Final Exam Flashcards
What is ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE?
Formally dictates how jobs and tasks are divided and coordinated between individuals and groups within the company.
Simplicity/Complexity depends on the size of the company and the number of employees.
How can an organizational structure be represented?
Using an ORGANIZATIONAL CHART: Drawing that represents every job in the organization, and the formal reporting relationships between those jobs.
What is the role of the organizational chart?
It helps organizational members and outsiders understand and comprehend how work is structured within the company.
What are the five key elements of organizational structure?
-Work Specialization
-Chain of Command
-Span of Control
-Centralization
-Formalization
What is WORK SPECIALIZATION?
The way in which tasks in an organization are divided into separate jobs (‘division of labour’).
What trade-off does work specialization present?
Between productivity, flexibility, and worker motivation.
What are the disadvantages of highly-specialized jobs?
-Lacking flexibility: Failure to update or practice other skills.
-Lower employee job satisfaction: Lack of variety, use of different skills and talents.
When are specialized jobs most unacceptable?
In smaller firms, in which employees must be more flexible in their job duties.
What is the CHAIN OF COMMAND?
Answers the question of “who reports to whom”
and signifies formal authority relationships.
What is SPAN OF CONTROL?
For a manager, represents how many employees he or she is responsible for in the organization.
What determines the span of control?
How many employees one manager can supervise effectively.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a narrow span of control?
-Pros: Managers can be much more hands-on with employees: Directive leadership style, close mentoring relationship with employees.
-Cons: Increased labour costs.
-Cons: Employees can become resentful of their close supervision.
When is a narrow span of control best suited?
When the manager has substantially more skill/expertise than the subordinates.
What is the relationship between span of control and organizational performance?
-As span of control increases, organizational performance increases, so long that managers have the ability to coordinate and supervise the large number of employees.
How does span of control affect the organizational chart?
It determines how “tall” or “flat” the organizational chart becomes.
What is a tall organizational structure?
Many hierarchical levels, narrow span of control.
What are the disadvantages of a tall organizational structure?
-More layers of management = More management salaries;
-Complex communication: ‘Layers’ of information travelling;
-Hierarchical, slower decision-making.
What is CENTRALIZATION?
Reflects where decisions are formally made in organizations.
What is a centralized structure?
In which decision-making is made by the top managers.
When does decentralization become necessary?
As a company grows larger.
What is FORMALIZATION?
The degree to which there are many specific rules and procedures to standardize behaviours and decisions.
What are MECHANISTIC ORGANIZATIONS?
-Efficient, rigid, predictable, and standardized organizations that thrive in a stable environment.
-High formalization, rigid and hierarchical chain of command, high degrees of work specialization, centralization of decision-making, vertical communication, narrow span of control.
What are ORGANIC ORGANIZATIONS?
Flexible, adaptive, outward-focused organizations that thrive in dynamic environments.
-Low levels of formalization, weak/multiple chains of command, low work specialization, lateral communication, wide span of control.
What is the effect of employing either a mechanistic or organic organization?
The types of employee practices adopted: Selection, training, recruitment, compensation, performance systems.