Chapter 7 Flashcards
Understand the differences between staff and line authority in terms of chain of command and department
line authority - people in management
positions have the formal authority to direct and
control immediate subordinates
staff authority - narrower and includes the right to
advise, recommend, and counsel in the staff
specialists’ area of expertise
Understand the differences between a tall and flat organization
tall structure (older) - has an overall narrow span and
more hierarchical levels
flat structure (newer) - has a wide span, is horizontally
dispersed, and has fewer hierarchical levels.
Span of management (control)
number of employees reporting to a supervisor and
determines how closely a supervisor can monitor
subordinates
Reengineering
refers to the radical redesign of
business processes to achieve dramatic
improvements in cost, quality, service, and speed
Mechanistic
- Goals of efficiency and a stable environment
- rigid, vertical, centralized structure, with most decisions made at the top
- characterized by rules, procedures, and a clear hierarchy of authority
Organic
- tends to be much looser, free-flowing, and adaptive
- horizontal, and decision-making authority is decentralized
- lower levels have more responsibility and authority for solving problems, which enables the organization to be more fluid and adaptable
Pure functional structure
- appropriate for achieving internal efficiency goals in a stable environment
- total work of organization is divided into various functional department or units as per requirement for making easy management
Work specialization
- is the degree to which organizational tasks are subdivided into separate jobs
- Employees within each department perform only the tasks relevant to their specialized function
Functional (Vertical Structure)
- activities are grouped together by common function from the bottom to the top
- groups positions into departments based on similar skills, expertise, work activities, and resource use (accounting, HR, engineering, and manufacturing)
- advantages: functionally based departments enhance the development of in-depth skills because people work on a variety of related problems and are associated with other experts within their own department
- disadvantages: communication and coordination across functions are often poor
Product (Divisional Structure)
- occurs when departments are grouped together based on similar organizational outputs
- divisions can be organized with responsibility for individual products, services, product groups, major projects or programs, divisions, businesses, or profit center
advantages: flexible and responsive to change because each unit is small and tuned in to its environment & concern for customer’s needs is high
disadvantages: coordination across divisions is often poor, major disadvantage is duplication of resources and the high cost of running separate divisions
Matrix (Structure)
- grouped together by functional and divisional aspects providing coordination across departments
advantages: flexible, innovative, adaptive, efficient use of HR
disadvantages: difficulty with dual reporting relationships, rivalry with both sides, loss of TIME (meetings & discussions)
Customer departmentalization (Customer structure)
- Grouping activities on the basis of common customers or types of customers
- advantages: focus on customer satisfaction, environmental changes
- disadvantages: difficult to maintain, wastage of resources
Differences between coordination and collaboration
coordination - refers to adjusting and synchronizing
the diverse activities among different individuals
and departments
collaboration - a joint effort between people
from two or more departments to produce
outcomes that meet a common goal or shared
purpose and that are typically greater than what
could be achieved working alone
Mass production/large-batch production
- distinguished by standardized production runs
- large volume of products is produced, and all customers receive the same product
small-batch production
produces goods in batches of one or a few products designed to customer specification
