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45 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is Organizational Theory?
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- “a way of thinking about organizations”
- Ideas about what organizations are and how they work |
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What are some Current Challenges for Organizations?
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Globalization
- Markets, technologies, and organizations are becoming increasingly interconnected Ethics and Social Responsibility - The list of execs and major corporations involved in financial and ethical scandals continues to grow Speed of Responsiveness - Globalization and advancing technology has accelerated the pace at which organizations in all industries must roll out new products and services to stay competitive The Digital Workplace - In today’s workplace, many employees perform much of their work on computers and may work in virtual teams, connected electronically to colleagues around the world Diversity - By 2050, it is estimated that 85% of entrants into the workforce will be women and people of colour |
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What is an Organization?
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- social entities
- goal-directed - designed as deliberately structured and coordinated activity system - linked to the external environment |
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What are the 7 reasons Organizations exist?
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1. Bring together resources to achieve desired goals and outcomes
2. Produce goods and services efficiently 3. Facilitate innovation 4. Use modern manufacturing and information technologies 5. Adapt to influence a changing environment 6. Create value for owners, customers, and employees 7. Accommodate ongoing challenges of diversity, ethics, and the motivation and coordination of employees |
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What are some Characteristics of a Closed System?
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- A system that is autonomous, enclosed, and not dependent on its environment
- Don’t truly exist today - Early management concepts such as scientific management, leadership style, and industrial engineering were closed-system approaches |
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What are some Characteristics of an Open System?
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- A system that must interact with the environment to survive
- It both consumes resources and exports resources to the environment, and must continually adapt to the environment |
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What are the 6 Structural Dimensions of an Organization?
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1. Formalization (written documentation in the organization, including procedures, job descriptions, regulations, and policy manuals)
2. Specialization (degree to which organizational tasks are subdivided into separate jobs) 3. Hierarchy of Authority (span of control, tall org. has narrow span, short has wider span) 4. Centralization (Refers to the hierarchical level that has authority to make a decision) 5. Professionalism (level of formal education and training of employees) 6. Personnel Ratios (development of people to various functions and departments) |
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What are the 5 Contextual Dimensions of an Organization?
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1. Size
2. Organizational Technology (concerns how the organization actually transforms inputs to outputs, includes things such as flexible manufacturing, advanced info systems, and the Internet) 3. Environment (external: industry, government, customers, suppliers, and the financial community) 4. Goals and Strategies 5. Culture (underlying set of key values, beliefs, understandings, and norms shared by employees) |
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Who are some Major Stakeholders for Organizations?
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Owners/stockholders: financial return
Employees: satisfaction, pay, supervision Customers: high-quality goods/services, service, value Creditors: creditworthiness, fiscal responsibility Management: efficiency, effectiveness Government: obedience to laws and regulations, fair competition Union: worker pay, benefits Community: good corporate citizen, contribution to community affairs Suppliers: satisfactory transactions, revenue from purchases |
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What are changes from a Efficient Performance based Organization to a Learning Organization?
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• From vertical to horizontal structure
• From routine tasks to empowered tasks • From formal control systems to shared information • From competitive to collaborative strategy • From rigid to adaptive culture |
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What are the 6 subsets of Organizations Operative Goals?
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Operative Goals designate the ends sought through the actual operating procedures of the organization and explain what the organization is actually trying to do
Overall Performance - profit, growth, volume Resources - material, financial resources, human capital Market - market share, respon. of marketing depart Employee Development - training, promotion, safety and growth Innovation/Change - innovation goals pertain to internal flexibility and readiness to adapt to unexpected changes in the environment. (30% of sales come from a product that is less than 4 years old) Productivity - concern the amount of output achieved from available resources “units(sales) per employee” |
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What are the 3 Contingency Effectiveness Approaches?
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1. Resource Based Approach
- asess effectiveness by observing beginning of process, saying: do we have resources necessary for high performance? - Bargaining Position: ability of org. to gain scarce/valuable resources from environment ie. financial, raw materials, hr, knowledge, tech - valuable when other measures are difficult to find - only vaguely considers external environ. and customer needs - fails to consider change in value of resources as related to external environ. and customer needs 2. Internal Process Approach - assesses effectiveness through indicators of internal health and efficiency - "what the org. does with the resources it has" - efficient use of resources and internal health are important indicators in org. effectiveness - does not consider the external environment - subjective due to non quantifiable nature of some processes 3. Goal Approach - concerned with level of output & whether org. meets goals in terms of desired level of output - most concerned w/ Operative Goals which are more productive than Official Goals - good b/c outputs can be readily measured (profitability, growth, ROI, mkt share) - bad b/c high achievement on one goal may result in low on another, can become overly analytical, issue of multiple goals and subjective indicators of acheivement |
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What is an Integrated Effectiveness Model?
