8 - culture, structure and design

Question 1

Strength perspective #cultures for enhancing economic performance

Answer 1

Assumes that strength of a corporate culture is related to a firm’s long-term financial performance

Question 2

Adaption perspective

Answer 2

Assumes that the most effective cultures help organisations anticipate and adapt to environmental changes

Question 3

Fit perspective

Answer 3

Assumes that an organisation’s culture must align, or fit, with its business or strategic context

Question 4

Organisation chart

Answer 4

A box and lines illustration showing the formal lines of authority and the organisation’s official positions or work specialisations

Question 5

Common purpose

Answer 5

Unifies employees or members and gives everyone an understanding of the organisation’s reason for being

Question 6

Co-ordinated effort

Answer 6

The co-ordination of individual efforts into a group or organisation-wide effort

Question 7

Division of labour

Answer 7

Having discrete parts of a task done by different people

Question 8

Hierarchy of authority

Answer 8

(Chain of command) A control mechanism for making sure the right people do the right things at the right time

Question 9

Span of control (span of management)

Answer 9

Refers to the number of people reporting directly to a given manager. Span of control can be narrow (tall) or wide (flat). Wider Spandau for with trend allowing workers greater autonomy in decision-making.

Question 10

Authority

Answer 10

The rights inherent in a managerial position to make decisions, give orders and utilise resources

Question 11

Accountability

Answer 11

Managers must report and justify work results to the managers above them

Question 12

Responsibility

Answer 12

The obligation that you must have to perform the tasks assigned to you

Question 13

Delegation

Answer 13

The process of assigning managerial authority and responsibility to managers and employees lower in the hierarchy

Question 14

Organisational design

Answer 14

Concerned with designing the optimal structures of accountability and responsibility that an organisation uses to execute its strategies

Question 15

Simple structure

Answer 15

Has authority centralised in a single person, a flat hierarchy, few rules and low work specialisation

Question 16

Functional structure

Answer 16

People with similar occupational specialties are put together in formal groups

Question 17

Divisional structure

Answer 17

People with diverse occupational specialties are put together in formal groups by similar products, customers or geographic regions

Question 18

Matrix structure

Answer 18

Where an organisation combines functional and divisional chained of command in a grid so that there are two command structures - vertical and horizontal

Question 19

HORIZONTAL designs

Answer 19

Where teams or workgroups, either temporary or permanent, are used to improve collaboration and work on shared tasks by breaking down internal boundaries

Question 20

Boundaryless design

Answer 20

A fluid, highly adaptive organisation whose members, linked by information technology, come together to collaborate on common tasks; the collaborators may include not only co-workers but also suppliers, customers and even competitors

Question 21

Boundaryless organisation

Answer 21

A fluid, highly adaptive organisation whose members, linked by information technology, come together to collaborate on common tasks; the collaborators may include not only co-workers but also suppliers, customers and even competitors

Question 22

Hollow structure (network)

Answer 22

An organisation with a central core of key functions, which outsources other functions to vendors who can do them cheaper or faster

Question 23

Modular structure

Answer 23

Where a firm assembles product chunks, or modules, provided by outside contractors

Question 24

Virtual structure

Answer 24

A company outside a company that is created ‘specifically to respond to an exceptional market opportunity that is often temporary’

Question 25

Mechanistic organisation

Answer 25

Where authority is centralised, tasks and rules are clearly specified and employees are closely supervised

Question 26

Organic organisation

Answer 26

Authority is decentralised, there are fewer rules and procedures and networks of employees are encouraged to co-operate and respond quickly to unexpected tasks

Question 27

Differentiation

Answer 27

The tendency of the parts of an organisation to disperse and fragment

Question 28

Integration

Answer 28

Tendency of parts of an organisation to draw together to achieve a common purpose

Question 29

Four stage organisational life-cycle

Answer 29

A natural sequence of stages: birth, youth, mid-life and maturity

Question 30

Birth stage

Answer 30

The non-bureaucratic stage, the stage in which the organisation was created

Question 31

Youth stage

Answer 31

The organisation is in a pre-bureaucratic stage, a stage of growth and expansion

Question 32

Mid-life stage

Answer 32

Organisation becomes bureaucratic, a period of growth evolving into stability

Question 33

Maturity stage

Answer 33

The organisation becomes very bureaucratic, large and mechanistic