Chapter 4 - Organizing Flashcards
What are organizations?
“social entities that are goal-directed, designed as deliberately structured and coordinated activity systems, and are linked to the external environment”
What is a system?
“set of interrelated parts that function as a whole to achieve a common purpose”
Open System Perspective
Organizations are affected by their environments (whether they want to be or not) and must interact with them.
Formal Organization
The official organization as approved by managers and stated in written documents
Organization Structure
The reporting relationships, vertical hierarchy, spans of control, groupings of jobs into departments and an entire organization, and systems for coordination and communication.
Job
A group of activities and duties that entail natural units of work that are similar and related; may be performed by more than one person.
Position
Consists of duties and responsibilities that are performed by only one person.
Departmentalization
Organization of jobs into departments, bureaus, divisions, sections, offices, and other formal work groups.
Organization Chart
Visual portrayal of vertical hierarchy, departments, span of control, reporting relationships, and flow of authority.
Delegate Authority
Share authority from one position to a lower level position.
What are the 6 Coordination Mechanisms
Standardized Work Process
Standardized Worker Skills
Standardized Work Output Supervision
Mutual Adjustment Groups
- Standardized work process
a specific, consistent method of how to perform work that is often written in policy manuals, rule books, plans, standard operating procedures, and other documents. The surgery center has a written nine-step process for how to register a new patient for surgery.
- Standardized worker skills
specific education, training, and skills needed for a job that lets other workers know what to expect from someone doing that job. All the surgeons know what they can expect of an anesthesiologist based on the education, training, and skills needed to be licensed and hired as an anesthesiologist.
- Standardized work output
specific, consistent contents of completed work that other workers know to expect. A finance director prepares a budget report each month, and the executive director and board of directors know what kind of financial information to expect in the report.
- Supervision
workers have a supervisor–subordinate relationship in the chain of command, and they inform each other about important matters. The nursing supervisor in the morning tells a nurse which surgery cases she will do today. During the day, that nurse informs the supervisor of progress on the cases and about an equipment problem in Room 4.
