Chapter 15 - Organizational Structure, Culture, and Development

Management by Objectives (MBO)

A goal-setting OD technique in which supervisors and subordinates jointly set performance goals; at the end of the goal period, their attainment is evaluated and new goals are set; it is often used as an OD intervention; MBO programs must accurately and objectively measure the attainment of performance goals; at the end of the goal period, usually 3 to 6 months and occasionally 12 months, employees again meet w/ supervisors and receive feedback concerning goal attainment; the program predates the organizational development movement when it became popularized in the 1950s; must follow the MBO model for it to be implemented correctly; Must have the following criteria (1) Employees must participate in setting personal performance goals (2) Feedback concerning goal attainment must be provided (3) Guidelines for improvement must be provided (4) Goals must be realistic (5) The upper levels of the organization must support the program (6) Individual, work group, and organizational goals must be equally emphasized; a widely used OD technique;

Project Task Force

A nontraditional organization of workers who are assembled temporarily to complete a specific job or project; It might be created in an organization that is suddenly faced with hosting the annual two-day conference of executives from all the division and affiliates. It is put together to handle all the different facets with workers from varied skills and expertise; All members worker together until the task is completed and then return to their original positions

Team Organization

A nontraditional organizational structure consisting of a team of members organized around a particular project or product; in this type of organization, workers have broadly defined jobs, not the narrowly specialized positions common to traditionally structured organizations so workers tend to know a great deal about the product or goals of the organization and tend to possess a variety of work-related skills; also in team organizations, rather than each worker independently contributing a piece to the final product as in traditional organizations, employees here share skills and resources and work collaboratively to get the job done; they also place less emphasis on organizational status than do traditional structures;

Line-Staff Organizational Structure

A traditional organizational structure composed of one group of employees who achieve the goals of the organization (the line), and another group who support the line (staff)

Bureaucracy

A traditional organizational structure typified by a well-defined authority hierarchy and strict rules governing work behavior; It is often represented as a pyramid, with the few members with the highest status on the top, leading directly down to the many bottom-level workers who carry out the organization's goal of producing goods or services; has inflexible rules that stifle individual creativity and initiative, may lead to dissatisfied employees; it may also restrict an organization's ability to grow and innovate; developed in the early 20th century by Max Weber; he believed the bureaucracy established order in the work setting and increased productivity by reducing inefficiencies in organizational operations; A true bureaucratic organization should possess 6 characteristics, the division or specialization of labor, a well-defined authority hierarchy, formal rules and procedures, impersonality, merit-based employment decisions, and an emphasis on written records.

Action Research

An OD methodological model that applies social science research methods to collecting relevant organizational data that are used for solving organizational problems; action research has an application-oriented goal; different from hypothesis-testing research; Uses some of the same tools used by hypothesis-testing research like objective observation and the collection and analysis of research data; 1st step, data gathering and problem diagnosis, OD collects data to diagnose the problem situation. 2nd step, feedback is given as the data and the OD consultant's interpretation of the data are presented to the organization's members. 3rd step, joint action planning, OD consultant and the organizational members design a problem-solving program. Once the program is implemented the action research process repeats itself.

Process Consultation

An OD technique in which a consultant helps a client organization study its problems objectively and learn to solve them; Specifically a consultant helps a client organization to "perceive, understand, and act upon process events which occur in the client's environment."; in this method the OD consultant helps the organization learn how to solve its own problems; it uses a change agent, the process consultant, who works as a teacher to assist the client-organization in learning how to use objective methods such as survey instruments, structured interviews or the collection of relevant performance data to diagnose and solve its own problems; goals is for the organization to become self-reliant by knowing how to deal with change-related problems once the process consultant is gone; there are several steps including initial contact, developing the contract, selection of a setting and a method of work, data gathering and diagnosis, intervention, and evaluation of results and disengagement.

