Chapter 15-Issues to consider in relation to flexible organisations

Question 1

what is restructuring in a business?

Answer 1

Designing an appropriate organisational structure to meet the needs of a more flexible approach to the employment of staff

Question 2

What is delayering in a business and what is its advantage?

Answer 2

When the management structure of a business is flattened to become more responsive

Question 3

what are the disadvantages to delayering?

Answer 3

• Have to make people redundant
• Can lose skilled managers
• Loses corporate memory of experienced managers

Question 4

what are job types which go under the category flexible employment contracts?

Answer 4

• Part time working
• Term time working
• Job -sharing
• Annual hours i.e the hours u have to work are fixed but you can chose when you work them
• Zero hour contracts

Question 5

What are the characteristics of organic business structures?

Answer 5

flat management structures:- Wide spans of control, decentralisation, low specialization

Question 6

what are the characteristics of mechanic business structures?

Answer 6

Narrow structures, high centralization, hierarchical

Question 7

What are the three main barriers to change?

Answer 7

• Lack of clear objectives in relation to the change process
• Inappropriate and insufficient resources to assist the change process
• Inappropriately trained staff with expertise that is not relevant to the change process

Question 8

what can also be influences in how fast change is implemented?

Answer 8

• Resistance to change from employees or customers

- External issues i.e in a recession it will be harder to implement change due to lack of funds

Question 9

what were kotter and schlesingers four reasons for resistance to change?

Answer 9

• Parochial self interest
• misunderstanding and a lack of trust: Communication needs to be clear to stop rumours spreading
• Different assessments
• Low tolerance for change

Question 10

describe what K+S meant by parochial self interest

Answer 10

People are only interested in their own perspective and how it affects their own interests

Question 11

describe what K+S meant by misunderstanding and a lack of trust

Answer 11

Communication needs to be clear and informative to stop the spread of inaccurate rumours

Question 12

describe what K+S meant by different assessments

Answer 12

Employees may see only costs rather than benefits when implementing change which may be different to managers perspectives

Question 13

describe what K+S meant by low tolerance for change?

Answer 13

People resist change because they fear they will not be able to develop the new skills and behaviours once the change is complete

Question 14

what are K+S’s six ways of overcoming change?

Answer 14

1) Education and Communication
2) Participation and involvement
3) Facilitation and support
4) Negotiation and agreement
5) Manipulation and co-option
6) Explicit and implicit coercion

Question 15

what is known to be the fastest yet most disruptive type of overcoming resistance to change?

Answer 15

Explicit and implicit coercion

Question 16

what is known to be the most gradual and peacekeeping type of overcoming resistance to change?

Answer 16

Education and communication

Question 17

what did K+S mean by overcoming resistance to change through participation and involvement and what are its disadvantages?

Answer 17

Involving the potential resistors in the design and implementation of the change. Can be time consuming and and if change needs to be made quickly, involving others may take too long

Question 18

what did K+S mean by overcoming resistance to change through Facilitation and support and what are its disadvantages?

Answer 18

-providing emotional and material support to help people deal with the anxiety and uncertainty caused by change ie giving people time off after an demanding period of change. Can be time consuming and expensive

Question 19

what did K+S mean by overcoming resistance to change through Negotiation and agreement and what are its disadvantages?

Answer 19

-Involves giving resistors incentives to adapt or leave the organisation. Not always financial incentives, may just agree to some of the resistors demands instead. can be expensive

Question 20

what did K+S mean by overcoming resistance to change through manipulation and Co-option and what are its disadvantages?

Answer 20

• Co-option involves giving the resistors a desirable role in the business
• involves giving them a role just because they want to do the change not because of their ability to contribute however can go wrong if the person thinks they are getting tricked or uses their influence to change the change in ways that are not in the interests of the business

-Manipulation is when mangers use information to lead people to behave in a certain way ie scaring people into thinking that a crisis is coming and the only way it can be avoided is too implement the change

Question 21

what did K+S mean by overcoming resistance to change through Implicit and explicit coercion and what are its disadvantages? Think of the curzon arms hahahah

Answer 21

• Managers can force employees into accepting change by suggesting that resisting it will lead to a loss of there job
• whether it is implicit or explicit will be determined by whether the threats have been stated or just implied
• Usually only used when change needs to happen quick and change will not be popular either way it is introduced
• Can lead to frustration, revenge, alienation, poor performance, dissatisfaction and high labour turnover