Chapter 7

Self directed work team (SDWT)

A group of employees responsible for an entire work process or segment that delivers product to customers.

Decentralized organization

A structure in which authority is concentrated at the top, and very little decision making authority is delegated to lower levels.

Centralized organization

A structure in which authority is concentrated at the top, very little decision making authority to lower levels.

Multidivisional structure

A structure that organizes departments into larger groups called divisions.

Matrix structure

A structure that sets up teams from different departments, creating two or more intersecting lines of authority.

Decision making

Decision making requires that a lower level managers have strong ?? skills

Delegation of authority

Giving employees tasks, power to make commitments, use resources, take necessary action.

Project teams

Groups similar to task forces that normally run their operation and have total control of a specific work project.

Decentralized organizations

Organization in which decision making authority is delegates as far down the chain of command as possible.

Quality assurance teams

Small group of workers brought together from throughout the organization to solve specific quality, productivity, or service problems.

Geographical departmentalization

The grouping of jobs according to geographic location, such as state, region, country, or continent

Organizational layers

The levels of management in an organization.

Span of management

The number of subordinates who report to a particular manager.

organizational chart

The visual representation of an organization's structure

Restructure

To change the basic structure of an organization.

Group

Two or more individuals who communicate with one another, have a common goal.

Corporate Culture

a firm's shared values, beliefs, traditions, philosophies, rules, and role models for behavior

Product-development teams

are a special type of project team formed to devise, design, and implement a new product. Sometimes product-development teams exist within a functional area—research and development—but now they more frequently include people from numerous functional areas and may even include customers to help ensure that the end product meets the customers' needs

Customer Departmentalization

arranges jobs around the needs of various types of customers.

COMMUNICATING IN ORGANIZATIONS

can flow in a variety of directions and from a number of sources, each using both oral and written forms of communication.

Functional Departmentalization

dividing an organization according to groups' functions or activities

specialization

dividing specific tasks into smaller jobs on employee skill

Accountability

employees who accept an assignment and the authority to carry it out are answerable to a superior for the outcome

wide span of management

exists when a manager directly supervises a very large number of employees.

Diagonal Communication

flow of info across departments

Downward Communication

flow of info from upper organizational levels to lower levels; i.e. instructions

Upward Communication

flows from lower to higher levels of the organization; includes info such as progress reports, inquires, suggestions for improvement and grievances

accountability

means that employees who accept an assignment and the authority to carry it out are answerable to a superior for the outcome.

restructure

or change the basic structure of an organization.

responsibility

or obligation, to employees to carry out assigned tasks satisfactorily and holds them accountable for the proper execution of their assigned work. The principle of accountability means that employees who accept an assignment and the authority to carry it out are answerable to a superior for the outcome.

Multidivisional Structure

organizes departments into larger groups called divisions; i.e. geographical; work duplication

customer departmentalization

the arrangement of jobs around the needs of various types of customers

culture

widely shared values within an organization providing unity and cooperation to acheive common goals

Committee

A permanent, formal group that performs a specific tasks.

Team

A small group whose members have complementary skills; have common purpose.

Product development teams

A specific type of project team formed to devise, design, and implement a new product.

Line and staff structure

A structure having a traditional line relationship between superiors and subordinates and specialized managers.

Accountability

Employees that accept an assignment and the authority to carry it out are answerable to a superior.

Horizontal

Exchange of information among colleagues and peers on the same organizational level, such as across or within departments, to inform, support, and coordinate activities both within the department and between other departments Task forces, project teams, communication from the finance department to the marketing department concerning budget requirements

Upward

Flows from lower to higher levels of the organization Progress reports, suggestions for improvement, inquiries, grievances

Formal and Informal Communication

Formal channels of communication are intentionally defined and designed by the organization. They represent the flow of communication within the formal organizational structure, as shown on organizational charts. describes the different forms of formal communication. Traditionally, formal communication patterns were classified as vertical and horizontal, but with the increased use of teams and matrix structures, formal communication may occur in a number of patterns.

Working Group

Has strong, clearly focused leader, Has individual accountability, Has the same purpose as the broader organizational mission ,Creates individual work products, Runs efficient meetings

Grapevine

Informal channel of communication, seprate from managements formal communication channels.