Team Building

An OD technique in which teams of workers discuss how to improve team performance by analyzing group interaction; It is an OD intervention in which groups of workers meet to discuss ways to improve their performance by identifying strengths and weaknesses in their interaction with one another. In some ways it is similar to t-groups, although the focus is no longer on individual growth and skill development but on improving team functioning and goal attainment; does not have the threat of psychological casualties like it does in t-groups; one of the most popular OD techniques today; uses existing groups of workers or can construct new ones; 1st session, a diagnostic meeting where members are allowed to present personal views and suggestions for improving the team's performance, from here the group should agree eventually on strategies for implementing positive changes; subsequent sessions, evaluating and fine-tuning new procedures or suggesting alternate approaches;

T-Groups (Sensitivity Training)

An OD technique that uses unstructured group interaction to assist workers in achieving insight into their own motivations and behavior patterns in dealing with other organizational members; Consists of small groups or workers who meet in a nonwork setting for an unstructured discussion of their attitudes and beliefs concerning their work, the work environment, and their interactions with supervisors and coworkers; the goals of t-groups are for participants to gain insight concerning their own behavior, to develop greater openness, and to improve skills in understanding and dealing with others; usually a professional serves as a group leader; where very popular in the 60s and 70s;

Survey Feedback

An OD technique whereby the consultant works with the organization to develop and administer a survey instrument to collect data that are fed back to organizational members and used as the starting point for change; it can increase the upward flow of communication from lower-level workers to management; may also have a positive effect on workers' attitudes as they perceive that management is interested in hearing their views and concerns. Will only occur is steps are taken to address the problems if not workers may develop negative attitudes about management and the survey process; can show workers that they are not alone and that they share their attitudes and concerns; research indicates its an effective OD technique; since its a survey its efficient in collecting large amounts of data from a large number of workers; can be conducted anonymously and lead to honest appraisals;

Organigram

An organizational chart that typically represents the authority hierarchy of a traditional organizational structure; The organigram depicts graphically the various levels of status or authority in a traditional organization and the number of workers that report to each position of authority

Matrix Organization

An organizational design that blends functional and product structures; its offers the best of both traditional and nontraditional designs. Here workers have two reporting lines: one to a functional manager, a person responsible for the worker's area of expertise (engineering, marketing, etc.) and one to a product manager, who is responsible for the particular product being produced; they are designed to adapt rapidly to changing conditions; they are characterized by high flexibility and adaptability; they do not work well with all types of tasks or workers ; they tend to be best suited for projects and products that require creativity and innovation; they are less well suited for routine tasks that can be easily broken down into specialized components; they tend to have high levels of performance in dealing with complex, creative work products; they usually have greater work communication and job satisfaction; drawbacks are that reporting to 2 bosses simultaneously can cause confusion and potentially disruptive conflict

Divisional Structure

An organizational structure that divides the organization according to types of products or customers; For example, a major motion picture that has multiple products, one that focuses on films, one on tv, and one on DVDs, each handling its own manufacturing, marketing, and financing problems for their particular product; An advantage is that the company can easily expand products or services by adding a new division; Also it is easy to determine which units are performing at either exceptional or substandard levels due to each unit's own independence; A drawback is the duplication of areas of expertise since each division contains its own departments for production, sales, research, and other functions; Also workers with similar skills and expertise may not be able to benefit from professional interaction with each other because they are housed in different divisions

Functional Structure

An organizational structure that divides the organization into departments based on the functions or tasks they perform. For example, how an amusement park is divided into operations, publicity, and maintenance; An advantage of this is that it creates job specialists, such as experts in marketing or finance, and eliminates duplication of functions. A disadvantage is that workers may become overly focused on their own department and this may breed interdepartmental rivalry and conflict. Also a bottleneck can be created when work must be moved from one large department to another to be completed which may decrease productivity, work can also be lost

A Well-Defined Authority Hierarchy

Bureaucracies are characterized by a pyramid-type arrangement in which each lower position is controlled and supervised by the next higher level. Every position is under the direct supervision of someone higher up, so that there is no confusion about who reports to whom

Individualism vs. Collectivism

Concerned with the extent to which individual interests and goals are emphasized versus a focus on the larger group or collective; part of five dimensions of societal/national culture

Uncertainty Avoidance

Concerns the extent to which members of the culture avoid or tolerate uncertainty and ambiguity; part of five dimensions of societal/national culture

