The structural framework (Advanced) Flashcards
Explain Greiner’s theory of corporate growth
That companies in periods where the leaders have adapted to previous challenges that are interrupted by revolutions of instability where internal and external conditions change f.ex due to the consequences of the growth.
Explain Greniners growth phases
Phase 1, growth to creativity leads to a crises of leadership;
Phase 2, growth through direction leads to a crises of autonomy;
Phase 3, growth through delegation leads to a crises of control;
Phase 4, growth through coordination leads to a crises of red tape;
Phase 5, growth through collaboration leads to ?
Explain Phase 1 of Grainers growth phases
“Creativity” The founders just focus on developing the product adhoc but when the company grows people loose the ability to be aware of all the moving parts at the same time they do their task and thus they fail to cooperate and the company becomes inefficient. A crises of lack of leadership
Explain Phase 2 of Grainers growth phases
“Direction” A strong manager is introduced that introduces a machine bureaucratic hierarchy. This makes the business more internally efficient but the absolute authority of manager neglects the insights of the producers who feel hampered by the lack of “autonomy” triggering the second crises as much of the skill leaves the company.
Explain Phase 3 of Grainers growth phases
“Delegation” The company is divided into divisions that gain greater autonomy and responsibility for their own profitabillity, this decentralization leads to greater adaptability to market conditions and so external efficiency but in time different departments begin to pull in different directions and conflict over budget. It becomes difficult for top management to allocate resources which is a crisis of “control”
Explain Phase 4 of Greiners growth phases
“Coordination” Not increased top down power but more sophisticated techno structure like making divisions according to both product and market and to improve the incentive structures. However upon further growth the company reaches a limit where the group can no longer be properly managed and a lack of trust begins to build between the line managers and the maintainers of the techno-structure. A crises of inefficient “red-tape” bureaucracy.
Explain Phase 5 of Grainers growth phases
“Collaboration” replace some of the techno structure with an increase in teamwork, meetings and collaboration between the departments and more horizontal coordination. The intensive teamwork might however lead to social pressure, competition and stress which might lead to a mental health crises. This can be mitigated through support structure and an encouragement of a healthy work life balance
Explain how Thompson determines if an organizations central processes are seen as simple or complex
Through pooled/parallel dependencies, sequential dependency necessitating vertical-coordination/techno-structure and mutual dependency. If there are more dependencies it is a sign of increased complexity
What is pooled dependency
how much units effect each other nececitating hierarchy
What is sequential dependency
How much units depend on the result of others like bread store relies on bakers
What is mutual dependency
How much one unit needs to change depending on other units)which is a sign of complexity and thus necessitate horizontal coordination
What is the short comings of Mintzbergs, Greiners and Thompson’s analysis of the corporate environment in his multidimensional corporate analysis model
It only looks at the internal environment and fails to take into account external factors, thus it is good to complement his model with the PESTLE model of the external Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal conditions for uncertainty
What makes a company Lean
Continuous improvement implemented both from top down and employees to remove bottle necks, flow efficiency through removing buffer stocks and separate quality assurance department to achieve zero defects and just in time delivery. They also reduce the waiting time of customers as much as possible.
Explain Modig and Åhlströms efficiency matrix
Y axis stand for flow efficiency and the x axis stands for resource efficiency. Low in both is called an efficiency dessert, high flow efficiency is called the efficiency ocean, high resource (price/cost) efficiency is called an efficiency island, high efficiency in general is called the perfect state.
What determines if exchanges should take place on markets or in a hierarchical firm according to Williamson
Transaction costs which are determined by the amount of providers and the distribution of information. More alternatives and greater trust leads to less need for control which makes it attractive to outsource.
