chapter 1:organizations and organizations theory

organizations exists to

-bring together resources to achieve desired goals - produce goods and services efficiently - facilitate innovation -use modern manufacturing and information technologies -adapt to and influence rapidly changing environment -accomodate challenges of diversity, ethics, and coordination - create value for owners, customers, employees

mechanistic design

-centralized structure -strict hierarchy of authority - specialized tasks - many rules, formalized - vertical communication

organic design

-decentralized structure - collaborative teamwork - empowered roles - horizontal communication - few rules, informal

contingency factors (environment)

-include all elements outside the boundary of the organization. -industry, gov, customers, suppliers, financial community. -Most affected by other organizations

organization theory (lower management)

-only partly concerned with ____ because this level of supervision is concerned with employees who operate machines, create services, or sell goods

bureaucratic organizations

-organizations that emphasize designing and managing on an impersonal, rational basis through such elements as clearly defined authority and responsibility, formal record keeping and uniform application of standard rules. - administrative principles contributed to its development. - bureaucracy negative today, worked in industrial age but failed to consider social context and human needs

Formalization, specialization, hierarchy of authority, centralization

The key structural dimensions of organizations

False; efficiency is important, but organizations must respond to a variety of stakeholders, who may want different things from the organization. Managers strive for both efficiency and effectiveness in trying to meet the needs and interests of stakeholders. effectiveness is often considered more important than efficiency

The primary role of managers in business organizations is to achieve maximum efficiency

system

a set of interrelate parts that function as whole to achieve a common purpose

closed system

a system that would no depend on or interact with the enviroment. it would be autonomous, closed off, and sealed off. - true one can't exist -scientific management took this approach for efficiency through modifications of internal systems.

chaos theory

a theory that suggest that relationships in complex, adpative systems includin organization, are nonlinerar and made up of numerous interconections and divergent choices that create united effects and render the whole unpredeictable. - suggests that organization should be viewed more as natural systems tan as well-oiled preciatble machines, leading to an increase in the use of ogranic design approaches. - recognizes randomness and didorder whith certain larger patterns of order. (within and outside the organization)

stakeholder

any group within or outside of the organization that has a stake in the organization's performance. -The satisfaction level of each group can be assessed as an indication of the organization's performance and effectiveness.

contingency factors (size)

can be measured for the organization as a whole or for specific components, such as a plant or division. - typically measured by the number of employees. -other measures such as total sales or total assets also reflect magnitude, but they do not indicate the __ of the human part of the system

level of analysis (organization level of analysis)

collection of groups or departments that combine into the total organization

level of analysis (group level of analysis)

collections of individuals who work together to perform group tasks; group or department

organization theory (middle management)

concerned with major departments, such as marketing or research, and must decide how the department relates to the rest of the organization -must design their departments to fit work-unit technology and deal with issues of power and politics, intergroup conflict, and information and control systems, each of which is part of organization theory

Major stakeholder groups and what they expect (creditors)

creditworthiness, fiscal responsibility

centralization

decision authority is located near the top of the organization hierarchy. - knowledge and control of activities are _______- at top of organization, employees do as told. - refers to te level of hierachy with the authoity to make decisions - mechanistic

decentralization

decision making authority is pushed down to lower organizational levels - in a highly organic organization, knowledge and control activities are located with employees rather than with supervisors and top executives

contingency factors (goal and strategy)

define the purpose and competitive technologies that set it apart from other organizations. ______ are often written down as an enduring statement of company intent. _______ is the plan of action that describes resource allocation and activities for dealing with the environment and for reaching the organization's goals. -both define the scope of operations and the relationship between employees, customers, and competitiors

Structural dimension (hierarchy of authority)

describes who reports to whom and the span of control for each manager - related to span of control (the number of employees reporting to a supervisor) -when span of control is narrow, hierarchy tends to be tall -when spans of control are wide, shorter

