Mgmt Ch. 6

Front 1

Define 'Organization structure and design'

Back 1

Set of elements that can be used to configure an organization

Front 2

Define 'Job Specialization'

Back 2

Degree to which the overall task is broken down and divided into smaller component parts

Front 3

List the benefits of 'Job Specialization'

Back 3

1) Workers performing simple tasks will become very proficient at each task.

2) Transfer time between tasks decrease

3) The more narrowly a job is defined, the easier it is to develop specialized equipment to assist with that job

4) When an employee who performs a highly specialized job resigns or is fired, a manager can train someone new at relatively low costs

Front 4

List the negative attributes of 'Job Specialization'

Back 4

1) Workers who perform highly specialized jobs may become bored and dissatisfied. (because the work offers no challenge or stimulation)

2) The expected (anticipated) benefits of specialization do not always occur.

Front 5

List the alternatives to specialization

Back 5

1) Job Rotation

2) Job Enlargement

3) Job Enrichment

4) Job Characteristics Approach

5) Work Team

Front 6

Define Job Rotation

Back 6

Alternative to specialization.

Involves systematically moving an employee from one job to another.

Jobs do not change. Works move from job to job.

Satisfaction tends to wane in Job Rotation.

Job rotation is most often used as a training device to improve worker skills and flexibility.

Front 7

Define Job Enlargement

Back 7

Alternative to specialization.

Job enlargement involves giving the employee more tasks to perform.

All workers perform a wide variety of tasks, which presumably lowers the level of job dissatisfaction.

Front 8

List the disadvantages of Job Enlargement

Back 8

Alternative to specialization.

1) Training Costs increase

2) Unions argue that workers should receive pay increases correlating to work increases

3) Oftentimes, work stays boring and routine even after job enlargement

Front 9

Define Job Enrichment

Back 9

Alternative to specialization.

Increases the task a worker does and the amount of control over the job.

It increases the subordinate's sense of responsibility.

Continually assigns new and challenging tasks, thereby increasing the employees opportunity for growth and enhancement.

Managers do not ask for preferences when choosing job enrichment.

Front 10

Define Job Characteristics

Back 10

Jobs should be diagnosed and improved along 5 core dimensions, taking into account both the work system and employee preferences.

5 dimensions:
1) Skill variety
2) Task Identity
3) Task Significance
4) Autonomy
5) Feedback

Leads to higher motivation, higher-quality work performance, higher satisfaction, and lower absenteeism and turnover.

Front 11

Define Work Teams alternative to specialization

Back 11

Allows an entire work team to design the work system it will use to perform an interrelated set of tasks.

The group itself decides on how jobs will be allocated.

Front 12

Define Departmentalization

Back 12

Process of grouping jobs according to some logical arrangement.

Front 13

Define Functional Departmentalization

Back 13

Grouping jobs involving the same or similar activities.

Front 14

List the advantages of functional departmentalization

Back 14

1) Each department can be staffed by experts in that functional area.

2) Supervision is facilitated because each manager only needs to be familiar with a relatively narrow set of skills.

3) Coordinating activities inside each department is easier.

Front 15

List the disadvantages of functional departmentalization

Back 15

1) Decision making tends to become more slow and bureaucratic.

2) Employees may begin to concentrate too narrowly on their own unit and lose sight of the total organizational system

3) Accountability and performance become increasingly difficult to monitor.

Front 16

Define Product Departmentalization

Back 16

Grouping activities by products or product groups.

Front 17

List the advantages of product departmentalization

Back 17

1) All activities associated with one product or product group can be easily integrated and coordinated.

2) Speed and effectiveness of decision making is enhanced.

3) Performance of individual products or product groups can be assessed more easily and objectively, thereby improving the accountability of departments for the results of their activities.

Front 18

List the disadvantages of product departmentalization

Back 18

1) Managers in each department may focus on their product or product group to the exclusion of the rest of the organization

2) Administrative Costs rise because each department must have its own functional specialists for areas such as market research and financial analysis.