Monitoring Communications

Technological advances and the increased use of electronic communication in the workplace have made monitoring its use necessary for most companies. Failing to monitor employees of e-mail, social media, and the Internet can be costly.

its structure

The arrangement or relationship of positions within an organization is known as

Structure

The arrangement or relationship of positions within an organization.

Specialization

The division of labor into small, specific tasks and the assignment of employees to do a single task.

Line structure

The simplest organizational structure, direct lines of authority extend from top manager to the lowest level of the organization.

Downward

Traditional flow of communication from upper organizational levels to lower organizational levels Directions, assignments of tasks and responsibilities, performance feedback, details about strategies and goals, speeches, employee handbooks, job descriptions

Diagonal

When individuals from different levels and different departments communicate A manager from the finance department communicates with a lower-level manager from the marketing department

organizational culture

a firm's shared values, beliefs, traditions, philosophies, rules, and role models for behavior. Also called corporate culture, an organizational culture exists in every organization, regardless of size, organizational type, product, or profit objective

Self Directed Work Team (SDWT)

a group of employees responsible for an entire work process or segment that delivers a product to an internal or external customer

Team

a small group whose members have complimentary skills; have a common purpose, goals and approach; and hold themselves mutually accountable

Line-and-Staff Structure

a structure having a traditional line relationship between superiors and subordinates and also specialized managers, called staff mangers, who are available to assist line managers; overstaffing and ambiguous lines of communication and employee frustration because lack of authority to carry out certain decisions

Centralized Organizations

a structure in which authority is concentrated at the top, and very little decision-making authority is delegated to lower levels; decision making is risky

Matrix Structure

a structure that sets up teams from different departments, thereby creating two or more intersecting lines of authority; also called a project-management structure; flexibility, cooperation and creativity; expensive and employees confused to whose authority has priority

Task Force

a temporary group of employees responsible for bringing about a particular change

Task force

a temporary group of employees responsible for bringing about a particular change

Organizational Chart

a visual display of the organizational structure, lines of authority (chain of command), staff relationships, permanent committee arrangements, and lines of communication

grapevine

an informal channel of communication, separate from management's formal, official communication channels. Grapevines exist in all organizations. Information passed along the grapevine may relate to the job or organization, or it may be gossip and rumors unrelated to either. The accuracy of grapevine information has been of great concern to managers.

Decentralized Organizations

an organization in which decision-making authority is delegated as far down the chain of command as possible; intense competition to improve responsiveness and creativity

Flat

an organiztion structure that has few layers of management and board span of control

Quality-Assurance Teams or quality circles

are fairly small groups of workers brought together from throughout the organization to solve specific quality, productivity, or service problems. Although the quality circle term is not as popular as it once was, the concern about quality is stronger than ever. Companies such as IBM and Xerox as well as companies in the automobile industry have used quality circles to shift the organization to a more participative culture. The use of teams to address quality issues will no doubt continue to increase throughout the business world.

Project Teams

are similar to task forces, but normally they run their operation and have total control of a specific work project. Like task forces, their membership is likely to cut across the firm's hierarchy and be composed of people from different functional areas. They are almost always temporary, although a large project, such as designing and building a new airplane at Boeing Corporation, may last for years.

Customer Departmentalization

arrangement of jobs around the needs of various customers; does not focus on organization on a whole and requires large administrative staff to coordinate the operations of the various groups

Product departmentalization

as you might guess, organizes jobs around the products of the firm.

Centralized Organizations

authority is concentrated at the top, and very little decision-making authority is delegated to lower levels. Although decision-making authority in centralized organizations rests with top levels of management, a vast amount of responsibility for carrying out daily and routine procedures is delegated to even the lowest levels of the organization. Many government organizations, including the U.S. Army, the Postal Service, and the IRS, are centralized.

narrow span of management

exists when a manager directly supervises only a few subordinates

Job Rotation

exposed to different jobs within a job organization in order to enhance skills and provide job satisfaction

Flat Organization

few layers of management (wide span), fewer management layers needed to conduct the business, managers perform more administrative duties, spend more time supervising and working with subordinates; reduce costs, speed up decision making, boost overall productivity

Delegation of Authority

giving employees the power to make commitments, use resources, and take whatever actions are necessary to carryout the tasks they are assigned

Departmentalization

grouping of jobs into units; function, product, geographic region or customer

Geographic Departmentalization

groups jobs according to geographic location, such as a state, region, country, or continent.