Engineering Technology

Consists of analyzable tasks with many exceptions; examples are the work of lawyers or civil engineers which involves tasks that are analyzable but ones that also present workers with novel problems that need to be solved. The lawyer dealing with unique legal cases or an engineer encountering problems in constructing a specific bridge are examples; Tends to result in structures that are neither completely traditional nor completely nontraditional but rather a combination of both

Routine Technology

Consists of analyzable work tasks with few exceptions; examples are assembly-line production or the work of grocery store employees; Tend to be formal, highly rule driven, and centralized in structure

Power Distance

Deals with the extent to which members of the culture accept and expect that there are differences in the way that power is distributed unequally among members; part of five dimensions of societal/national culture

Line

Employees in an organization who are engaged directly in tasks that accomplish its goals; For example, in service organizations, line workers are involved in the distribution of services to customers

Tall Organizational Structure

Has a long chain of command-many authority levels-and a narrow span of control; this is more descriptive of traditional rather than nontraditional structures; In these types of organizational structures, workers at the bottom levels may feel cut off from those above, because they are separated by many levels of middle-ranking superiors. On a positive side, they may offer lower-level employees many different promotional opportunities throughout their careers. Also there is adequate supervision because of the span of control is narrow; each supervisor is only responsible for a few employees; However they can become top heavy with administrators and managers because the ratio of line workers to supervisors is very low; Good for organizations with complex and multifaceted goals or products. They have different levels handling the various aspects of the company's goals

Flat Organizational Structure

Has a short chain of command but a wide span of control; this is more descriptive of traditional rather than nontraditional structures; This type of structure has few levels separating top-level managers from bottom-level workers, possibly leading to greater interaction between the top and bottom of the organization; However, these offer few promotional opportunities to workers, and supervision may not always be adequate, because many workers report to the same supervisor; Good for when tasks are routine or repetitive thus requiring a large number of workers who need minimal supervision

Work w/ Many Exceptions

Has unfamiliar problems turning up often in the work process

Traditional Organizational Structures (Mechanistic or Bureaucratic too)

Have formally defined roles for their members, are very rule driven, and are stable and resistant to change. Jobs and lines of status and authority tend to be clearly defined in traditional structures, which means that much of the work behavior tends to be regulated and kept within organizational guidelines and standards.

Employment Decisions Based on Merit

Hiring and promotion decisions are based on who is best qualified for the job rather than on the personal preferences of those making the personnel decisions. In a true bureaucracy, people who are effective workers should be the only ones advancing to higher-level positions.

Formal Rules and Procedures

In a bureaucracy there are strict rules and regulations to ensure uniformity and to regulate work behavior. Because of these extensive rules and procedures, there should never be any doubt about what a particular worker is supposed to be doing. Everyone's job is well defined, and procedures for coordinating activities with other workers should be clearly established

Impersonality

In bureaucracies, behavior is based on logical rather than emotional thinking. This means that personal preferences and emotional factors do not have a place in any work-related decisions. For example, a true bureaucratic service organization would never give preferential treatment to one customer over another.

Psychological Contract

Includes the expectations and goals of the organization as well as the consultant's goals; formulated during the second step in process consultation

Work w/ Few Exceptions

Is predictable and straightforward presenting few novel problems

Hypothesis-Testing Research

It attempts to find new knowledge that is applicable to a wide range of organizations; As opposed to action research which tries to solve problems specific to a particular organization

Perrow's Model of Four Categories of Organizational Technology

It includes routine, engineering, craft, and nonroutine; According to his model, the structure of the organization adjusts to the technology

Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Project (GLOBE)

It is looking at cross-national differences in work organizations, in their cultures, and in their leadership

Nonroutine Technology

It is represented by the work of scientific researchers or professional artists and musicians in which there are no clearly defined steps to follow, yet, there are many unique problems to be solved; Leads to a less formal, more flexible structure, such as a team or matrix organization

Contingency Model

It looks at the organization and characteristics of the situation, in this case, the setting in which the organization operates; an example of this is sociologist Joan Woodward's model, one of the earliest ones;

