Ch 2

Time and motion studies

A methodology developed by Frederick Taylor to analyze the most time-efficient way to complete a task with the lowest amount of error.

contingency

Unexpected but possible deviations from standard operating procedures. Anticipating contingencies is more difficult in today's dynamic, complex organizational environment than it was in Weber's time. However, most organizations have an employee manual and individual job descriptions that codify what is expected of workers and how to handle unexpected situations

centralization

-Fayol's theory proposed that those individuals high in the hierarchy should be responsible for controlling decision making and activity within the organization -authority should be delegated relative to an employee's position in the hierarchy and his or her unique skills and traits (e.g., intelligence, communication skills, experience with leading change). Finally, effective managers design organizations characterized by a great deal of discipline, including a system of rules that managers enforce and employees must follow. Centralization of power, rules, and discipline are critical elements of any contemporary organization—even if they look and feel different than they did to workers on a factory floor in 1915

hierarchical structure

-each individual or group is subordinate to another, except for one at the very top -communication typically flows from top (those with the most power and influence) to the bottom (those who carry out the plans and strategies devised by those higher up in the structure)

specialization

The idea that employees should perform clearly defined, specific functions to keep the overall organization running smoothly. Sometimes referred to as division of labor.

Applied settings

The practical "real-world" environments (e.g., workplaces)

Human Relations Theory

emphasizes two-way communication between employees and management, social interaction among employees, and a relaxed division of labor in comparison to Classical Theory It suggests that employees should be happy, but also provided with working conditions that will promote productivity and accomplishment of task-oriented goals.

Organizational Culture Perspective

help define what life is like within organizations in terms of artifacts, values, communication, rituals, prominent people, and other thematic characteristics. • Culture is largely determined by experienced organizational members and transmitted to others as a set of rules for their behavior ("top-down"). • Organizational members contribute to the culture through their interactions with one another, but "bottom-up" large-scale organizational change can take a long time to achieve. • Culture distinguishes organizations from one another.

Theory X

is consistent with Classical principles: 1. People generally dislike work and will avoid it. 2. To obtain productivity from employees, managers need to control, direct, threaten, and force them to put forth effort. 3. Most people simply want job security—not responsibility. They will do as they are told, but are unmotivated to take initiative and will avoid doing so

bureaucracy

refers to an administrative structure that governs a large system

organization as a machine

that is, organizations and the people within them need to operate much like the efficient machines that make our lives easier. -are characterized by standardization and replaceability -if tasks and jobs are highly specialized and standardized, Classical Theory reasons that, like a machine, organizations are highly predictable

Humanistic Theory

views employees as people with knowledge; ideas; and needs for support, guidance, rewards, and social interaction. Humanistic Theory, which encompasses two slightly different classifications of thought, remains highly influential on modern organizations

organizational communications

The study of oral, written, and nonverbal messages among people working to accomplish shared goals.

types of authority

- charismatic authority is based on a manager or leader's communication style, personality, and ability to relate on an interpersonal level to those around him or her. Charismatic leaders attract people with their vision, warmth, likeability, and relatability - traditional authority. This kind of authority is based on an individual's title or position in the hierarchy; it may or may not be a reflection of his or her actual talents and abilities - Rational-legal authority does not reside in a person or people, but rather in the rules, laws, norms, and policies that characterize the organization. He believed that when the rules were clear and strictly enforced, a traditional hierarchy with power centralized at the top was in place, and labor was divided within a closed organizational system, there was little need for charisma or traditional authority

Classical Theory

-actually refers to a group of individual theories, or explanations for organizing work and organizational communication, that were developed in the early 1900s at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Their shared emphasis on structure, rules, hierarchy, and control as a means of promoting employee performance helped business and industry adapt to the shift from an agrarian society to an industrial one. -Suggests that in a machine-like organization, jobs are standardized so that people can be easily replaced by someone else. The idea is that if everyone is performing a specialized, clear task, those tasks can be well documented and then taught to someone else

replaceability

A notion associated with Classical theory that workers can easily be replaced because anyone can learn to do a standardized job

Systems Theory

A theory of effective organizing based on the organization's relationship to its outside environment, internal interdependence, and synergy borrowed from the life sciences to help explain organizational functioning, was the first perspective to address the relationship of organizations with their outside environments. • Effective organizations are structured in such a way that system components are interdependent with one another. • Organizations should interact with the outside environment to gather resources (input) that the organization then acts on (throughput). • Systems generate output that they send into their environments -was originally created in the late 1950s to describe physical processes in the sciences -organizations require interactions with their outside environments for survival; referred to as open system

participative organizations

An organizational structure proposed by Rensis Likert (also known as a System IV organization) in which all members have input into organizational goals, groups and individuals are responsible for establishing their own goals in alignment with the company's, multidirectional communication is encouraged, and reward systems recognize employee contributions.