Functional departmentalization

groups jobs that perform similar functional activities, such as finance, manufacturing, marketing, and human resources. Each of these functions is managed by an expert in the work done by the department—an engineer supervises the production department; a financial executive supervises the finance department. This approach is common in small organizations. Green Mountain Coffee is departmentalized into six functions: sales and marketing, operations, human resources, finance, information systems, and social responsibility. A weakness of functional departmentalization is that, because it tends to emphasize departmental units rather than the organization as a whole, decision making that involves more than one department may be slow, and it requires greater coordination. Thus, as businesses grow, they tend to adopt other approaches to organizing jobs.

Line-and-Staff Structure

has a traditional line relationship between superiors and subordinates, and specialized managers—called staff managers—are available to assist line managers Line managers can focus on their area of expertise in the operation of the business, while staff managers provide advice and support to line departments on specialized matters such as finance, engineering, human resources, and the law. In the city of Pineapple Paradise for example, assistant city managers are line managers who oversee groups of related departments. However, the city attorney and business development manager are effectively staff managers who report directly to the city manager (the city equivalent of a business chief executive officer). Staff managers do not have direct authority over line managers or over the line manager's subordinates, but they do have direct authority over subordinates in their own departments.

group

has been defined as two or more individuals who communicate with one another, share a common identity, and have a common goal.

Line Structure

has direct lines of authority that extend from the top manager to employees at the lowest level of the organization

Product-Development Teams

include people from different functional areas; a project team formed to devise, design and implement a new product

Grapevine

informal flow of communication, between employees; not facilitated by the company

Self-directed Work Teams

is a group of employees responsible for an entire work process or segment that delivers a product to an internal or external customer.28 SDWTs permit the flexibility to change rapidly to meet the competition or respond to customer needs. The defining characteristic of an SDWT is the extent to which it is empowered or given authority to make and implement work decisions. Thus, SDWTs are designed to give employees a feeling of "ownership" of a whole job. Employees at 3M as well as an increasing number of companies encourage employees to be active to perform a function or operational task. With shared team responsibility for work outcomes, team members often have broader job assignments and cross-train to master other jobs, thus permitting greater team flexibility

team

is a small group whose members have complementary skills; have a common purpose, goals, and approach; and hold themselves mutually accountable.

Task Forces

is a temporary group of employees responsible for bringing about a particular change. A task force typically comes from across all departments and levels of an organization. Task force membership is usually based on expertise rather than organizational position. Occasionally, a task force may be formed from individuals outside a company. Coca-Cola has often used task forces to address problems and provide recommendations for improving company practices or products. While some task forces might last a few months, others last for years. When Coca-Cola faced lawsuits alleging discrimination practices in hiring and promotion, it developed a five-year task force to examine pay and promotion practices among minority employees. Its experiences helped Coca-Cola realize the advantages of having a cross-functional task force made up of employees from different departments, and it continued to use task forces to tackle major company issues. Other companies that have also recognized the benefits of task forces include IBM, Prudential, and General Electric.

Decentralized Organizations

is one in which decision-making authority is delegated as far down the chain of command as possible. Decentralization is characteristic of organizations that operate in complex, unpredictable environments. Businesses that face intense competition often decentralize to improve responsiveness and enhance creativity. Lower-level managers who interact with the external environment often develop a good understanding of it and thus are able to react quickly to changes. Johnson & Johnson has a very decentralized, flat organizational structure.

