Chapter 3 - Structural In-depth Flashcards
What 3 of Mintzberg’s situational dependencies can be analysed further by in-depth models?
- Size & Age -> Greiner.
- Core technology/process complexity -> Thompson
- (Uncertainty in) Environment -> PESTEL
What is the main takeaway from Greiner?
Organizations can be in five unique growth phases (4-8 years), that are all followed by a short crisis. In the crisis, leadership is to find new structural solutions and ways to lead.
What are the phases and crises in Greiner called?
- Phase 1: Creativity
- Crisis 1: Leadership
- Phase 2: Direction
- Crisis 2: Autonomy
- Phase 3: Delegation
- Crisis 3: Control
- Phase 4: Coordination
- Crisis 4: Red tape
- Phase 5: Collaboration
What are the factors that characterise where an organization should be in Greiner?
- Size of organization (small-large)
- Age of organization (young-mature)
What Mintzberg configuration is the creativity phase similar to?
Adhocracy. Founders are focusing on developing product, interaction is informal and the organization is flexible.
Describe the Leadership crisis and how it is solved.
The adhocratic business gets messy when the size of the company increases, resulting in lack of leadership. Solve by recruiting a strong, accepted managers with business expertise.
What describes the Direction growth phase in Greiner? Similarities to Mintzberg?
Necessary processes are formalised and middle managers are recruited. Develops towards an internally efficient machine bureaucracy.
Describe the Autonomy crisis in Greiner, and how to solve it.
When the business grows and becomes more complex, strong vertical leadership is less efficient. The operational core/lower managers know more about the business than the top management, and many leave the company because managers don’t want to change. Solve by decentralising under ordeal forms; business units are responsible and leadership is limited to reading reports and solving major issues.
What Mintzberg configuration is Greiner’s Delegation phase similar to?
Responsibility is delegated to business units and focus is on acquisition and growth. It is similar to Mintzberg’s divisionalised form.
Describe the Control crisis in Greiner and how to solve it.
Leaders of different units pull in different directions, and top management have a harder time to allocate resources and strategic direction. The solution is increased coordination, by formalising more sophisticated processes.
Describe the Coordination growth phase in Greiner.
Business units are grouped according to product/market, group training and promotion programs are introduced. Measurements consider the group as a whole.
Describe the Red tape crisis in Greiner, and how to solve it.
The formalised processes lead to distance/lack of trust between managers and technostructure staff. The group is too large to manage by formal programs and systems. More collaboration is needed to solve this.
Describe the Collaboration growth phase in Greiner.
Leadership is more spontaneous and action-oriented. Quick problem solving in teams. Horizontal coordination, part of organization more responsive to each other. Could maybe lead to burnout -> support for reflection/recovery
Which of Mintzberg’s situational dependencies does Thompson’s model apply for?
Process complexity/core technology
What three types of dependencies does Thompsons model bring up?
- Pooled (parallel) dependencies.
- Sequential dependencies.
- Mutual dependencies.
What characterises Pooled dependencies in Thompson’s model?
What one unit does has no direct influence on what is done in another. Components should be produced as predictably and standardised as possible -> these organisations should have hierarchical structures and formalized/standardized requirements for results of units.
What characterises Sequential dependencies in Thompson?
One unit can’t continue without the completion of what another unit produces. Output->input. Vertical control by formalised plans or developed technostructures is needed for planning, to avoid slowing down production.
What characterises Mutual dependencies in Thompson?
A units activity must be continuously adapted based on what another unit does. Often found in complex operations -> adhocracy is appropriate with more horizontal coordination.
Which one of Mintzberg’s situational dependencies does PESTEL apply for?
Uncertainty in the environment
What does the letters in PESTEL stand for?
- Political (landscape).
- Economic (macro)
- Social (culture, social attitude)
- Technological (development, competition).
- Environmental (natural environment)
- Legal. (laws/regulations)
What is the basic principle of Lean production?
A contemporary structural model developed in Toyota factories in Japan. Continuous improvement is the aim, rather than a singular attempt to optimise. Improvement work takes place in the operational core, and the speed of the assembly line is increased to find where and why problems arise. When a bottleneck is identified, it is stopped to develop a solution on site.
What is the relationship between Lean production and Flow efficiency?
The main focus of the improvement work is to shorten the time it takes to satisfy customer demands. All work stages should be about creating/adding customer value; focus on time minimisation rather than cost minimisation.
What is flow efficiency?
Value adding time (actively working towards completion) / Lead time (from order placed to delivered)
What does Modig & Åhlström’s model show?
Organizations must consider how much they should strive to be good at resource efficiency (internal production) and how much of flow efficiency.
