Exam #2: Organizational Structure Flashcards
Formal Organizational Structure
- The emphasis is on organizational positions and formal power.
- Provides a framework for defining managerial authority, responsibility, and accountability
Informal Organizational Structure
- The focus is on the employees, their relationships, and the informal power that is inherent within those relationships.
- Has its own leaders and communication channel (grapevine)
True or False: Assigning tasks is part of the informal structure.
B. False
Rationale: The formal structure involves planning activities such as assigning tasks, whereas the informal structure is covert and less structured.
Bureaucracy as an Organizational Design
- There must be a clear division of labor.
- A well-defined hierarchy of authority must exist.
- There must be impersonal rules.
- There must be a system for dealing with work situations.
- There must be a system of rules for covering the rights and duties of each position.
- Selection for employment must be based on technical competence.
Unity of Command
- This concept is best described as one person/one boss in which employees have one manager to whom they report and to whom they are responsible.
- It is difficult to maintain in some large health-care organizations because the nature of health care requires a multidisciplinary approach.
Why can unity of command be difficult to maintain?
C. The multidisciplinary nature of
health care makes it difficult to maintain.
Rationale: Unity of command is a simple system,
but sometimes, overly simplified in a complex
field such as health care.
Span of Control
- Refers to the number of people directly reporting to any one manager and determines the number of interactions expected of him or her
- Too many people reporting to a single manager delays decision making, whereas too few results in an inefficient, top-heavy organization
Centrality
- Where a position falls on an organization chart
- Degree of communication of a particular management position
- The middle manager often has a broader view of the organization.
- Decisions are made by a few managers at the top of the hierarchy
Levels of Management: Top-level managers
- Board of directors
- Chief executive officer
- Administrators
Level of Management: Middle-level managers
- Nursing supervisors
- Department heads
Levels of Management: First-level managers
- Team leaders
- Charge nurses
- Primary care nurses
- Case managers
Advantages of the organization chart
- Maps lines of decision-making authority
- Helps people understand their assignments and those of their coworkers
- Reveals to managers and new personnel how they fit into the organization
- Contributes to sound organizational structure
- Shows formal lines of communication
Disadvantages of the Organization Chart
- Does not show the informal structure of the organization
- Does not indicate the degree of authority held by each line position
- May show things as they are supposed to be or used to be rather than as they are
- Possibility exists of confusing authority with status
Flattened Organization Structure
- Remove hierarchical layers by flattening the scalar chain and decentralizing the organization
- Continue to have line authority, but because the organizational structure is flattened, more authority and decision making can occur where the work is being carried out
- Despite being very flat, often retain many characteristics of a bureaucracy
Ad Hoc Design
- Modification of the bureaucratic structure
- Sometimes used temporarily to facilitate project completion within a formal line organization
- Overcomes the inflexibility of line structure
- Serves as a way for professionals to handle increasingly large amounts of information
- Uses a project team or task approach and is usually disbanded after a project is completed
- May result in decreased employee loyalty to the parent organization
