Internal Organisations Flashcards
Functional grouping
Departments where staff have similar skills & expertise & do similar jobs e.g. Marketing, Finance, HR, Operations, R&D
Types of organisational groupings
Functional, product/service, customer, place/territory, technology, line/staff
Advantages of functional grouping
Staff with similar expertise are kept together allowing specialisation, Organisation has clear structure, Staff know who to go to when they need a job done
Disadvantages of functional grouping
See sheet
Product/service grouping
Divisions/departments where each deals with a different product or product range. Each division has it’s own functional staff. E.g. TV company: sports, film, music, children’s divisions
Advantages of product/service grouping
See sheet
Disadvantages of product/service grouping
See sheet
Customer grouping
Divisions dealing with different types of customer e.g. Retail, Trade, Overseas, Mail Order
Advantages of customer grouping
Each division is able to give a service, price & promotions suited to its own type of customer. Customer loyalty builds up because of personal service
Disadvantages of customer grouping
See sheet
Place/territory grouping
Staff are divided into divisions, each dealing with a different geographical area e.g. Scotland, midlands, south/north of England
Advantages of place/territory grouping
Allows an organisation to cater for the needs of customers in different geographical locations
Disadvantages of place/territory grouping
It can be expensive to staff as administration, finance & marketing procedures are duplicated in various divisions
Technology grouping
A manufacturing company groups it’s business activities according to technological or production processes. Only suitable for large organisations which have different products & production processes
Line/staff grouping
Organisation is divided up into line departments involved in generating revenue and staff departments providing specialist support for the whole organisation e.g. Finance & HR
An organisational chart shows:
Relationship between staff, who has authority over whom, who is in charge of organisation/each department, chain of command & lines of communication
Features of a Narrow Span of control
See sheet
A wide span of control means:
See sheet
Factors which affect the Formal Structure of an organisation:
See sheet
Types of (formal) organisational structure
Hierarchical, flat, entrepreneurial, matrix, decentralised, centralised
Hierarchical structure
See sheet
Flat structure
See sheet
Entrepreneurial
See sheet
Matrix structure
See sheet
Decentralised structure
See sheet
Centralised structure
See sheet
Responsibility of management to ensure:
See sheet
Organisational relationships
Line, lateral, functional, staff, informal
Line relationship
Vertical relationship that exists between manager and their subordinate(s). Work allocated from manager to subordinate. Manager has authority over subordinate.
Lateral relationship
Exists between staff on the same horizontal level of the organisation
Functional relationship
Exists where a specialist function is given to a department e.g. HR That department is given responsibility for the function throughout the organisation
Staff relationship
When someone has an advisory relationship with another member of staff. They have no authority over departments as they only advise e.g. Computer consultant
Informal relationship
Can develop between staff at breaks, during work, when socialising. See sheet
Changes in organisational structure
Delayering
Downsizing
Delayering
Involves reducing staff levels by cutting out levels of management. See sheet
Downsizing
Involves removing certain areas of the organisations activities by closing factories or merging divisions together. See sheet
Delayering helps to:
See sheet
Disadvantages of delayering
Causes redundancies.
Gives fewer promotion opportunities for staff which can lower morale
Downsizing helps to:
Cut costs & increase profits
Become more competitive & efficient
Empower remaining staff
Disadvantages of downsizing
Lose valuable skills, experience & knowledge of many staff resulting in low staff morale during the downsizing process
Empowerment means:
See sheet
Empowering staff may lead to:
See sheet
An organisation benefits from empowerment by having:
See sheet
Empowerment may not be successful because:
See sheet
Corporate culture is:
The values, beliefs, and norms relating to the company or organisation that are shared by all it’s staff
Corporate culture is developed through:
See sheet
Communication of corporate culture is done through:
Honouring employees for excellent work, training courses, company magazines/newsletters, company events, social events, staff uniforms, company videos
Advantages of strong corporate culture
Employees feel part of the organisation. Improved employee relationships. Increased staff motivation, employee loyalty, productivity
