Chapter 13 Flashcards
Work specialization: what degree are tasks subdivided into separate jobs? + what are the benefits/ downsides of it?
Do employees complete a repetitive, single task, or do they build entire machines?
Orgs must find the appropriate balance (Ford assembly)
Benefits of specialization:
Efficiency – quickly learn repetitive skills, less time changing tasks
Easier and less costly to find and train employees
Downsides of specialization:
Boredom, stress, low productivity, high turnover, increased absenteeism, less creativity
Departmentalization: on what basis are jobs grouped together (5)?
Functional – What functions are performed – accounting, manufacturing, HR. (The way Haskayne is grouped)
Product – Type of product – Proctor & Gamble (Tide, Pampers, Pringles)
Geographic – Geography – (Western/Eastern Canada, North America, Europe, Asia)
Process – Product or Customer flow – (Front staff, Kitchen Staff)
Customer – Particular customer (Microsoft – consumers, large corps, software developers, small business
Side note: Large organizations may use all of these forms of departmentalization
Headquarters - Functional
Manufacturing – process
Sales – geographic
Chain of command: to whom do individuals/groups report? (3)
Authority - Who has the right to give orders and expect them to be obeyed
Unity of command - Subordinates should have only one superior
Delegation - Assignment of authority to another person to carry out specific duties
This is becoming less relevant, although some orgs still focus on it
Span of control: how many individuals can be efficiently and effectively managed?
Small span (fewer reports to a manager)
- Expensive, more managers
- Makes vertical communication more complicated
- Encourages tight supervision and discourages autonomy
Larger span (more reports to a manager)
- Empowers workers
- Speeds up decisions
- Less costly – removes middle management
- Loss of control
Centralization and decentralization: where does decision making authority lie?
Centralization
The degree to which decision making is concentrated at a single point in the organization.
Keeps power centralized, quick decision making (maybe)
Decentralization
The degree to which decision making is distributed to lower level employees.
Makes it easier to address customer concerns quickly
More people have input into decision making (slower, but better decisions)
Employees less likely to feel alienated
Formalization: what degrees of rules/regulations will direct employee/ management behaviour? How standardized are the jobs?
Degree to which jobs within the organization are standardized.
High formalization means employees have little discretion
Low formalization means employees have more freedom
What are the three parts of common org designs?
- simple structure
- bureaucracy
- matrix organizations
Describe simple structure. Strengths/weaknesses?
Low degree of departmentalization, wide span of control, little formalization, centralized
Think small/family business
Strengths:
Simplicity: fast, flexible, inexpensive
Weakness:
Works best in small organizations.
Can slow down decision making in larger organization
Becomes largely ineffective at 50-100 people
About the same time you need a dedicated HR person
Can be risky as it relies on one person to make all decisions
The family business– describe
Family businesses represent 70 percent of Canadian employment and more than 30 percent of the gross domestic product
Family businesses must manage the conflicts found within families as well as the normal business issues that arise for any business
Succession planning is emerging as a key issue in family business
Ex McCain Foods
Describe bureaucracy+ strengths/weaknesses
Highly routine tasks, formalized rules, centralized authority, narrow span of control…
Strengths:
Can perform standardized activities in an efficient manner
Lower management costs – rules and regulations act as “mangers”
Lower quality employees are acceptable, which reduces employment costs
Weaknesses:
There is an obsessive concern with following rules
Nothing happens quickly
Not nimble/able to change in a turbulent environment
Bureaucracy is the antithesis of innovation & creativity
Describe matrix organizations +advantages/disadvantages
Breaks the unity of command principle. Employees have two bosses
Advantages:
Facilitates coordination when there are many activities.
More communication
Efficient allocation of specialists
Disadvantages:
Power struggles, confusion, stress
What are the 3 new organizational design options?
Team Structure
Breaking the boundaries internally
Virtual Organization
Breaking the boundaries externally
Boundaryless Organization
Breaking the boundaries externally and internally
Describe team structure
Teams are becoming an extremely popular way of organizing work activities
Breaks down departmental barriers and decentralizes decision making to the level of the work team. –So long as it is a “team” and not a “work group”
Team structures also require employees to be generalists as well as specialists
Many organizations going for “teams” within a bureaucratic structure
- “Efficiency of a Bureaucracy’s standardization with the flexibility of teams”
- Allows work to get done despite the bureaucratic “red tape”
Describe virtual organization +advantages/disadvantages
A continually evolving network (alliance) of independent companies—suppliers, customers, even competitors
linked together to share skills, costs, and access to one another’s markets – core competencies
Advantages:
- Organizations can share costs and skills
- Provides access to global markets
- Increases market responsiveness
Disadvantages:
- Companies give up operational and strategic control to work together
- Managers need to be more flexible, acquire new skills
Example- fell
Describe boundary-less organization
- Term coined by “Jack Welsh – GE”
- An organization that seeks to eliminate the chain of command, have limitless spans of control, and replaces departments with empowered teams
- A more flexible/unstructured organization
- Organizes experts into groups, and empowers them to make decisions
- Many consider strategic alliances & virtual organizations to be “boundaryless”