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Framework which combines the 3 Contingency Effectiveness Approaches
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What is the Competing-Values Model?
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Tries to balance a concern with various parts of the organization rather than focusing on one part
Open Systems Emphasis: - primary goals growth + resource acquisition - flexibility/readiness/positive external evaluation - dominant value = establish good relationships with environment to increase resources + grow Rational Goal Emphasis: - represents mgmt. values of structural control + external focus - productivity/efficiency/profit - output goals in controlled way Internal-Approach Emphasis: - primary outcome is stable org. setting that maintains its self in orderly way - well established in current environment and maintain current position Human Relations Emphasis: - values of internal focus and flexible structure - concern for development of human resources - sub goals: cohesion, moral, training opportunities - concerned w/ employees as opposed to environment |
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What are Porter's Competitive Strategies?
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Focus Strategy - concentration on specific target market
Competitive Advantage - low cost or unique product Competitive Scope - many vs. few customer segments (broad or narrow) Strategies: Low Cost Leadership: - low cost as competitive adv., increase mkt share by emphasizing low cost - efficiency orientation, tight cost controls, strong central authority Differentiation: - attempt to distinguish - flexible, loose knit, strong horiz. coordination - rewards creativity, risk-taking, innovation Focus: - specific region or buyer group - broad (google) vs. focused (RIM) |
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What are the 4 Types in Miles and Snow's Strategy Typology?
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Prospector:
- innovate, take risks, seek new opportunity, grow - flexible/fluid/decentralized structure - strong research capability Defender: - concerned w/ stability and even entrenchment - holds current customers, no innovation/growth - centralized authority, tight cost control - emphasis on production efficiency, low overhead Analyzer: - maintain stable business while innovating on periphery - balances efficiency with learning: tight cost control + flexibility and adaptability - efficient production for stable product lines, research, innovation, risk taking Reactor: - responds to threats ad hoc - not a strategy - no long range plan |
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What are the 3 aspects of Organizational Structure?
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1. Formal Reporting Relationships
- levels of hierarchy - span of control 2. Grouping - departments within org. - grouping within departments 3. Design of Systems - for Communication - for Coordination - for Integration |
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What are the 3 Vertical Information Linkages?
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1. Heirarchial Referral
- chain of command, who are problems brought to? 2. Rules and Plans - extent that problems and decisions are repetitious 3. Vertical Information Systems - include periodic reports, written docs, computer based communications |
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What are the 5 Horizontal Information Linkages?
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1. Information Systems
2. Direct Contact - departmental liasons 3. Task Forces 4. Full Time Integrator - responsible for coordinating various depts. 5. Teams - cross functional teams |
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What are the 5 types of Departmental Grouping Options?
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Functional - employees who perform similar functions/work processes (marketing/engineering/finance)
Divisional - organized by what org. produces (Apple - Ipad Team, IPhone Team, IPod Team, etc.) Multi-Focused Grouping - embraces mix of two structural grouping alternatives, "Matrix" Horizontal Grouping - people organized around core work processes Virtual Network Grouping - loosely connected cluster of separate components, depts. are separate orgs that are electronically conncecte |
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What are 4 symptoms of Structural Deficiency?
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1. Decision Making is delayed/lacking in quality
2. Org. does not respond innovatively to a changing environment 3. Employee performance declines and goals are not being met 4. Too much conflict is evident |
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What are 5 ways of Adapting to Uncertainty?
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1. Positions and Departments
- as complexity in external environment increases, so do positions in internal, and internal complexity increases 2. Buffering and Boundary Spanning - Buffer Roles absorb uncertainty from environment, create buffer from technical core - Boundary Spanning Roles link and coordinate org. with key elements in external environment 3. Differentiation and Integration - Differentiation: when external environment is extremely complex, depts. must become highly differentiated/specialized to deal - Integration: quality of collaboration between depts 4. Organic vs. Mechanistic Management Processes - Organic: free flowing, adaptive, fluid, (learning org. - horizontal - virtual) - Mechanistic: centralized, top down, rigidity, vertical communication 5. Planning, Forecasting, Responsiveness - With increasing environmental uncertainty, planning and forecasting become necessary - scan environmental elements and analyze potential moves and countermoves by other organizations |
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What are the 2 ways Organizations can Control Environmental Resources?