Major stakeholder groups and what they expect (management)

efficiency, effectiveness

contingency factors

encompass larger elements that influence structural dimensions, including the organization's size, technology, environment, culture, and goals - describe the organizational setting that influences and shapes the structural dimensions - can be confusing because they represent both the organization and environment - overlapping elements that shape an organization's structure and work processes

hawthorne studies

experiments at a chicago electric company. -interpretations of these studies at the time concluded that positive treatment of employees improved their motivation and productivity -led to revolution of worker treatment and work examining treatment of workers, leadership, motivation, and human resource management

Major stakeholder groups and what they expect (owners and stockholders)

financial return

Major stakeholder groups and what they expect (community)

good corporate citizen, contribution to community affairs

Major stakeholder groups and what they expect (customers)

high-quality goods, services, service, value

level of analysis

in systems theory, the subsystem on which the primary focus is placed; four levels of analysis normally characterize organizations

subsystems

interrelated parts of a system that function as a whole to achieve a common purpose -changes in one part affect other parts; managers need to understand the whole org rather than just the separate elements -perform specific functions required for organizational survival, such as production, boundary spanning, maintenance, adaptation, and management Boundary systems are responsible for exchanges with external environment and include activities such as purchasing supplies, marketing products and services, and competitive intelligence. -carried out by five basic organizational parts

role

is a part in a dynamic social system - has discretion and responsibility, allowing the person to use his or her discretion and ability to achieve an outcome or meet a goal. -in organic design, employees play a _____ in the team or department and ____may be continually redefined or adjusted

contingency factors (culture)

is the underlying set of key values, beliefs, understandings, and norms shared by employees. - these underlying norms and values may pertain to ethical behavior, commitment to employees, efficiency, or customer service, and they provide the glue to hold organization members together. - unwritten but can be observed in its stories, slogans, ceremonies, dress, and office layout

administrative principles

look a the design and functioning of the organization as a whole. Henri Fayol 14 principles of management which formed the foundation for modern management practice and organizational design. "Each subordinate receives orders from only one superior" (unity of command) and similar activities in an organization should be grouped together under one manager" (unity of direction)

organization theory

macro examination of organizations because it analyzes the whole organization as a unit - concerned with people aggregated into departments and organizations and with the differences in structure and behavior at the organization level of analysis - might be considered the sociology of organizations -directly related to top and middle management concerns and partly relevant to lower management -concerned with the big picture of the organization and its major departments

stakeholder approach

managers carefully balance the needs and interests of various stakeholders in setting goals and striving for effectiveness - integrates diverse organizational activities by looking at various organizational stakeholders and what they want from the organization

scientific management

managers develop precise, standard procedures for doing each job, select workers with appropriate abilities, train workers in the standard procedures, carefully plan work, and provide wage incentives to increase output -top management doing the thinking and workers doing what they are told to maintain stability and efficiency -ex: unloading steel with amount of ton per day they are suppose to lift and pay incentives for those who met the new standard

mechanistic

means that the organization is characterized by machine-like standard rules, procedures, and a clear hierarchy of authority - organizations are highly formalized and are also centralized with more decisions made at the top

organic

means that the organization is much looser, free-flowing, and adaptive. - rules and regulations are often not written down or, if written down, are flexibly applied. - people may have to find their own way through the system to figure out what to do - hierarchy of authority is looser and not clear-cut -decision-making authority is decentralized

task

narrowly defined piece of work assigned to a person -mechanistic, broken down into specialized, separate parts, as in a machine, with each employee performing activities according to a specific job description

Major stakeholder groups and what they expect (government)

obedience to laws and regulations, fair competition

effectiveness

often considered more important than efficiency

level of analysis (external environment (interorganizational set, community)

organizations themselves can be grouped together into this. - to explain the organization one should look not only at its characteristics, but also at the characteristics of the environment and of the departments and groups that make up the organization