Joan Woodward's Contingency Model

It states that for maximal performance, organizational structure needs to match the type of production technology; The major drawback to this was that his model only dealt with manufacturing organizations

Work-Related Technology

It was classified under two dimensions by Perrow, analyzable or unanalyzable and whether the work contained few or many exceptional work situations requiring creative problem solving

Change Agent

Name for an OD practitioner, referring to the person's role as a catalyst who helps organizations through the process of change; one who coaches or guides the organization in developing problem-solving strategies; he, however is not a problem solver; works with the various levels of the organization, developing or deciding on problem-solving techniques; is a behavioral scientist, often an industrial/organizational psychologist; also acts as an educator who trains the organization to implement strategies for coping with future problems; is a very data-driven process so the OD practitioner should be well steeped in social science research methods and how to apply them

Psychological Casualties

Occurs when the group targets one or more persons for intense criticism or when participants suffer from airing sensitive personal information in a public forum; an effective leader will usually prevent these problems

Organizational Culture Profile (OCP)

On how to measure organizational culture; in measuring organizational culture using the OCP, organizational representatives sort 54 value statements describing such things as organizational attitudes toward quality, risk taking, and the respect the organization gives to workers into meaningful categories to provide a descriptive profile of the organization

Organizational Structure

Refers to the arrangement of positions in an organization and the authority and responsibility relationships among them; This means that every organization is made up of persons holding particular positions or playing certain roles in an organization. The organization's structure is then determined by the interrelationships among the responsibilities of these various positions or roles.

Analyzable/Nonanalyzable Work

Refers to whether the technology can be broken down into simple, objective steps or procedures

Masculinity vs. Femininity

Represents the extent to which members of the culture value traits and practices that are stereotypically masculine such as assertiveness and competitiveness or stereotypically feminine traits such as caring for others and being modest in presentation of accomplishments; part of five dimensions of societal/national culture

Quality Circles

Small groups of volunteer employees from the same work area who meet regularly to solve work-related problems; typically associated w/ Japanese management techniques; popular is 1980s; meet together to identify, analyze, and solve product quality problems and other work-related problems; in initial meetings members are trained in quality control, work on developing communication skills, and learn problem-solving techniques; they then select a particular problem to study and gather info about it; finally a recommendation is made to management about to solve the problem; its goal is to get employees more involved in their jobs and to increase their feeling of having some control over their work; can lead to greater worker satisfaction

Staff

Specialized employee positions designed to support the line; For example, in a computer assembly plant, those who have bookkeeping, plant maintenance, or a job that has nothing to do with assembling computers;

Information Technology

Term coined by Perrow which refers to all aspects of jobs, including the equipment and tools used, the decision-making procedures followed, and the information and expertise needed.

Initial Contact

The 1st step in process consultation; is usually initiated by someone in the organization who realizes that problems exist and is willing to try to solve them

Developing the Contract

The 2nd step in process consultation; there is an exploratory meeting were workers come into contact with the consultant to determine the problems, explain the consultant's role and formulate actions to be taken. A formal contract is drawn up to determine matters such as client time and compensation;

Selection of a Setting and a Method of Work

The 3rd step in process consultation; a site for study is selected collaboratively with the client and is usually a unit near the top of the organization. Those workers who are being observed by the consultant must be made aware of her presence and purpose

Data Gathering and Diagnosis

The 4th step in process consultation; by using interviews, direct observation, and surveys of employees, the consultant tries to obtain an in-depth picture of the organization and its internal processes; the consultant works w/ personnel, instructing them in data collection methods; through analysis of these data and consultation with relevant CDE personnel and executives, specific problem areas are targeted

Intervention

The 5th step in process consultation; a variety of intervention strategies are used in process consultation, some are simple others are more complex;

Evaluation of Results and Disengagement

The 6th and last step in process consultation; results are evaluated and in the end a slow disengagement process is used whereby the consultant gradually lessens involvement with the client-organization

Integration

The amount and quality of collaboration among the divisions of an organization; As the external environment becomes more complex and turbulent, the organization must increase its differentiation and integration to match its internal complexity to the external complexity