Front 19

Define Customer Departmentalization

Back 19

Grouping activities to respond to and to interact with specific customers or customer groups.

The basic advantage of this type of departmentalization is that the organization is able to use skilled specialists to deal with unique customers/groups.

Front 20

Define Location Departmentalization

Back 20

Grouping jobs on the basis of defined geographic sites or areas.

The primary advantage of location departmentalization is that it enables the organization to easily respond to unique customer and environmental characteristics in various regions.

The disadvantage is that it requires a large administrative staff to keep track of units in scattered locations.

Front 21

What is the purpose of establishing reporting relationships?

Back 21

Purpose is to clarify the chain of command and the span of management.

Front 22

Define a chain of command

Back 22

clear and distinct line of authority among the positions in an organization.

has two components: Unity of command and scalar principle

Front 23

What are the components of chain of command?

Back 23

Unity of Command and Scalar Principle.

Unity of Command - suggests that each person within an organization must have a clear reporting relationship to one and only one boss.

Scalar principle - suggests that there must be a clear and unbroken line of authority that extends from the lowest to the highest position in the organization.

Front 24

Define the span of management.

Back 24

It is the number of people who report to a particular manager.

Front 25

Define a flat structured organization

Back 25

A organization with few layers, a flat layer organization leads to higher levels of employee morale and productivity.

Wide span of management in a flat organization may result in a manager's having more administrative responsibility and more supervisory responsibility.

Front 26

Define a tall structured organization

Back 26

An organization with more layers is a tall organization and it is more expensive and fosters more communication problems.

Front 27

Define authority

Back 27

Power that has been legitimized by the organization.

Front 28

Define delegation

Back 28

process by which a manager assigns a portion of his/her total workload to others.

Front 29

List the steps to delegation

Back 29

1) Manager assigns responsibility or gives the subordinate a job to do

2) Individual is also given the authority to do the job.

3) Manager establishes the subordinate's accountability

Front 30

Define decentralization

Back 30

process of systematically delegating power and authority throughout the organization to middle and lower-level managers.

Decentralization is one in which decision-making power and authority are delegated as far down the chain of command as possible.

Front 31

Define centralization

Back 31

Process of systematically retaining decision making power and authority in the hands of higher-level managers

Front 32

True or false; The greater the complexity and uncertainty of environment, the greater is the tendency to decentralize.

Back 32

True. However, in short, managers have no clear cut guidelines on whether or not to centralize or decentralize.

Firms have a tendency to do what they have done in the past.

The costlier and riskier the decision, the more pressure there is to centralize.

Front 33

Define coordination

Back 33

process of linking the activities of the various departments of the organization

Front 34

Why do we need to coordinate?

Back 34

Primary reason is because departments and work groups are interdependent.

Front 35

List some forms of interdependence

Back 35

1) Pooled Interdependence

2) Sequential Interdependence

3) Reciprocal Interdependence

Front 36

Define pooled interdependence

Back 36

When units operate with little interaction, their output is simply pooled.

Front 37

Define sequential interdependence

Back 37

when the output of one unit becomes the input for another in sequential fashion

Front 38

Define reciprocal interdependence

Back 38

When activities flow both ways between units

Front 39

Define the bureaucratic model of organization design

Back 39

Designed by Max Weber, it is a model of organizational design based on a legitimate and formal system of authority.

It is logical, rational, and efficient

Front 40

List the "one best way" of doing things and its characteristics

Back 40

1) Organization should adopt a distinct division of labor, and each position should be filled by an expert.

2) Organization should develop a consistent set of rules to ensure the task performance is uniform.

3) Organization should establish a hierarchy of positions or offices that creates a chain of command from the top of the organization to the bottom.

4) Managers should conduct business in an impersonal way and maintain an appropriate social distance between themselves and subordinates.

5) Employment and advancement should be based on technical expertise and employees should be protected from arbitrary dismissal.

Front 41

What are the benefits of the bureaucratic model of organizational design?

Back 41

1) Several of its elements improve efficiency

2) The model helps prevent favoritism.

