ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND POLITICS Flashcards
What are the topics tackled?
- Organizational structure and information flow
- Hierarchy
- Division of labor
- Informal networks
- Organizational politics
- Sources of political power
- Tactics
What is the Organizational Structure?
- Organizations must manage massive quantities of information to make decisions, develop strategy, and innovate
- The structure of an organization plays a crucial role in managing and shaping the flow of information
What are the Elements of Organizational Structure?
- Hierarchy
- Division of Labor
- Networks
What about Organizational Hierarchy ?
- All social groups exhibit hierarchy and people are more productive, committed, and satisfied in groups where it is clear who has power and authority
- “When scholars attempt to find an organization that is not characterized by hierarchy, they cannot.”
- Hierarchy should be managed, not ignored
(Gruenfeld and Tiedens, 2010)
The Google’s example of Eradicating hierarchy = Chaos
One example: Google’s experiment in getting rid of middle management, championed by founder Larry Page circa 2002
“More than 100 engineers reported to a single overwhelmed executive. Frustration and confusion was rampant. Without those middle managers, it was nearly impossible for people to do their work and for executives to grasp and influence what was happened in the company. Page learned the hard way that a hierarchy can be too flat and that middle managers are often a necessary complexity.”
What is the Dunbar’s Number?
Dunbar’s number, calculated by Professor Robin Dunbar of the University of Oxford, is an estimate of the number of relationships that our minds are capable of handling simultaneously.
The cognitive load created by increasing organizational headcount grows exponentially, not linearly, because we track not only our relationships with other people but their relationships with one another as well
We can adequately keep track of 150 people
What is the Division of Labor ?
- Classic concept dating back to Adam Smith
- Specialization creates the need for integration of tasks and knowledge
- Division of labor implies coordination mechanisms: what are the different ways of “dividing labor”?
What are the types of Division of Labor?
- Bureaucratic: based on roles, rules, and reporting relationships
- Occupational: based on expertise, professional community, self-control
- Technical: based on technology such as assembly lines or workflows
- Market: based on demand from buyers; “spot” labor
What are the two types of Informal Networks?
- Cohesive Network
- Bridging Network
What about Structural Holes?
- People whose networks bridge disconnected groups have more power because they have access to more unique information
- Network “brokers” can play a great role in disruptive or innovative activities
Ladder vs. Labyrinth :
- Women in organizations do better when they have networks across departments and organizations (Ibarra 1997)
- Less movement directly “up the ladder” – more moving through a “labyrinth” (Eagly and Carli 2007)
Why does Informal Networks Matter?
- Shape information and knowledge sharing, and thereby innovation, in organizations
- Affect career outcomes and mobility
Information vs Knowledge Sharing :
“Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. That is only valid for information sharing.
Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action.”
- Peter Senge, MIT
What is Politics in organizations?
Activities to acquire, develop, & use power & other resources to obtain one’s preferred outcome
“Politics” is often considered a dirty game…
Why aren’t politics inherently bad?
- Enable you to get things done that you think should be done
- May help align or realign an organization with its environment
- Life is political!
What is Power ?
The ability to get things done the way one wants them done.