Specialization of Labor

The complex goals or outputs of the organization are broken down into separate jobs with simple, routine, and well-defined tasks. In this way, each person becomes a specialized expert at performing a certain task

Differentiation

The complexity of an organization's structure that is based on the number of units, the orientations of managers, and the goals and interests of members; For example, in today's marketplace, a manufacturer of photocopiers must be highly differentiated with a number of departments designed to meet certain organizational goals; As the external environment becomes more complex and turbulent, the organization must increase its differentiation and integration to match its internal complexity to the external complexity

Centralization

The degree to which decision-making power rests at the upper level of the organizational hierarchy. In highly centralized organizations, the decision-making power is firmly held by the top levels of the organization; The centralized organization has the advantage of uniformity, which means that each store should operate with some average level of quality and efficiency. However, this structure may limit the ability of individual stores to adjust to special circumstances

Total Quality Management (TQM)

The implementation of continuous improvement work processes;

Chain of Command

The number of authority levels in an organization; It follows the lines of authority and status vertically through the organization.

Span of Control

The number of workers who must report to a single supervisor; An organization with a wide span of control has many workers reporting to each supervisor; an organization with a narrow span has few subordinates reporting to each superior

Organizational Development (OD)

The process of assisting organizations in preparing for and managing change; It often involves altering the organization's work structure or influencing workers' attitudes or behavior to help the organization to adapt to fluctuating external and internal conditions; it is concerned with helping organizations develop, adapt, and innovate; it is a variety of orientations and methods not just one; It typically occurs in a series of phases. The 1st phase is usually diagnosis of the organization to identify significant problems. 2nd, appropriate interventions to try deal with the problems. 3rd, the implementation of the interventions. Last one, results of intervention is evaluated; mostly a longterm organizational improvement program rather than one that tries to solve the problem immediately; mostly implemented at the group or organizational level rather than at an individual level;

Decentralization

The process of taking the decision-making authority away from the top levels of the organization and distributing it to lower levels

Organizational Culture

The shared values, beliefs, assumptions, and patterns of behavior within an organization; In some ways it is akin to the organization's personality; It is differences in organizational culture that cause two companies-similar in most important ways, such as company size, goods produced, and regional location- to feel completely different to workers and visitiors; different from organizational climate with culture being more deeply embedded in the organization; it develops from many sources;

Nontraditional Organizational Structures (Organic)

They are characterized by less-formalized work roles and procedures. They tend to be rather flexible and adaptable, without the rigid status hierarchy characteristic of more traditional structures. They generally also have fewer employees than the traditional structures and nontraditional structures may also occur as a small organization that is a subunit of a larger, more traditionally structured organization; They typically have four important characteristics (a) high flexibility and adaptability (b) collaboration among workers (c) less emphasis on organizational status and (d) group decision making

Lawrence and Lorsch Contingency Model

They assert that two processes determine a company's ability to keep up with external changes: differentiation and integration; This model makes us aware of the effect of the external environment on the organization, its structure, and its ability to meet its goals

Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation

This dimension concerns whether members of the culture emphasize long-term orientations such as perseverance and working hard today for future payoffs, vs. short-term fulfillment of immediate needs; part of five dimensions of societal/national culture

Organizational Practices Scale

This instrument is designed specifically to measure organizational culture (as opposed to societal culture) assesses the company's culture in terms of dimensions such as whether the organization is "process vs. results oriented" or has "loose" or "tight" control over employees' behavior, as well as other dimensions

Craft Technology

Uses technology that is unanalyzable with no discrete steps, and has few exceptions; examples include the jobs of a skilled woodcarver and a social worker. Both of these jobs involve specialized experience and knowledge but both present workers with similar types of problems; Tends to result in structures that are neither completely traditional nor completely nontraditional but rather a combination of both

Emphasis on Written Records

To ensure uniformity of action and fair and equitable treatment of employees, bureaucracies keep meticulous records of past decisions and actions. All behaviors occurring in the organization are recorded, which contributes to the image of the bureaucrats as compulsive paper-shufflers.