Organizational Psychology - Section 3: Culture Ii: Structure & Design (Professor Dr. Gibson)

Front 1

What is Division of Labour?

Back 1

"The separation of jobs assigned to different people." - pg. 78

Front 2

What is Informal Communication?

Back 2

When "ideas are easily shared between the team. The medium for communication is rich. It is face-to-face." - pg. 78

Front 3

What are Formal Hierarchies?

Back 3

When "some individuals supervise other individuals. As more and more people come on board, more and more complications arise. For example,procedures and protocols must be established to direct communications. It becomes harder to talk face-to-face." - pg. 78

Front 4

What is Standardization?

Back 4

The process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments.

Front 5

What is Span of Control?

Back 5

"Who reports to whom." - pg. 78

Front 6

What is a Narrow Span of Control?

Back 6

"Some organizations are very hierarchical, which is referred to as a narrow span of control. That is, there are many different levels of people reporting to other people higher up in the organizational hierarchy (e.g., many middle-managers) [...] This structure differentiates job descriptions, the flow of communication, authority and concomitantly, status." - pp. 78 - 79

Front 7

What is a Flat Organization (related to Span of Control)?

Back 7

"Organizations [that] work with self-directed teams. These are teams that have autonomy and are self-governed. An organization that uses self-directed work teams may have one owner or a handful of department heads to whom the teams answer." - pg. 79

Front 8

What is Formalization?

Back 8

"Organizations with formalized structures typically have a narrow span of control and most decision-making is centralized." - pg. 80

Determines to what degree the jobs in the organization are standardized. A highly formalized job has clearly defined procedures and leaves organizational members little freedom in regard to how they perform their tasks.

Front 9

What is Centralization?

Back 9

"When a small group of people makes key decisions about the company as a whole, [...] [or in other words] centralized decisions streamline the management of shared needs (such as suppliers)." - pg. 79

Front 10

What is Decentralization?

Back 10

"Wheneach particular component or division ofthe company makes its own keydecisions, [...] [or in other words], decentralized decisions address regionalneeds (customer purchases) that are bestunderstood by each store. " - pg. 79

Front 11

What is Departmentalization?

Back 11

"The establishment of work teams and a structure for supervision. It creates common resources, measures of performance, remuneration, trajectories for promotions, and coordination through formal communication. It is the structural component of organizational culture(the identity or personality of an organization, "how things get done")." - pg. 80

Front 12

What are the five broad kinds of Departmentalizations?

Back 12

Functional: gravitate around knowledge or resources, are typically narrower in scope and high in interdependence.

Divisional: (also called product structures, multi-divisional or M-form structures), organize employees around one aspect of production. They are typically broad in scope and low in interdependence.

Matrix: combines both functional and divisional structures,typically employee teams that have one or two people who will connect different functional groups with different divisional groups.

Self-Directed Work Teams: typically organized around work processes (as in a functional structure), is highly interdependent, with little formalization.

Network Organizational Structures: afforded through the Internet and virtual work teams. That is, organizations can out-source various aspects of their organizational requirements and focus on core competencies.

- pp. 80 - 81

Front 13

What is Structural Contingency Theory?

Back 13

Holds that there is “no one best way,” meaning that no single structure or structural type is optimal for all organizations. Instead, the structure that is most effective is the structure that fits certain factors, called contingencies.