MicroStructure (5) Flashcards
Design
Design presumes discretion (the ability to alter a system)
A designer devises courses of action that change the system in ways that are desirable
Design is the core of all professional training, from business to medicine, architecture, and law
Nine questions
how many tasks are in a job, and how narrow?
to what extend should tasks be standardized?
what skills and knowledge are needed for a job?
on what basis should jobs or units be grouped?
how large should each unit be?
to what extent should outputs be standardized?
how should mutual adjustment be faciliated?
how much power should middle managers have?
how much power should staff members have?
Nine design parameters
(first three are microstructure)
- Specialization
- Formalization of behavior
- Training and indoctrination
- Unit grouping
- Unit size
- Planning and control systems
- Liaison devices
- Vertical decentralization
- Horizontal decentralization
Motivation
the set of processes (simple or complex) (extrinsic or intrinsic) that originate, direct, and sustain human behavior toward a goal
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
needs are sequential: lower-level needs must be satisfied before higher-level ones
- Physiological (food, water, sleep)
- Safety. (employment, health, house)
- Love/belonging (friendship, familiy)
- Esteem
- Self-actualization
Application to the workplace
- Physiological : fair salary (food and shelter)
- Safety: Pension plan (predictability)
- Love/belonging: good colleagues (friendship)
- Esteem: nice title (status and pride)
- Self-actualization: challenge (finding purpose)
Alderfer’s ERG Theory (existence, relatedness, growth)
- Existence needs (physiology and security)
- Relatedness needs (social relationships, sense of belonging, status and pride: extrinsic esteem)
- Growth needs (positive self-image: intrinsic esteem, self-improvement and actualization)
Key diff from Maslow: greater satisfaction of lower-level needs offsets smaller satisfaction of higher-level ones
McGregor’s X and Y
Theory x: doesn’t like work, tight control, motivated by money
Theory y: work is interesting, takes responsibility, self-direction
Herzberg’s two-factor theory
- Satisfaction is driven by motivators
(learning, self-improvement, making an impact, conditions internal to the task) - Dissatisfaction is driven by hygiene factors (fairness, stability, friendliness, mostly dye to conditions external to the task)
A dual-variable theory
- satisfaction unaffected by hygiene factors
- dissatisfaction unaffected by motivators
- positive attitude and productivity are not opposites
Implications for structure
- Motivation can be manipulated
autonomy, responsibility, feedback - Possible complications
past performance, reference groups
Job-related parameters
Specialization: Horizontal/vertical division of labor
Formalization: Standardization of work processes
Training and indoctrination: Standardization of skills
2 kinds of specialization
- Horizontal (referring to job scope, variety..)
2. vertical (job depth, autonomy,…)
Horizontal specialization
- By far the predominant form of division of labor (enabled by economies of scale)
- Repetition increases productivity (tasks matched to workers, lower switching costs)
- Repetition decreases satisfaction
- Repetition increases dissatisfaction
Vertical specialization
- Gives rise to administrative work (those who supervise, those who standardize)
- Follows horizontal specialization (coordination required for narrower tasks, broader perspective needed for consistency, control transferred to managers and analysts)
Job Enlargement
- Opposite of specialization
(horizontal: addind more tasks
vertical: allowing choice of tasks) - Increase job satisfaction
- Benefits highly dependent on context (greater motivation vs. lower efficiency, higher-quality work but lower productivity)
- Also dependent on the nature of the workers (tolerance for ambiguity, self-identification with work)
Job Rotation
- Involves changing workers, not tasks
at all levels of the hierarchy, but not feasible in some industries (healthcare) - Advantages
adds variety without changing workflow, learning and career development, better identification of star employees - Disadvantages
costs of setting up rotation program, time lost to switching tasks, not necessarily enjoyable by workers
Specialization by parts
- Strategic apex
low horizontal, low vertical - Middle line
high vertical, high horizontal toward core (functions), low horizontal toward apex - Core and staff
high horizontal, high vertical if unskilled, low vertical if professional
3 ways of formalizing behavior
- By job
specifying what to do in what sequence; generally part of formal job description - By workflow
specifying how to perform specific tasks, but job on the whole remains vague (orchestras) - By rules
specifying who can do what, when, where, and with whose permission; generally part of policy manual
advantages
- Formalization regulates behavior
lower variability in quality and quantity, predictability and accountability of workers, control shifted to analysits (vertical spec.) - Formalization faciliates coordination
- Formalization prevents nepotism
necessary to Weber’s ideal bureaucracy
preferred by government and public organizations
Disadvantages
- Makes organizations mechanistic
rigid and efficient, but fragile
lower survival in changing environments - destroys social relations
encourages focus on own goals - leads to the “iron cage”
automatic rejection of innovative ideas
mistreatment of customers
absenteeism, soldiering
Mechanistic vs. organic structures
Mechanistic: high specialization, formal authority and unity of command, centralization, written standards and operating rules, status driven by position in hierarchy
Organic: workers are together and change and rotate tasks, cross-functional teams and task forces, decentralization, face-to-face contact and verbal interaction, status driven by personal achievement
Formalization by parts
- Strategic apex (extremely low)
- Operating core (extremely high)
- Staff units (high toward core, low toward apex)
- Middle line (same as staff units, high in production, low in marketing)
Culture and indoctrination
socialization: the process by which people learn the values and norms of a group
indoctrination: the parameter used to socialize workers for an organization’s own benefit
- most of it happens outside the organization
- some happens before new hires start their jobs (internships, rotation through departments)
- some happens later (rotation through foreign subsidiaries)
Differences with formalization
- two ways of exercising control over workers
with formalization: workers are explicitly directed
with indoctrination: they seem to act autonomously - Loyalty follows the source of control
formalization become unnecessary and unwanted - Two kinds of bureaucracy
more formalization: machine bureaucracy
more indoctrination: professional bureaucracy
Indoctrination by parts
- Operating Core
low if unskilled, high if professional - Staff units
relatively high - Apex and middle line
relatively low
slowly increasing
