Lecture 5 Structure & Culture Flashcards
Why is understanding organizational structure important?
It helps with career opportunities, effective communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and leadership development.
What is a value chain in an organization?
It outlines the key business units of an organization and how they operate, often applied to manufacturing but adaptable to service-oriented companies.
What are the primary activities in a value chain?
Inbound Logistics
Operations
Outbound Logistics
Marketing & Sales
Service
What are the support activities in a value chain?
Procurement
Technology
HR
Firm Infrastructure
What are the key dimensions of organizational structure?
Departmentalization, centralized vs. decentralized decision-making, formalization & standardization, hierarchy, and span of control.
What is the difference between centralized and decentralized decision-making?
Centralized decision-making occurs at the top levels of management, while decentralized decision-making spreads authority to lower levels.
What is formalization in organizational structure?
The establishment of explicit procedures, rules, and policies to structure individuals’ work behaviors.
What is the difference between ‘machine bureaucracy’ and ‘professionalism’ in organizational structure?
Machine bureaucracy is centralized, formal, and hierarchical, focusing on control, while professionalism is decentralized, flexible, and informal, focusing on coordination.
What are the three types of organizational control strategies?
Market-based
Bureaucracy
Clan-based (culture)
What is organizational culture?
It consists of shared values, beliefs, norms, practices, and artifacts that define how members of an organization behave and interact.
What is the role of culture in organizational control?
Culture can be used as a control strategy when the structure does not provide enough control, especially in environments with uncertain conditions or decentralized workforces.
What is the Competing Values Framework?
It is a model that describes different organizational cultures based on two dimensions: Flexibility vs. Control and Internal vs. External Focus.
What are the four culture types in the Competing Values Framework?
Clan: Flexible and internally focused (family-like).
Adhocracy: Flexible and externally focused (innovation-driven).
Market: Controlled and externally focused (competitive).
Hierarchy: Controlled and internally focused (structured).
What is the key to successful cultural change in an organization?
The elements of the culture (values, beliefs, practices) can be used to affect and drive change within the organization.
What are the four categories in the Cultural Web Model?
Rational goal
Internal process
Human relations
Open system