predictability

In the context of Classical theory, the idea that organizational outcomes can be easily anticipated as a result of highly specialized and standardized jobs

Hawthorne Studies

In the late 1920s, Harvard professor Elton Mayo conducted a series of research studies at the Western Electric Company's Hawthorne plant in Illinois Mayo's research team concluded that although technical factors (like a documented "one best way" to do a task advocated by Classical theorists) have an impact on work performance, so do human factors. The workers across both conditions were responding to the attention researchers paid to them. Such attention made them feel valued and worthwhile, and it motivated them.

organizational culture

The set of artifacts, values, and assumptions that emerge from the interactions of organizational members, as well as a way to perceive, think, and feel in relation the organization

standardization

The idea that jobs within an organization are very clearly defined and documented to maximize the efficiency of the workers performing them.

Henri Fayol's Theory of Classical Management

emphasizes hierarchical structure, centralization of power, a reward structure, and the surrender of employees' personal interests in favor of organizational goals French management theorist Henri Fayol published General and Industrial Management in 1949, in which he laid out his elements of management (what managers should do) and principles of management (how managers should do those things). The elements of management include the following: 1. Planning: Setting goals and determining how to accomplish them. 2. Organizing: Determining how to arrange employees in a meaningful and efficient design of work (e.g., creating departments or units) and evaluating their work. 3. Commanding: Assigning employees tasks. 4. Coordinating: Making sure that the various tasks and activities occurring within an organization are in sync with one another, to serve a collective objective (e.g., ensuring that the sales force understands the features of products designed by the engineering department so that the products can be sold successfully). 5. Controlling: Examining and comparing the relationship between goals and outcomes to determine if the "machine" is functioning properly—and making adjustments, if needed. 4 Principals 1. Structure 2. Power 3. Reward 4. Attitude

Max Weber's Theory of Bureaucracy

emphasizes how power and control should function and the benefits of structuring and running organizations using bureaucratic principles - Weber developed a theory of how power and control should function in the workplace.23 All three Classical theories focus on rigid structure, efficiency, and top-down management, but Weber was most interested in the authority patterns necessary to run bureaucracies Six theoretical principles of how bureaucracies should best function 1. Bureaucracies require hierarchical structure with most communication flowing from the top down. 2. Decision making and power must be concentrated at the top of the organizational hierarchy. 3. The division of labor should be clear and tasks highly specialized. 4. The organization should operate in a relatively closed fashion. 5. Written rules are essential 6. Bureaucracies must be guided by strict authority

Fredrick Taylor's Theory of Scientific Management

emphasizes work efficiency, systematic selection and placement of workers, training, and division of labor. Whereas Classical Management Theory focused on the structure of an organization and its overall functioning, Taylor's Scientific Management Theory21 emphasized the micro level of operation: employees and their individual tasks. Perhaps most notably, Taylor was the first to point out the importance of an activity that we take for granted today: training Scientific management is based on four assumptions: 1. There is a best way to do every task that can be determined scientifically. Taylor developed what he referred to as time and motion studies to analyze the most time-efficient way to complete a task with the lowest amount of error. 2. Organizations operate best when employees are selected properly, and matched to the right job. 3. Training and ongoing development are critical for enhancing employee proficiency 4. There is a fundamental difference between management and labor, but these two branches of the organization should cooperate in a friendly, interactive manner

Theory Y

represents a more forgiving and optimistic view of the talents, motivation, and work ethic most people bring to the organization: 1. Work is generally as natural for people to engage in as rest or play. People need and want to work. 2. Managers' control and coercion may actually hinder employee effort. 3. Employees are looking for rewards for their effort, and sometimes, feelings of enhanced self-efficacy may be the most valued reward. 4. Under the right conditions, employees will seek responsibility. 5. The ability to solve problems and make decisions is not solely the purview of management. Other employees are creative, intelligent, and innovative in their problem solving and decision making. 6. Organizations should create structures that will help develop the potential of their employees.

The Human Resources approach

was a response to concerns that Human Relations theories prioritized employee needs over organizational objectives. It suggests that employees should be happy, but also provided with working conditions that will promote productivity and accomplishment of task-oriented goals. Human Resources thinking was led by Douglas McGregor (Theory Y) and Rensis Likert (System IV organizations).