OTD Chapter 11 Flashcards
Organizational Life Cycle
A sequence of growth and development stages through which an organization might pass.
Organizational Life Cycle stages
- Organizational Birth
- Organizational Growth
- Organizational Decline
- Organizational Death
Organizational Birth
The founding of an organization. A dangerous life cycle stage associated with the greatest chance of failure due to the liability of newness.
Population Ecology Theory
A theory that seeks to explain the factors that affect the rate at which new organizations are born (and die) in a population of existing organizations.
Population of organizations
The organizations that are competing for the same set of resources in the environment.
Population density
The number of organizations that can compete for the same resources in a particular environment.
R-Strategy
A strategy of entering a new environment early.
K-strategy
A strategy of entering an environment late, after other organizations have already tested the waters.
Specialist
Organization that concentrates its skills to pursue a narrow range of resources in a single niche.
Generalist
Organization that spreads its skills thinly to compete for a broad change of resources in many niches.
R-specialist
Early entry, one niche.
R-generalist
Early entry, many niches.
K-specialist
Late entry, one niche.
K-generalist
Late entry, many niches.
Natural selection
The process that ensures the survival of the organizations that have the skills and abilities that best fit with the environment.
Organizational Growth (stage 2)
In this stage, organizations develop value creation skills and competences that allow them to acquire additional resources.
Institutional theory
A theory that studies how organizations can increase their ability to grow and survive in a competitive environment by satisfying their stakeholders.
Institutional environment
The set of values and norms in an environment that govern the behaviour of a population of organizations.
Organizational isomorphism
The similarity among organizations in a population.
Three processes that explain why organizations become more alike:
Coercive isomorophism
Mimetic isomorphism
Normative isomorphism
Coercive isomorphism
Pressured by other organizations or society in general.
E.g., Nike, Walmart, and Apple, how they were pressured by the public to boycot goods made by children in developing countries, and how these companies responded by creating uniform codes of supplier conduct.
Mimetic isomorphism
Organizations that intentionally imitate and copy one another to increase their legitimacy.
E.g., Fast-food chains mimicking how McDonalds standardised its global fast food network.
Uncertainty increases imitation.
Normative isomorphism
Organizations that come to resemble one another over time because they indirectly adopt the norms and values of other organization in the environment.
That is, because managers and employees are frequently moved from one organization to another, bringing the values and norms they learned at their former employer with them.
Disadvantages isomorphism
Out-date, inertia sets in, resulting in low effectiveness.
Reduced the incentive to experiment so the innovation level may decline.