OMM - 05. Organizational Design Flashcards
Properly implemented _____ enhances unit effectiveness.
Organizational Design
The process of choosing and implementing a structural configuration for an organization.
Organizational Design
Good _____ tries to build upon the strengths of a bureaucracy while minimizing its weaknesses.
Organizational Design
_____ are major strengths for an organization because they provide an arranged hierarchy of internal order and clearly defined areas of responsibility.
Clear Lines of Communication and Authority
_____ could lead to the organization being rigid and inflexible in its operating procedures.
Overspecialization
Four main factors to consider when deciding what is best for an organization
- Goals
- Environment
- Size
- Technology
You must consider _____ because the mission often determines the degree of design flexibility you can tolerate.
Organizational Goals
The _____ of an organization can be reflected in the number of people employed, the number of customers served, or the number of suppliers involved.
Size
An organization structure that emphasizes vertical specialization and control, an extensive use of managerial techniques, impersonal coordination and control, and a HEAVY reliance on rules, policies, and procedures.
Mechanistic Organization
Incorporates a hierarchy that distributes formal authority and establishes where and how critical decisions will be made.
Vertical Specialization
This specialization is from the bottom - up.
Vertical Specialization
Communication in this organizational design flows from the branch chief, to the shops, to the respective line operations.
Mechanistic Design Communication
Most of the communication occurs at the top level in this organizational design.
Mechanistic Design
If mission goals are oriented toward efficiency, then the conditions would favor a _____ design.
Mechanistic
This design would be most beneficial in organizations that have a need for tight procedures and strict control.
Mechanistic Design
This design is best for organizations that have very effective communication.
Mechanistic Design
If the organizational environment is predictable, then a _____ design would be appropriate.
Mechanistic
This design is best for organizations which have little need for innovation and are centered around having clearly defined, specific operating procedures.
Mechanistic Design
If the size of the organization is moderate to large, then a _____ design would be appropriate.
Mechanistic
This design is best for organizations that are independent operations and don’t have to rely upon others to support their operations.
Mechanistic
If the technology used by the organization is well established and stable, then a _____ design would be appropriate.
Mechanistic
This design has the same organizational structure or framework as Mechanistic Design but differs in how the people interact within the organization.
Organic Design
This design provides an organizational structure that emphasizes horizontal specialization, an extensive use of personal coordination, and loose rules policies, and procedures.
Organic Design
This type of specialization means that shops in the organization share duties and responsibilities.
Horizontal Specialization
In horizontal specialization, decision making is _____.
Decentralized
This design leads to greater empowerment of its workers.
Organic Design
In this design communication can flow freely between shops.
Organic Design
If organizational goals allow flexibility and relaxed controls, then the _____ would be appropriate.
Organic Design
If the organizational environment is high in uncertainty and the mission is constantly changing, then the organization needs to have flexibility and innovativeness enabled by _____ design.
Organic Design
This design is best suited for organizations that are of a small to moderate size.
Organic Design
This design is best when there is less need for strict controls over personnel and procedures.
Organic Design
Organizations that have changing technological demands are good candidates for the _____ design.
Organic Design
A _____ organizational design combines the elements of the mechanistic and organic design within the same organization.
Diverse
In terms of organizational goals, the _____ design provides the efficiency of the mechanistic design.
Diverse Design
This design provides the tight procedures and strict control where needed and also emphasizes strict compliance with rules, policies, and procedures. It then allows the flexibility and relaxed controls of the organic design where needed.
Diverse Design
This design provides a stable and predictable working environment, and provides workers with a set of specific, clearly defined, operating procedures while allowing an organization the flexibility and innovativeness it needs to meet the challenges of changing mission demands.
Diverse Design
This design is appropriate for organizations of all sizes.
Diverse Design
This design has “dual lines of authority.”
Matrix Design
This means people may have two bosses.
Dual Lines of Authority
This design is usually used for special projects.
Matrix Design
This design is ideal when several different skills are needed to work on a single project.
Matrix Design
A project team needs to form its own design based on the main four factors
- Goal
- Environment
- Size
- Technology
If the project team needs lots of structure and control it will probably be _____, regardless of organizational design.
Mechanistic
If the project team needs lots of flexibility, it will probably be ____, regardless of organizational design.
Organic
Questions on Pages 20-27
Questions on Pages 20-27
This design tends to be more flexible with a lot of communication between sections.
Organic
This design provides both flexibility and control.
Diverse
This design can combine people from several different areas and put them to work on a special project with dual lines of authority.
Matrix
The _____ within an organization will often dictate the organizations success.
Line of Authority
The use of appropriate _____ could help the organization minimize the weaknesses of overspecialization, inflexibility, and politics.
Structural Design
