The Structural framework (Basic)

Question 1

What principles characterizes Max Weber’s formal, rational bureaucracy

Answer 1

division of labor among staff, authority/responsibility hierarchy to coordinate, rule-based tasks and rewards, distinction between personal and office property, recruitment by formal qualifications, established career paths, full time employment with living wage

Question 2

What are the assumptions of the structural framework

Answer 2

organizations are efficient tools to reach goals, division of labor leads to efficiency; coordination is best achieved through formalized vertical hierarchy (top down); people are motivated by material reward and contractual punishment; optimal processes are based on material conditions; inefficiency arises due to ambiguous rules or incorrect assumptions that can be reprimanded

Question 3

what is system efficiency

Answer 3

How quickly and efficiently activities can change when demand changes

Question 4

Efficiency is when processes are faster

Answer 4

Among other things yes, it is when fewer imputs are needed to produce the same amount of output

Question 5

what is flow efficiency

Answer 5

ratio between value adding time and useless lead time

Question 6

how can division of labor by function be implemented in an organization

Answer 6

Having different departments for different functions like purchasing R&D and manufacturing and fill them with experts on the subject

Question 7

How do you divide labor based on process

Answer 7

By having different experts take care of different stages in the goods life cycle like when a general doctor diagnoses you and sends you to an expert that finds a cure and then has an apothecary or a surgeon take care of it.

Question 8

Name some things tat can divide labor

Answer 8

function, product, customers/market, location, time/season, process and project

Question 9

Why does top management have most responsibility and influence in the structural framework

Answer 9

Because it assumes and strives for meritocracy and a consequence of that is that those higher up are more qualified to make calls on organizational matters

Question 10

what is vertical coordination and control

Answer 10

when higher levels of hierarchy defines and controls what the lower levels do. In a bureaucracy this can take form of contracts, job descriptions, incentive structures and phyiscal structures to limit what actions you can take

Question 11

What is horizontal coordination

Answer 11

When people on the same hierarchical level discuss and decide what to do without a higher manager. Allowed in structural framework when vertical becomes impossible

Question 12

Vertical coordination is best in a small organization inside a turbulent, knowledge intensive environment

Answer 12

False, it is best suited for large organizations competing in simple mass production.

Question 13

Name Mintzberg’s five structural configurations

Answer 13

Machine and professional bureaucracy, simple structure, adhocery and divisionalized form

Question 14

What are the building-blocks of Mintxberg’s structural configurations

Answer 14

The strategic apex aka top management; support functions, technical structure, middle management and the operative core

Question 15

What is the difference between the techno structure and support functions

Answer 15

The techno structure is made to control the actions of the employees while the support structure simply benefits them, the line between these is thin but in the structural framework we try to keep them apart.

Question 16

Explain Mintzbergs machine bureaucracy

Answer 16

Maximizes techno structure so vertical coordination, hiring based on formal qualification and the division of labor. Effective in stable environments and economies of scale however expensive and slow to change and workers tend to be unmotivated

Question 17

Explain Mintzbergs professional bureaucracy

Answer 17

organizes complex activities, less vertical coordination and division of labor, employees largely share the same profession that is easy to coordinate without techno structure, they often have many support important functions, they often hire from a specific pool like a certain school so they know what everyone knows, a weakness is that it is hard to change fundmantals

Question 18

Explain Mintzbergs simple structure

Answer 18

Miniature machine bureaucracies that replaces layers of technostructure with a dominant manager, small and flexible, limited by the capabilities of the manager, not scalable, best suited to simple production processes

Question 19

Explain Mintzbergs adhocracy

Answer 19

No authority, horizontal coordination, suitable for limited time projects and R&D, potentially expensive, uncontrollable and risky

Question 20

Explain Mintzbergs divisionalized form

Answer 20

Use multiple structures for different divisions, R&D might need ad hoc while the factories might need machine bureaucracy, there may be conflict over resources among divisions

Question 21

Name some situations where formalization and hierarchy is discuraged or less needed

Answer 21

Young/small organizations, complex core processes and technology, uncertain environments, high tech/quality, established IT, high edjucation

Question 22

Complex central processes and core technology leads to internal uncertainty in the organization

Answer 22

True

Question 23

IT decentralizes organizations

Answer 23

It may by replacing middle managers but it also empowers top management to micromanage

Question 24

What is a matrix organization

Answer 24

An organization that divide the labor along two different axis like projects and function. For example there can be many projects that all have their own manufacturing and hr department

Question 25

What are the strengths and weaknesses of a matrix organization

Answer 25

The matrix van adapt to many different types of division of labor and thus it makes the organization structure more adaptive and flexible. It can however lead to confusion and an expensive bureaucratic suprestructure