Comm 342 Midterm #1

Question 1

1. Population Ecology

Answer 1

Focuses on organizational diversity and adaptation within a population of organizations, and assumes that new organizations are always appearing in the population. ; why they are so different

Question 2

1. continued Population Ecology 3 Stages

Answer 2

Variation: the appearance of new diverse forms in a population of organizations; created by entrepreneurs established with venture capital by large corporations, or set up by the government seeking to provide new services

Selection: whether a new organizational form is suited to the environment and can survive;
Only a few variations are “selected in” by the environment and survive the long term

Retention: preservation and institutionalization of selected organization forms

Question 3

1. Institutionalism

Answer 3

Tried to explain why organizations are so similar

Question 4

2. Institutional Perspective

Answer 4

Institutional perspective: describes how organizations survive and succeed through congruence between an organization and the expectations from its environment

Question 5

2. Mimetic Forces; Instituionalism

Answer 5

Mimetic forces: pressure to copy or model other organizations in the face of uncertainty, human nature people will follow what others do when they are not sure how to respond to a situation ie; 5 course meal

Question 6

2. Coercive Forces: Istitutionalism

Answer 6

Coercive forces: external pressures exerted on an organization to adopt structures, techniques, and behaviours similar to other organizations, Government agencies or powerful customers force organizations to behave similarly. ie; non sense

Question 7

2. Normative Forces; Institutionalism

Answer 7

pressures to change to achieve standards of professionalism and to adopt techniques that are considered by the professional community to be up-to-date and effective

Question 8

Short Answer: Trade Association

Answer 8

Beer Canada example, group of companies that bonded together so that they can better regulate laws that will effect them directly ie; blood alcohol level when driving

Question 9

Short Answer: Cooptation

Answer 9

making a side deal with an business opponent

Question 10

Short Answer: Clan Control

Answer 10

Use of social characteristics (organizational culture, shared values, commitment, traditions, beliefs) to control behaviour
Requires shared values and trust among employees
Important when ambiguity and uncertainty are high
Most often used in small, informal organizations or in those with a strong culture
Self-control: stems from the values, goals, and standards of individuals

Question 11

When to use an organic structure?

Answer 11

When there is high environmental uncertainty, employees will contribute to common tasks and adjust to teamwork

Question 12

Mechanistic Structure

Answer 12

Tasks are broken down into separate parts, tasks rigidly designed, knowledge and control is centralized to the top of organization

Question 13

Stanford prison experiment

Answer 13

Led by Philip Zimbardo psychology professor, the experiment simulated-prison situation, rather than individual personality traits, caused the participants’ behaviour

Question 14

Jarrett and Maynard Wheelchair Case

Answer 14

Company that did not keep up with the market, made way too many models, struggled with production and internal communication. Should work on changing the organization structure, market research and team communication

Question 15

Formal Strategic Alliances

Answer 15

Examples are airlines, WestJet, Air Canada

Question 16

Changes of Domain

Answer 16

changing the head of your company to continue forward and be ahead of other industries, an example is hallmark they were a greeting card company primarily and now they have realized that there is not much future in this are and changed to a cable TV channel that creates movies normally romantic movies.

Question 17

Horizontal Information Linkages

Answer 17

how the departments communicate with one another the wheelchair company was unable to communicate at all with one another, this is more of a challenge to achieve then vertical information as paying attention to other areas needs can be difficult

Question 18

Functional Structure

Answer 18

• More of a workable functional structure, however can still be difficult when there is friction among units the CEO must step into create a solution for the problem, this is good for a company that has the same type of products it can become tricky when there is a variety of products being created if products are so broad like jets and hangers things can fall apart

Question 19

Divisional Structure

Answer 19

• This model would be more effective for a company with a variety of software for example

Question 20

Geographic Structure

Answer 20

Broken Down based upon location and regions that have different executives in charge

Question 21

Matrix Structure

Answer 21

not as functional and more ambitious, the president often wants all types of coordination, creates office politics and war this is hard to maintain

Question 22

Virtual Networking

Answer 22

accounting, marketing, distribution, manufacturing and other areas can be outsourced the company deals directly with contracts while day to day work is being dealt with from other companies, you are not locked into these companies and so you can change them quickly for a cheeper rate

Question 23

Similarities of population ecology and institutionalism

Answer 23

Both imply the importance of leadership overrated, organization will live or die for reasons unrelated to the leaders quality of judgement

Question 24

Interorganizational Linkages

Answer 24

Ownership
Formal Strategic Alliances
Cooptation and interlocking directorates
Executive Retirement
Advertising and public relations

Question 25

Ways to control environment domain

Answer 25

Changes of domain
Political activity and regulation
Trade association
Illegitimate activities

Question 26

Vertical information linkages

Answer 26

Hierarchical referral
Rules and plans
Vertical information systems

Question 27

Horizontal Information Linkages

Answer 27

Informs system
Direct contact
Task forces
Full time integrator
Teams