiecient, esp in stable environments

Question 10

What is formalization?

Answer 10

The degree to which job descriptions policies, rules and procedures are explicitly articulated

Question 11

What does formalization lead to?

Answer 11

Leads to consistent and uniform output
e.g. McDonald’s ‘Operations and Training Manual’ - how long to fry chips etc.

Question 12

What is departmentalization?

Answer 12

How jobs are grouped within the larger organization
- so by function, product group, geogrpahy, customer group, or a mix of all these arrangement

Question 13

What is the key idea of a functional structure?

Answer 13

The organization is built around inputs –> usually the (functional) skills of people

Question 14

Example of functional structure

Answer 14

CEO (at the top)
sales, marketing, production, govt relations, HR, finance (all underneath horizontally)

Question 15

Pros of a functional structure

Answer 15

• in-depth knowledge sharing and specialisation within functional depts
• economies of scale

Question 16

Cons of a functional structure

Answer 16

• poor horizontal communication across depts
• no one sees the big picture apart from the CEO - marketing manager sees things from a marketing perspective whereas finance sees from finance perspective - no horizontal coordination
• slow dm (hierarchical overload)
• limited adaptability

Question 17

What types of orgs would adopt a functional structure? (Applicability)

Answer 17

orgs with little product diversity - so have a few small number of related products/services

organization that is operating a stable environment

Question 18

What is the key idea of a divisional structure?

Answer 18

based on products

• reduce the need for info and organize around outputs

Question 19

What are some outputs an org with a divisional structure might organize around? Give examples.

Answer 19

By product:
CEO (top),
* Medical devices –> production, finance, Sales and MArketing;
* Baby care –> prod/ finance/ sales+marketing;
*Nutritional supplements ==> “ “

Customer segment:
CEO
* Consumers –> SW, HW, Sales & Marketing
* Carriers –> “ “
* Corporate clients –> “ “

Geography:
CEO
* Region 1 –> Marketing, finance, prod.
* Region 2 –> “ “

Question 20

Pros of a divisonal structure

Answer 20

• Maximise interaction within the unit
• Reduce need for info
• Lower dm to the units
• Training ground for execs –> get experience running a small business

Question 21

Cons of a divisional structure

Answer 21

• Functional economies of scale are lost
• Tendency to duplicate work
• Difficulty communicating across divisional units

Question 22

Where would a divisional structure be adopted? (Applicability)

Answer 22

• in diversified organisations
• Dynamic markets
• Firms with high info processing needs

Question 23

What is a matrix structure?

Answer 23

structure is based on BOTH functions and outputs
- people report to 2 bosses

Question 24

Pros of a matrix structure

Answer 24

• Increase information-processing capacity
• Improve dm
• Retain specialisation as well as economies of scale
• high adapatability to environment

Question 25

Cons of a matrix structure

Answer 25

• more time needed to constantly communicate and align people
• multiple reporting rels can get confusing and stressful
• increased likelihood for conflict-laden environment

Question 26

What type of organzation would a matrix structure be best for? (Applicability)

Answer 26

Environments with high uncertainty (high info-processing demands)
- high performance pressure
- dual demands for both skills development AND product development

Question 27

What is a modular/ network organization?

Answer 27

organised around PROJECTS - different parties contribute different capabilties to the overall project

interorganizational collaborations with suppliers to keep overhead costs low and increase flexibility

• looks beyond the boudaries of the org, and connect with networks of suppliers and other partners
• “what can I rent/borrow rather than own?” “ what resources in the environment can the org tap into?”

Question 28

Give an example of modular organization

Answer 28

you have the focal org (in the middle) and branches connected to difference parts of the environment - e.g. manufacturers in different part of the world, advertising agency, outsourced payroll, outsourced call center

EXAMPLE ORG:
instant pot has 50 employees in Canada, has production factories in China, does its marketing through influencers, distributes through Amazon

Question 29

How do you achieve coordination in modular organizations?

Answer 29

Because modular orgs organise around projects which are TEMPORARY, you don’t have stable rels, or admin routines and formal hierarchy

SO you achieve coordination through roles and role structures

Question 30

What are roles?

Answer 30

= a bundle of tasks and norms
- define the bhvs that are expected of those who occupy a position in a social structure

Question 31

What is role structure?

Answer 31

how different roles relate to one another

Question 32

How can one adminster role-based coordination, according to Bechky?

Answer 32

Bechky (2006) found: the practice of thanking, polite admonishing and role-oriented joking enables crew members to learn and negotiate role structures

Question 33

How to create coordination in fluid structures (e.g. like emergency depts)?

Answer 33

fluid structures face unpredictable inputs, e.g. you have mebers on a rotating basis - so there is lack of accountability

SO, create ‘Team scaffolds’ = bound people in temporary teams that turnover throughout the day - by doing this you have effectively created a team structure (within a larger group/team) - this allows for better coordination as well as higher level of accountability ; also creates efficiency esp in emergency depts