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1. Establish Inter-Organizational Linkages
- Ownership - Strategic Alliances - Cooptation/Interlocking Directorates - Executive Recruitment - Advertising/Public Relations 2. Controlling the Environmental Domain - Change of Domain - Political Activity Regulation - Trade Associations - Illegitimate Activities |
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What are the 3 main "Traditional" Organizational Forms?
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1. For-Profit/Private Sector
2. Government/Public Sector 3. Non-Profits/NGO's/Civil Society |
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List some New and Alternative Organizational Forms?
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1. B-Corps (Benefit Corporations)
- fiduciary responsibility - broader range of stakeholders - 3 things make them diff. from traditional corps. 1. Purpose: have corp. purpose to create materially positive impact on society + environment 2. Accountability: consider workers, community, environment 3. Transparency: public repory anually about overally social + environ. performance against comprehensive/credible/transparent 3rd party std. 2. Co-operatives - owned/operated by and for members - democratically controlled 1 member 1 vote 3. CIC's (Community Interest Companies) 1. community interest test 2. asset lock: all earnings retained or transferred to another CIC 4. Balle Conference (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) - nearly 60 companies dedicated to living economy principles - ensure economic power resides locally, sustaining healthy community life, as well as long term economic viability |
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What are the 7 Co-operative Principles?
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1. voluntary and open membership
2. democratic member control 3. member economic participation 4. Autonomy and independence 5. Education, training and information 6. co-operation among co-operatives 7. concern for community |
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What are 2 strategies available for Global vs. Local Opportunities?
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1. Globalization Strategy - product, design, manufacturing, mkting, all standardized across the world, cannot be used for services due to cultural differences
2. Multi-domestic Strategy - (national responsiveness) competition in each country is handled independently of competition in other countries. Encourages tailoring of product design/assembly/marketing, to individual needs of specific countries |
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What are the 4 Forces for Global Integration?
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1. International Division
- starts w/ export dept. which grows to intnl division - international division is organized according to product or geographical structures and has its own hierarchy to handle business overseas 2. Global Product Structure - Product divisions take responsibility for global operations in their specific product area 3. Global Geographic Structure - Divides the world into geographical regions, with each geographical division reporting to the CEO - divisions have full control of functional activities in each geographical area 4. Global Matrix Structure - combination of geographical areas and business functions, but distances for communication are greater and coordination is even more complex |
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What are 3 Global Coordination Mechanisms?
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1. Global Teams
- transnational teams work across boarders - multinational teams create diversity - virtual global teams 2. Stronger Headquarters Planning - HQ must take active role in planning/scheduling/control to keep all pieces of org working together - w/o strong leadership, autonomous divisions will act as separate entities 3. Specific Coordination Roles - implementation of structural roles to achieve stronger coordination and collaboration - Country Manager (coordinate across functions) - Functional Manager (coordinates across countries) - contribute to cost savings, better decision making, greater revenues, increased innovation |
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What are 3 challenges pertaining to Increasing Global Capacity Challenges faced by Organizations?
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Increasing Complexity and Differentiation
Need For Integration Transfer Knowledge and Information |
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What are some cultural differences seen across societies?
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Power Distance - extent power is distributed equally
Gender Egalitarianism Uncertainty Avoidance Institutional Collectivism In-Group Collectivism Future Orientation - planning/investing in future Assertiveness - confrontational towards others Performance Orientation - does society award individuals for innovation? Humane Orientation - does society encourage altruism and caring? |
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What are the 3 National Approaches to Coordination and Control?
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Centralized Coordination - Japanese Companies (reliance on centralization in coordination mechanism, keeping core advantages in home country)
Decentralized Approach - European Approach (international units have high autonomy + interdependence, units focus on local markets) Coordination and Control Through Formalization - North American (delegate responsibility to intnl divisions but retain overall control through use of sophisticated mgmt systems) |
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What is the Transnational Model and what are its characteristics?
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- most advanced kind of international organization, with mechanisms for integrating the varied parts
- useful for large, multinational companies with subsidiaries in many countries that try to exploit both global and local advantages as well as technological advancements, rapid innovation and global learning and knowledge sharing - based on the philosophy of interdependence - maximize efficiency, responsiveness, learning Distinctive Characteristics 1. Assets/Resources dispersed world-wide, highly specialised ops linked through interdependent relationships 2. Flexible/Ever-changing structure (flexible centralization) 3. Subsidiary mgrs. initiate strategies that get adopted at top corp. level 4. Coordination achieved through org. culture, shared vision/values, mgmt. style |
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What are the 2 Types of Management Control?