Departmentalization

is the grouping of jobs into working units usually called departments, units, groups, or divisions. we shall see, departments are commonly organized by function, product, geographic region, or customer Most companies use more than one departmentalization plan to enhance productivity. For instance, many consumer goods manufacturers have departments for specific product lines (beverages, frozen dinners, canned goods, and so on) as well as departments dealing with legal, purchasing, finance, human resources, and other business functions. For smaller companies, accounting can be set up online, almost as an automated department. Accounting software can handle electronic transfers so you never have to worry about a late bill. Many city governments also have departments for specific services (e.g., police, fire, waste disposal) as well as departments for legal, human resources, and other business functions

Committees

is usually a permanent, formal group that does some specific task. For example, many firms have a compensation or finance committee to examine the effectiveness of these areas of operation as well as the need for possible changes. Ethics committees are formed to develop and revise codes of ethics, suggest methods for implementing ethical standards, and review specific issues and concerns.

Wide Span

manager directly supervises a large amount of employees; common in decentralized organizations; manager has few responsibilities, few problems arise, low level of interaction between superiors and subordinates, and subordinates are highly competent

Delegation of Authority

means not only giving tasks to employees but also empowering them to make commitments, use resources, and take whatever actions are necessary to carry out those tasks. Let's say a marketing manager at Nestlé has assigned an employee to design a new package that is less wasteful (more environmentally responsible) than the current package for one of the company's frozen dinner lines. To carry out the assignment, the employee needs access to information and the authority to make certain decisions on packaging materials, costs, and so on. Without the authority to carry out the assigned task, the employee would have to get the approval of others for every decision and every request for materials.

multidivisional structure

organizes departments into larger groups called divisions. Just as departments might be formed on the basis of geography, customer, product, or a combination of these, so too divisions can be formed based on any of these methods of organizing. Within each of these divisions, departments may be organized by product, geographic region, function, or some combination of all three

Committee

permanent group, performs a specific task; develop and revise ethics, review specific issues and concerns

Span of Management

refers to the number of subordinates who report to a particular manager.

Matrix Structure or project management structure

sets up teams from different departments, thereby creating two or more intersecting lines of authority

Quality-Assurance Teams/ Quality Circles

small groups of workers brought together from throughout the organization to solve specific quality, productivity or service problems

Tall Organization

span of management is narrow because manager only supervises a few subordinates, so many layers of organization are necessary to carry out the operations of the business; administrative costs are high and communication is slower

Narrow Span

supervises only a few employees; common in centralized organizations; superiors and subordinates are not in close proximity, manager has many responsibilities, interaction between superiors and subordinates is common and problems are common

Structure

the arrangement or relationship of positions within an organization

Specialization

the division of labor into small, specific tasks and the assignment of employees to do a single task

Geographical Departmentalization

the grouping of jobs according to geographic location, such as state, region, country or continent; large administrative staff to coordinate operations and tasks are duplicated within departments

Functional Departmentalization

the grouping of jobs that perform similar functional activities, such as finance, manufacturing, marketing, and human resources; decision making is slow if it involves more than one department and great coordination

Organizational Layers

the levels of management in an organization

Organizational Layers

the levels of management in an organization. A company with many layers of managers is considered tall; in a tall organization, the span of management is narrow Because each manager supervises only a few subordinates, many layers of management are necessary to carry out the operations of the business. Organizations with few layers are flat and have wide spans of management. When managers supervise a large number of employees, fewer management layers are needed to conduct the organization's activities.

Responsibility

the obligation you have to perform the tasks assigned to you

Responsibility

the obligation, placed on employees to perform tasks satisfactorily and be held accountable for the proper execution of work

Product Departmentalization

the organization of jobs in relation to the products in the firm; duplicates functions and emphasizes product rather than organization's overall objectives

product departmentalization

the organization of jobs in relation to the products of the firm

values

the organizational culture outline a company's widely spread ??? and provides unity and cooperation

Departmentalization

the process of grouping jobs into manageable units

Line Structure

the simplest organizational structure, in which direct lines of authority extend from the top manager to the lowest level of the organization; most common in small businesses; managers must posses a wide range of skills and knowledge

Line-and-Staff Structure

those managers that provide advice and support to a line department on specialized matters such as finance, engineering and HR

Project Teams

total control of a specific work project; temporary and are composed of people from different functional areas

Group

two or more individuals who work towards a common goal; individual work products, individual accountability and individual leadership