Chapter 3 - Features Of Contemporary Organisations

Question 1

LO1 - Reasons Why Organisations Change

Answer 1

The Industrial revolution and the emergence of globalisation forced organisatons to to change fundamentally in order to function in a fast-changing and dynamic Environment.

Question 2

LO1 - New Variables in Business Environment of Contemporary Organisations.

Answer 2

Globalisation and the Global Economy
Technological Advances
Radical Transformation of the world of work
Increased power and demand of customer
Growing Importance of intellectual capital and learning
New Roles and Expectations of Workers

Question 3

LO 3- PAGE 55

Defend the statement that bureaucracy fails to provide for the needs of the modern organisation

Answer 3

Essay

Question 4

Features of the new emerging organisation

Global - complex environment deal with broader set of environmental forces.

Networked
Flatter and leaner
Flexibility
Workforce diversity

Answer 4

Global

• more complex than domestic and managers deal with a much broader set of environmental forces.

Management challenges

• managers require global leadership skills
• example : establish networks with suppliers and customers in other countries in order to compete worldwide.

Question 5

Features of the new emerging organisation

Global
Networked - teams and information systems

Flatter and leaner
Flexibility
Workforce diversity

Answer 5

Networked

There is an interdependence between individuals, groups and sub-units within an organisation.

Teams are fundamental units of activity rather than individual jobs

Cross functional teams- comprise of people from different departments or sections of the organisation.

Information is widely spread

eg. developing interdependence with suppliers and sharing information with them.
Building coalitions to work together with certain stakeholders.

Management challenges

Managers must develop their skills as team members and as team leaders and require an understanding of team dynamics and learning as well as observation skills.

The organisations interactions and networking with its external environment, such as forming alliances with other organisations requires a delicate balancing between cooperation and competition. An organisation must develop systems to manage information flows with its alliances. Developing and maintaining these information systems is one of the major and challenging managerial tasks of operation in an external environment.

Question 6

Features of the new emerging organisation

Global
Networked

Flatter and leaner

Flexibility
Workforce diversity

Answer 6

Flatter and leaner

Tend in recent years for larger organisations to remove several layers of management, resulting in much flatter organisations.

By employing fewer people and by improving their turnover and sales organisations can significantly improve productivity.

Flattening of the hierarchy causes changes in the authority relationships of new organisations. Decision-making takes place at the level where the information resides.

Reasons for flatter and leaner organisations:

• more agile in responding to changes in environment
• traditional middle Management information collection is replaced by information systems that enable organisation to monitor and adjust operational activities continuously
• Increased global competition and pressure from shareholders for improved financial performance forces organisations To cut costs and retrenching manages cuts costs significantly.

Management challenges

• managers can not rely on authority relationships created by traditional, instead negotiate with individuals for win-win.
• fewer opportunities for promotion
• requires more effective and frequent communication between junior and senior managers.

Question 7

Features of the new emerging organisation

Global
Network
Flatter leaner

Flexibility

Workforce diversity

Answer 7

Flexibility

Flexibility is a key feature of a new organisation because organisations need to respond to changes in their environment, changing customer needs, intense competition and the needs of a diverse workforce.

Flexible organisations have your rules and standard operating procedures.

Organisations have to be innovative and creative to respond to this changes and they may actively encourage initiatives for innovation and change on the part of employees.

Management challenges

Managers in flexible organisations need to work on more than one project simultaneously. Therefore it is vital for managers to develop multitasking skills that will allow them to work productively at several tasks.

These organisations also have flexible Labour practices in order to deal with flexible working practices.

• Flexible labour practices
• Multitasking

Question 8

Features of the new emerging organisation

Global
Network
Flatter leaner
Flexibility

Workforce diversity

Answer 8

Workforce diversity

In South Africa the employment Equity act gives legal weight to requirements of workforce diversity.

Workforce diversity refers to the fact that organisations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, race and ethnicity.

People are part of their organisation in different ways such as full time contracts or former employees working as consultants.

Management challenges

Managers will need to shift the philosophy from treating everyone alike to recognising differences responding to those differences in ways that will ensure employee retention and greater productivity.

Training in diversity

Developing listening skills