Organizational Structure & Organizational Change (CF &JI)

Question 1

What are the three types of organizational Design?

Answer 1

1. Simple Structure
2. Bureaucratic Structure
3. Matrix
   Exam question?

Question 2

Family Business-centralized,
Wide span of control, little formalization i.e father or uncle owns business and uncle overseas everyone (wide span of control) there isn’t much formalization on how to run a business though.

Answer 2

Simple Structure

Question 3

Standardized narrow span of control, centralized authority. I.E head is CEO - one person everyone has to go through if any changes need to be made. Hierarchical type structure.

Answer 3

Bureaucratic structure

Question 4

Dual line of authority balanced by top management. Can be more then two different departments (dual line of managers)

Answer 4

Matrix

Question 5

What are the three new organizational designs?

Answer 5

1. Virtual
2. Boundaryless
3. Lean

Question 6

No central office, organizational charts or hierarchy, customers, suppliers, competitors come together to exploit opportunities and obtain objective.

Answer 6

Virtual

Question 7

Flat, no chain of command, limitless span of control empowered by teams

Answer 7

Boundaryless

Question 8

Downsizing, closing locations, focus on core competencies. I.e blackberry

Answer 8

Lean

Question 9

Why do structures differ? (There are 6 reasons)

Answer 9

1. Organizational Models
   - mechanistic-bureaucratic, hierarchical
   -Organic, flat, no chain of command
2. Other factors
   - size, environment, strategy, technology
3. Organizational size
   -the more people, the more specialization, more departmentalizations, more vertical levels, more rules and regulations
4. Technology - Degree of routineness
   If you’re using technology instead of people for your business, the structure of your business would be more centralized and narrow expansions of control
5. Strategy (how you want to go about your business and the type of environment)
   -values innovation, cost minimization or imitation - H&M
   - if your strategy is innovation what would your strategy be? Organic.
6. Environment
   - static vs. Dynamic
   Capacity, volatility, complexity
   (Have an understanding of these terms)

Question 10

Static vs Dynamic
- capacity, volatility, complexity

Static = nothing much changes,
Here are the rules,
Follow them. Beaucractic culture

Answer 10

Capacity - similar to demographics - supply and demand
Volatility- aboard, warzone
Complexity - rules and regulations,
Would benefit from a formalized structure

Question 11

To maximize employee satisfaction and performance, individual differences such as experience, personality, workforce as well as culture need to be taken into account

Answer 11

Organizational design & employee behaviour

Question 12

Customer satisfaction question: do you think you could attend to your customers better in a centralized or a decentralized organization?

Answer 12

A: decentralized - negotiation and give you an answer right away without losing you. Even if it’s in a big organization.

Question 13

Q: is formalized beauracy bad?

Answer 13

No because it’s cost effective and very efficient.

Be able to apply
Your knowledge when it comes to organizational structure.

Question 14

The movement of an organization from one estate to another

- It may involve a change in a company’s structure. Strategy, policies, procedures, technology and culture.

Answer 14

Organizational change

Question 15

Why do organizations change (6 reasons)

Answer 15

1. Workplace demographics (motivation, older workers)
2. Technology
3. Globalization
4. Changes in the market conditions (I.e downsizing)
5. Growth
6. Poor performance (take a look at the org culture).

Question 16

** what are Kotler’s eight step plan for implementing change? Exam question

Answer 16

1. Establish a sense of urgency by creating a compelling rationale
2. Form a coalition with enough power to lead the change
3. A new vision to direct the changes and strategies.
4. Communication and vision throughout the organization
5. Empower others to act on the vision
6. Plan for, create, reward short term ‘wins’
7. Consolidate
8. Reinforce

Question 17

Can be active or passive (depending on the individual)

Answer 17

Resistance to change (exam question)

Question 18

Two types of resistance to change - please name

Answer 18

1. individual
2. Organizational
   Exam question

Question 19

Misunderstanding / miscommunication, disrupted habits, personality, feelings of uncertainty, fear of failure, perceived loss of power

Answer 19

Individual (resistance to change) exam question

Question 20

Structured inertia
Group inertia
Threat to expertise (mergers and acquisitions come into play here).
Financial strains

Answer 20

Organizational (resistance to change) exam question

Question 21

Q: another question on exam:
How do we overcome resistance by creating culture of change?
How does learning and creativity help with change?

Answer 21

A: creating a culture of innovation and a learning type organization / culture. Learning and creativity help with change as the more you know the more comfortable you are. If you take creativity and learning and implement them into your culture the buy-ins would Come about much easier. Breaking people’s resistance to change.

Question 22

What are the global implications for change?

Answer 22

1. Reliance on tradition
2. Long term vs short term focus / time orientation
3. Power distance

Question 23

Global implications for change each 3 defined.

Answer 23

1. Reliance on tradition - different people from different cultures resistance to change. Take into consideration your time when implementing this change.
2. Long term vs short
   Term focus / time orientation - this is future thinking with time (almost the same thing as reliance to tradition).
   Long term- rely on tradition and need more time for change
3. Power distance- the bigger the power distance is, the easier it’s going to be to implement this change. Communication takes longer, the power etc.