Structural dimension (formalization)

pertains to the written amount of written documentation in the organization -documentation includes procedures, job descriptions, regulations, and policy manuals -written documents describe behavior and activities -often measure by simply counting the number of pages of documentation within the organization ex: large university with written documents on registration, drop add classes. - small family owned business may have almost no written rules and be informal

scientific management

pioneered by Frederick Winslow Taylor, emphasizes scientifically determined jobs and management practices as the way to improve efficiency and labor productivity. -Taylor proposed that workers "could be retooled like machines, their physical and mental gears recalibrated for better productivity." - he insisted that management itself would have to change and emphasized that decisions based on rules of thumb and tradition should be replaced with precise procedures developed after careful study of individual situations

structural dimensions

provide labels to describe the internal characteristics of an organization -they create a basis for measuring and comparing organizations

sustainability

refers to economic development that generates wealth and meets the needs of the current generation while saving the environment so future generations can meet their needs as well. - walmart; implementation of an energy-efficient trucking fleet, its growing use of green materials in buildings, and its zero waste initiative that aims to eliminate all the company's landfill waste by 2025. pushing initiatives down to suppliers

efficiency

refers to the amount of resources used to achieve the organization's goals - based on the quantity of raw materials, money, and employees necessary to produce a given level of output - Deloitte LLP cut travel budgets for consultants and began using Web and video conferencing for meetings that dont involve clients to increase ____

Structural dimension (centralization)

refers to the hierarchical level that has authority to make decisions -when decision making is kept at the top level organization is _____ -when decision making is delegated to lower organizational levels, it is decentralized

contingency factors (organizational technology)

refers to the tools, techniques, and actions used to transform inputs into outputs. concerns how the organization actually produces the products and services it provides for customers and includes such things as flexible manufacturing, advanced information systems, and the internet. ex- automobile assembly line, college classroom, overnight package delivery system

open system

required to fully understand organizations -must interact with the environment in order to survive - can not seal themselves off and must continuously adapt to the environment -organization must find and obtain needed resources, interpret and act on environmental threats and opportunities, distribute products and services, and control and coordinate internal activities in the face of outside changes and uncertainty - to be successful an organization must be managed as

organization theory (top management)

responsible for the entire organization and must set goals, develop strategy, interpret the external environment, and decide organization structure and design

Major stakeholder groups and what they expect (employees)

satisfaction, pay, supervision

Major stakeholder groups and what they expect (suppliers)

satisfactory transactions, revenue from purchases

organizations

social entities that are goal-directed, are designed as deliberately structured and coordinated activity systems, and are linked to the external environment -made up of people and their relationships with one another -purpose will vary but central aspect is the coordination of people and resources to collectively accomplish desired ends

effectiveness

the degree to which an organization achieves its goals - organizations need clear, focused goals and appropriate strategies for achieving them. - many organizations apply new technology to improve efficiency and ________ - technology can help locate info more quickly, provide higher quality care, better customer service, and reduce mistakes

Structural dimension (specialization)

the degree to which organizational tasks are subdivided into separate jobs - if extensive, each employee performs only a narrow range of tasks - if low, employees perform wide range of tasks in their jobs -sometimes referred to as the division of labor

level of analysis (individual level of analysis)

the human is the basic building block of organizations. the human being is to the organization what a cell is to a biological system

organizational behavior

the psychology of organizations -is the micro approach to organizations because it focuses on the individuals within organizations as the relevant unit of analysis -examines concepts such as motivation, leadership style, and personality and is concerned with cognitive and emotional differences among people within organizations

contingency

theory meaning that one thing depends on other things; for organizations to be effective, there must be a "goodness of fit" between their structure and the conditions in their external environment -means it depends; one setting may not work in another setting - government agency may experience a certain environment, use a routine technology, and desire efficiency

structural dimensions and contingency factors

to understand and evaluate organizations, one must examine both

mechanistic design

typical contingency factors for _______ design: -large size - efficiency strategy - stable enviroment - rigid culture - manufacturing technology

organic design

typical contingency factors in an _____ design -small size -innovation strategy - changing environment - adaptive culture - service technology

Major stakeholder groups and what they expect (union)

worker pay, benefits