Mechanisms, Parts, and Systems (4) Flashcards
Reminders
- Organizations face conflicting requirements (division of labor/coordination)
- Division of labor leads to separate activities (interdependence increases complexity, complexity increases coordination costs)
- Coordination is achieved by 5 mechanisms (mutual adjustment, direct supervision, standardization of processes, standardization of outputs, standardization of skills)
Interdependence
Pooled- if workers only share resources
Sequential- If they take previous outputs as inputs
Reciprocal- If they iterate and give feedback
Task Complexity
Most organizations use all five coordination mechanisms, but some can be more prominent
they usually appear in sequential order as a function of interdependence
mutual adj–> direct sup. –> standard.–> mutual adj.
Mutual Adjustment
Coordination achieved by informal communication
Simplest mechanisms, but the only one that works for very complex tasks
Ex: canoeing teams, apollo crews
Direct Supervision
Coordination achieved by one individual with formal responsibility
quite simple, necessary if the number of workers becomes too large
ex: football teams, construction crews
Standardization of Processes
Coordination achieved by the programming of work
Analysts’ instructions reduce the need for communication or supervision
Ex: assembly line, telegraph operator
Standardization of Outputs
Coordination achieved by specifying work results
Downstream workers receive what they expect, without communication or supervision
Ex: insurance salesmen, fast food franchises
Standardization of Skills
Coordination achieved by specifying training or qualifications
Most sophisticated, usually at play even before workers are hired
Ex: chemical engineers, diplomatic officials
Vertical Division of Labor
More complexity induces supervision
Even more complexity induces standardisation
A new kind of specialization emerges
- those who perform
- those who supervise
- those who standardize
Five basic parts
- Those who perform: Operating Core
- Those who supervise: Strategic apex, middle line
- Those who standardize: Technostructure
technostructure and support staff stay mostly out of the scalar chain
Operating Core
- Procurement, production, marketing
- purchasing agents secure inputs
- assembly line workers turn inputs into outputs
- salespeople distribute the outputs
- helped by warehouse, repairmen, shippers - Work directly related to products or services
- lawyers in corporate law firms
- welders in car manufacturing - Must be sealed off from the environment
- uncertainty threatens core operations
- usually subject to greatest standardization
Strategic Apex
- Overall responsibility for the organization
- most general and abstract activities
- high discretion, low repetition and standardization - Different and demanding duties
- interfacing with the environment (relating to government and unions, negotiating, ensuring access to external resources)
- formulating high-level strategy
- defining organizational goals
- ensuring progress toward goals
Middle Line
-all the managerial roles but faster, less abstract
-helps ensure flow of info
(downward, upward, and sideways)
Technostructure
- helps the org by regulating behavior (design work, plans it, changes it, trains workers)
- analytic work at all levels of the hierarchy (strategic planning and financial control, operations and departmental planning, production schedules and accounting)
-main vehicle of standardization
engineering workflows to increase productivity
ensuring that activities stay within budget
specifying production and sales goals
training
Support Staff
- Fringe work at all levels of the hierarchy (public relations and legal counsel, industrial relations and R&D, mailroom, reception, payroll, cafeteria)
- Different from technostructure (not concerned with standardisation, its main purpose is not advisory)
- Resembles a set of mini-organizations (own managers, analysits, and core, internalized to reduce transaction costs; coupled with other parts only in a pooled way)
Differences btw line and staff
- Authority
in the line it is mostly formal, because superiors give and enforce orders; in the staff it is mostly informal, because it stems from control of resources - Loyalty
the line has a direct relation with organizational goals, so workers and managers are mainly loyal; staffers only have an indirect relation and are mainly loyal to their professions
How the parts fit together
- Purely formal or informal systems
- system of formal authority (Fayol)
- system of regulated flows (Taylor, Weber)
- system of informal communication (Mayo) - Mixed systems
- system of work constellations
- system of ad-hod decision processes
All systems are simultaneously at work
Flows of authority, resources, information,etc. connect the parts and stack on top of each other, making organizations effective but complex
System of formal authority
-shown by organigram
jobs and units
direct supervision
no informal relations
-shapes informal relations
sets their direction
generates defenses
requires conformity
System of regulated flows
-systematic and explicit
shows standardisation
-3 distinct flows
- operating work (materials, documents, customers)
- Control information (plans, budgets, performance, exceptions)
- Staff information (advice for the line, external intelligence)
Bypassing formal systems
how supervision and standardization usually fail:
- operators on different projects talk to each other
- they directly communicate with staff members
- they skip middle managers and go to the top
System of informal communication
- shown by sociogram
supplementary info
spontaneous and flexible
ties outside the line
-defacto power centers
top managers
low-level staffers
disconnected middle line
-too fluid to standardize
mutual adjustment
Trist and Bamforth’s 1951 study
- Before mechanization
crews responsible for mining activity
verbal communication –> mutual adj. - After mechanization
horizontal and vertical division of labor
intro of shifts, loss of control - Supervision and standardization ineffective
low productivity, absenteeism - Intro of a hybrid system
sall, informal, self-managed groups
measurable performance –> standardization
Why informal structure ?
- Talking is attractive
increase volume and speed of info; personal contacts perceived as more important - Organizations are social
workers need friendship and chances to vent - Trading favors is efficient
appealing to superiors makes workers uneasy; rules sometimes take too long to be enforced
System of work constellations
- Consists of cliques
spatial proximity
same goals and interests - Not like regulated flows
differential coupling
more diverse information
mostly horizontal - formal and informal
functional specialization
verbal communication
Variation across parts
constellations in the core often map to functional units
In technostructure, middle line, and apex, they are usually cross-functional
in support staff, some map to units and some do not
System of ad-hoc decision processes
- Handles unusual work
irregular interactions
unforeseen problems
complaints - Consists of decisions
signals of intention
resource commitments - Involves multiple stages
identification
development
selection
Decision stages and routines
Identification
- Recognition: acknowledging problem
- Diagnosis: understanding decision constraints
Development
- Search: look for existing solutions
- Design: develop custom-made solutions
Selection
- Screening: decide which solution to consider
- Evaluation-choice: weighing possible solutions
- authorization: securing approval for choice
Decision categories
- Operating decisions
highly routinized and programmed
generally included in regulated flows - Administrative decisions
- guide operating decisions (coordinative) : routinized and partly programmed, also included in regulated flows
- handle special case of low importance (exceptional): non-routinized and partly programmed - Strategic decisions
- handle special cases of high importance
- neither routinized nor programmed