3) Model makes procedures and practices very clear to everyone

4) Model results inflexibility and rigidity.

5) Model results in the neglect of human and social processes within an organization.

Front 42

Define the situational view of organizational design

Back 42

The situational view of organizational design is based on the assumption that the optimal design for any given organization depends on a set of relevant situational factors.

Situational factors such as Core Technology, Environment, and Organizational size and life cycle

Front 43

Define core technology

Back 43

Organization's most important technology is its core technology.

Technology consists of the conversion process used to transform inputs into outputs

Front 44

Who was Joan Woodward and what did she do?

Back 44

She was the first to recognize the link between technology and organization design.

She identified three basic forms of technology

1) Unit or small-batch technology
2) large-batch or mass-production technology
3) Continuous-process technology

Front 45

Define these three

1) Unit or small-batch technology
2) large-batch or mass-production technology
3) Continuous-process technology

Back 45

1) Unit or small-batch is the least complex. It tends to have little bureaucracy.

2) Large-batch or mass-production technology tends to be much more bureaucratic in nature

3) Continuous-process technology is presumed to be the most complex, but also tends to have little bureaucracy like unit/small batch technology

Front 46

Who are Tom Burns and G.M. Stalker of England and what did they do?

Back 46

They identified two extreme forms of organizational environment.

1) Stable
2) Unstable

The design of each organization differed depending on the form (i.e. stable/unstable)

Front 47

Define a mechanistic organization

Back 47

Is a model similar to the bureaucratic model, and is frequently found in stable environments

Front 48

Define a organic organization

Back 48

Is a very flexible and informal model of organization design, most often found in unstable and unpredictable environments.

Front 49

Paul R. Lawrence and Jay W. Lorsch, from the US, believe organizations should be characterized between what two primary dimensions?

Back 49

1) Differentiation - extent to which an organization is broken down into subunits

2) Integration - degree to which the various subunits must work together in a coordinated fashion

Front 50

Define organization size

Back 50

the total number of full-time or full-time equivalent employees.

Front 51

Define organizational life cycle

Back 51

The organizational life cycle has 4 stages:

1) Birth
2) Youth
3) Midlife
4) Maturity

As an organization passes from one stage to the next, it becomes bigger, more mechanistic, and more decentralized.

An organization's size and design are clearly linked.

Front 52

Define the Functional (U-Form) Design

Back 52

This design arrangement is based on the functional approach to departmentalization.

Requires considerable coordination across departments

None of the functional areas can serve without the others.

The adv/disadv are the same for a functional departmentalization

Front 53

Define the Conglomerate (H-Form) Design

Back 53

Used by an organization made up of a set of unrelated businesses.

It is essentially a holding company that results from unrelated diversification.

H-Form is based loosely on product departmentalization.

Disadv: complexity of holding diverse and unrelated businesses

Front 54

Define the Divisional (M-Form) Design

Back 54

Organization design based on multiple businesses in related areas operating within a larger organizational framework.

M-Form design has opportunities for coordination and shared resources.

Objective of the M-Form is to enhance internal cooperation and competition.

M-Form enhances effectiveness.

Front 55

Define Matrix Design

Back 55

Based on two overlapping bases of departmentalization.

The foundation of the matrix design is a set of functional departments.

A set of product groups or temporary departments is superimposed across all the functional departments.

See Outline

Front 56

Define a team organization

Back 56

relies almost exclusively on project-type teams, with little or no underlying functional hierarchy.

People float from project to project as necessitated by their skills and the demand of those projects.

Front 57

Define a virtual organization

Back 57

One that has little or no formal structure.

One that has a handful of permanent employees, very small staff and administartive hq facility.

Bring in temp workers, lease facilities, outsource basic support services to meet the demands of each unique situation.

The organization exists only in response to its needs.

Front 58

Define a learning organization

Back 58

An organization that works to facilitate the lifelong learning and personal development of all its employees while continually transforming itself to respond to changing demands and needs.

Characteristics of a learning organization: continuous learning and improvement, improved quality, and performance measurements are frequent goals.