Chapter 9: Structuring Organizations For Todays Challenges Flashcards
Specialization
Dividing tasks into smaller jobs
Departmentalization
Setting up individual departments to do specialized tasks
Service department, legal department, financial department
Organizational chart
Shows who’s accountable for the completion of a specific job and who reports to whom
Managing change
Critical managing function. Can the person deal with change
Mass production
The efficient production of large quantities of goods
Economies of scale
Companies can reduce their production cost if they can purchase raw materials in bulk and develop specialized labour
Mcdoanlds food being cheap as it buys in bulk
Unity of command
Each worker is to report to only one boss
Division of labour
Functions are to be divided into areas of specialization such as production, marketing, and finance
Authority
Managers have the right to give orders
Equity
Manager should treat employees and peers with respect and justice
Max Weber was all about
Bureaucracy
Hierarchy
A system in which one person is at the top and there are levels below them.
CEO>GM>Supervisor>employee
Chain of command
The line of authority that moves from the top of a hierarchy to the lowest point
Bureaucracy
Organization with many layers of managers who set rules and regulations and oversee all decisions
Empowerment
Giving employees such authority and responsibility to make decisions and please customers
Centralized authority
Organization structure in which decision making authority is maintained at the top level of management at the company’s headquarters
Example: Burger King is centralized as all decisions are made at the BK HQ, meaning they can’t adapt to local environments (fish burger for Japan?)
Decentralized authority
Occurs when decision making authority is delegated to lower-level managers and employees who are more familiar with local conditions
(Nike store in Hawaii will be different in Canada as they won’t offer shorts in January)
Span of control
Refers to the optimum number of subordinates a manager supervises
(One person can’t keep an eye on 25 people)
Couple factors of span of control
Capabilities of the manager
Need for coordination
Functional complexity
Tall organization
Organization structure in which the pyramidal organization chart is quite tall due to all the various levels of management
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Flat organization
Has few layers and a broad span of control
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Departmentalizations (yes, again)
Dividing the organization into seperate units
Advantages of departmentalization
Company can achieve economies of scale
Employees can develop in depth skills and process within a specific department
Employees can coordinate work within the function, and too management can easily direct and control various departments
Disadvantages to departmentalization
Communication errors
Company’s response to external change may be slow
Employees may only focus on departments goals and not company’s goals
People may not be trained enough to specialize in one catagory
Department members can all think alike, killing new ideas
Alternative ways to departmentalize (4 ways)
By product
By customer group
By geographic location
By process
Four ways to structure an organization
1) Line Organizations
2) Line and Staff Organization
3) Matrix Style organization
4) across functional, self managed teams
Line organization
Has direct two way lines of responsibility, authority, and communication running from the top to the bottom of the organization, with everyone reporting to one manager
Worker > Manger > Manager > CEO
Line And staff organization
Direct lines of people although have staff personal who assist line people
HR
^
CEO > manager > Super visor > employee
|
Legal department
Line personal
Employees who are part of the chain of command
Staff personal
Employees who advice and assist line personal in meeting their goals
HR, legal department, marking research
Matrix style organizations
Specialist from different parts of the organization are brought together to work on specific project but still remain part of line and staff structure
Reports to 2 people, project manager 2 and marketing Vice President
SHORT TERM!!
Cross functional, self managed teams
Groups of employees from different departments who work together on a long term basis
Don’t need managers approval
Medical doctors during surgery
Networking between firms
Using communication technology and other means to link organizations and allow them to work together on common objectives
Real-time
Present moment or the actual time in something takes place
Virtual corporation
A temporary networked organization made up of replaceable firms that join and leave as needed
Benchmarking
Compares an organizations practices, processes, and products against the worlds best
Core competencies
Those functions that an organization can do as well as or better than other organizations in the world
Restructuring
Redesigning an organization so that it can effectively and efficiently serve its customers
Restructuring for empowerment
The upside down pyramid! Gives the bottom line workers an empowering feeling as they’re at the top of the pyramid
Total quality management (TQM)
Striving for maximum customer satisfaction by ensuring quality from all departments
Continuous improvement (CI)
Constantly inproving the way the organization operates
For a organization
Details lines of responsibility, authority, and position
Informal organization
System that develops as employees meet, from cliques, and relationships