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Benchmarking - process of continually measuring products, services, and practices against tough competitors or other organizations recognized as industry leaders
6 Sigma - highly ambitious quality standard that specifies a goal of no more than 3.4 defects per million parts, and it emphasizes pursuit of quality over higher cost |
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What are the 4 elements of Management Control Systems?
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1. Budget/Financial Reports
- Controls financial resources and reduces uncertainty about availability of resources 2. Statistical Reports - control departmental outputs 3. Rewards System - Control mgrs on departmental performance - provide incentives to meet goals and help control employee behaviour 4. Quality Control System - control according to guidelines and goals, and it specifies standards for employee participation, teamwork, and problem solving |
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What is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and how does it work?
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- Sophisticated computerized systems that collect, process, and provide info about a company’s entire enterprise, including order processing, product design, purchasing, inventory, manufacturing, distribution, HR, receipt of payments, and forecasting of future demand
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What are 3 factors are considered to cause organizational decline?
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1. Organizational Atrophy
- organizations grow older and become inefficient and overly bureaucratized - ability to adapt to its environment deteriorates - often follows a long period of success, which it takes advantage of and fails to adapt to the new environment (ex. Blockbuster) 2. Vulnerability - reflects an organization’s strategic inability to prosper in its environment - often happens to small organizations that aren’t fully established 3. Environmental Decline or Competition - reduced energy and resources available to support an organization - when environment has less capacity to support organizations, the organization has to either scale down or shift to another domain |
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What are the 5 Stages in the Model of Decline?
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1. Blinded Stage (internal and external change that threatens long-term survival and may require the organization to tighten up)
Fix: develop effective scanning and control systems 2. Inaction Stage (Denial occurs despite signs of deteriorating performance) Fix: leaders must acknowledge decline and take prompt action to realign the organization with the environment 3. Faulty Action Stage (Organization is facing serious problems, and indicators of poor performance can’t be ignored) Fix: retrenchment, including downsizing. Also, reduce employee uncertainty by clarifying values and providing info 4. Crisis Stage (Organization still hasn’t been able to deal with decline effectively and is facing a panic) Fix: major reorganization 5. Dissolution Stage (irreversible stage of decline) Fix: close org in most timely fashion possible |
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What are 3 Organizational Control Strategies
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Bureaucratic Control
- The use of rules, policies, hierarchy of authority, written documents, standardization mechanisms to standardize behaviour and assess performance Market Control - situation that occurs when price competition is used to evaluate the output and productivity of an organization Clan Control - use of social characteristics, such as corporate culture, shared values, commitments, traditions, and beliefs, to control behaviour |
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What are 5 Barriers to Change?
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1. Excessive Focus on Cost
2. Failures to Perceive Benefits 3. Lack of Coordination and Cooperation 4. Uncertainty Avoidance 5. Fear of Loss |
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What are the 7 Techniques for Implementation?
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1. Establish a sense of urgency for change
2. Establish a coalition to guide the change 3. Create a vision and strategy for change 4. Find an idea that fits the need 5. Develop plans to overcome resistance to change 6. Create change teams 7. Foster idea champions |
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What are 5 Steps in the Change Process?
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1. Ideas
2. Needs 3. Adoption 4. Implementation 5. Resources |
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What are 3 Globalization Drivers?
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1. Economies of Scale - building a global presence expands an organization’s scale of operations, enabling it to realize economies of scale (mass discounts, etc.)
2. Economies of Scope - number of and varieties a business has to offer through their products and services 3. Factors of Production - Land, Labour, and Capital - Relevance to the need for these resources and the BSN network, all reliant on one another and not separate entities |
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3 Strategic Direction Goals?
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Official: (Mission Statement), Formal, High level
Operative: Performance measures, relate to the strategy Informal: Incredibly close to the organizations culture and ways of conducting business |
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What is Social Entrepreneurship, and what are some characteristics of Social Entrepreneurs?
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Social Entrepreneurship: emphasis of social justice, the quality of life and adding value externally from the practices of business
Social Entrepreneur: application of entrepreneurial business skills to the creation of an enterprise whose primary purpose is to solve social and environmental problems - mix of Traditional business entrepreneurs + Traditional social workers and environmentalists |
