Chapter 8 Flashcards
Organization structure
A framework that enables managers to divide responsibilities, ensure employee accountability, and distribute decision-making authority
Organization chart
A diagram that shows how employees and tasks are grouped and where the lines of communication and authority flow
Core competencies
Activities that a company considers central and vital to its business
Work specialization
Specialization in or responsibility for some portion of an organization’s overall work tasks; also called division of labor
Chain command
A pathway for the flow of authority from one management level to the next
Span of management
The number of people under one manager’s control; also known as span of control
Centralization
Concentration of decision-making authority at the top of an organization
Decentralization
Delegation of decision-making authority to employees in lower-level positions
Agile organization
A company whose structure, policies, and capabilities allow employees to respond quickly to customer and changes in the business environment
Departmentalization
Grouping people within an organization according to function, division, matrix or network
Functional structure
Grouping workers according to their similar skills, resource use, and expertise
Divisional structure
Grouping departments according to similarities in product, process, customer, or geography
Matrix structure
A structure in which employees are assigned to both a functional group and a project team
Network structure
A structure in which individual companies are connected through digital communication to perform selected tasks for a small headquarters organization
Team
A unit of two or more people who share a mission and collective responsibility as they work together to achieve a goal
Problem-solving team
A team that meets to find ways of improving quality, efficiency, and work environment
Self-managed team
A team in which members are responsible for an entire process or operation
Functional team
A team whose members come from a single functional department and that is based on the organization’s vertical structure
Cross-functional team
A team that draws together employees from different functional areas
Task force
A team of people from several departments who are temporarily brought together to address a specific issue
Committee
A team that may become a permanent part of the organization and is designed to deal with regularly recurring tasks
Virtual team
A team that uses communication technology to bring together geographically distant employees to achieve goals
Groupthink
Uniformity of thought that occurs when peer pressures cause individual team members to withhold contrary or unpopular opinions
Hidden agenda
Private, counterproductive motives in a team setting, such as a desire to take control of the group, to undermine someone else on the team, or to pursue an incompatible goal
Norms
Informal standards of conduct that guide team behavior
Unstructured organization
An organization that doesn’t have a conventional structure but instead assembles talent as needed from the open market; the virtual and networked organizational concepts taken to the extreme
Taskbot
Software agent that can be assigned to complete variety of tasks within an app or business system
What are the four basic organizational models?
Functional, divisional, matrix and network
What are the five stages that a new team goes through?
Forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning
Robotic process automation (RPA)
Software capability that does for knowledge work what mechanical robots do for manufacturing and other physical processes.
Line command
Simplest form of chain of command
Line-and-staff organization
Chain of command that includes functional groups of people who provide advice and specialized services
Constructive
If it brings important issues into the open, increases team involvement and generates ideas to solve the problem
Structural conflict
Normal when being in business
Situational conflict
Arise from contemporary forces within an industry or a company
Interpersonal conflict
Conflict or disagreement between two or more people
How to design an effective organization structure?
Identifying core competencies; identifying job responsibilities; defining the chain of command; and rethinking organization in the age of agility
