Chapter 7

Standing commitee

A relatively permanent committee charged with performing a recurring task. A firm might establish a budget review committee, for example, to review departmental budget requests on an ongoing basis.

Team goals

A team that is clear about its objective will be able to focus on accomplishing it.

Cohesive teams advantages

Achieve great creativity and innovation. They can also improve quality and response time. Teamwork can be key to reducing turnover and costs and increasing productivity, customer service, and product quality. There is also evidence that working in teams leads to higher levels of job satisfaction among employees and a harmonious work environment.

Virtual structure

Administration is the primary function performed, and other functions such as engineering, production, marketing, and finance are contracted out to other organizations. Such structures may be temporary, such as a group of individuals and companies collaborating to develop and distribute a feature film. Organizational members often operate in different locations, and they communicate and share work via video and software tools. Frequently, a virtual organization does not manufacture the products it sells. This type of organization has a few permanent employees consisting of top management and hourly clerical workers. Leased facilities and equipment, as well as temporary workers, are increased or decreased as the organization's needs change. Thus, there is limited formal structure associated with a virtual organization.

Delegation

Assigns work and power to other workers. The degree of centralization or decentralization of authority is determined by the overall pattern of delegation within the organization.

Matrix structure

Combines vertical and horizontal lines of authority, forming a matrix shape in the organizational chart. The matrix structure occurs when product departmentalization is superimposed on a functionally departmentalized organization. In a matrix organization, authority flows both down and across, and individuals report to more than one superior at the same time.

Virtual team disadvantages

Distance, time differences, and the lack of spontaneous face time can make working on virtual teams challenging. Clear communication is essential, especially among team members who have never met in person. Email, text, and chat communications, for example, can be misinterpreted. Team members need to be respectful of cultural and language differences in order to focus on the process and results.

Norming

Each person's role within the group begins to solidify, and members recognize the roles of others. A sense of unity grows during this stage. If it has not occurred already, an identified leader will emerge. The group may remain somewhat in flux during norming and may even regress back to the storming stage if any conflict, especially over the leadership role, occurs.

Wide span of management

Exists when a manager has a larger number of subordinates.

Departmentalization by customer

Groups activities according to the needs of various customer populations.

Departmentalization by product

Groups activities related to a particular good or service. This approach is used often by older and larger firms that produce and sell a variety of products. Each department handles its own marketing, production, financial management, and human resources activities.

Departmentalization disadvantages

It can lead to slow decision making and it tends to emphasize the department over the organization as a whole.

Line disadvantages

Line managers are responsible for many activities, and therefore must have a wide range of knowledge about all of them. While this may not be a problem for small organizations with a lower volume of activities, in a larger organization, activities are more numerous and complex, thus making it more difficult for line managers to fully understand what they oversee. Therefore, line managers in a larger organization would have a hard time making an educated decision without expert advice from outside sources. As a result, line structures are not very effective in medium- or large-sized organizations, but are very popular in small organizations. Change

Conflict between line managers and staff managers

Line managers may perceive staff managers as a threat to their own authority and thus may resent them. For their part, staff managers may become annoyed or angry if their expert recommendations are not adopted by line management.

Organizational structures

Line, line-and-staff, matrix, and virtual.

Line managers

Make decisions and give orders to subordinates to achieve the organization's goals.

Departmentalization by product advantages

Makes decision making easier and provides for the integration of all activities associated with each product.

Decentralized organization

Management consciously attempts to spread authority widely across various organization levels.

Advisory/staff positions

Not everyone who works for an organization is part of the direct chain of command. In the chart these positions are represented by broken lines, as you can see with the directors of legal services, public affairs, and human resources.

Conflict

Occurs when a disagreement arises between two or more team members. Viewed as negative, but it is unavoidable. If handled properly conflict can improve a team. Ignoring conflict may cause it to simmer or grow, disrupting team progress.

Staff managers

Provide support, advice, and expertise to line managers, thus eliminating the major drawback of line structures. Staff managers are not part of the chain of command like line managers are, but they do have authority over their assistants. Staff managers in a line-and-staff structure tend to have more access to information than line managers. This means that line managers must rely on the staff managers for information. This is usually not an issue, unless staff managers make a wrong decision and there is no one else to catch their mistake.

Virtual structures disadvantages

Some of the challenges faced by managers in network-structured organizations include controlling the quality of work performed by other organizations, low morale and high turnover among hourly workers, and a lack of a clear hierarchy.

Job design

Structuring the tasks and activities required to accomplish a firm's objectives into specific jobs so as to foster productivity and employee satisfaction. Job specialization is an often-used approach.

Departmentalization advantages

Supervision is simplified because everyone is involved in the same activities and coordination is easy.

Centralized organization

Systematically works to concentrate authority at the upper levels.

Responsibility

The duty to do a job or perform a task. In most job settings, a manager simply gives the worker a job to do. Typical job assignments might range from preparing a report on the status of a new quality control program to being put in charge of a task force.

Advisory authority

The expectation that line managers will consult the appropriate staff manager when making decisions.

Task-sepcialist role

The group member who pushes the team toward achieving goals and objectives by concentrating fully on the assigned task. In a cross-functional team, this might be the person with the most expertise relating to the current task.

Accountability

The obligation of a worker to accomplish an assigned job or task. Created, but it cannot be delegated.

Line authority

They can make decisions and issue directives relating to the organization's goals.

Nonparticipant role

This role behavior is characterized by people who do not contribute to accomplishing the task and do not provide favorable input with respect to team members' socioemotional needs. They are obviously not desirable team members to have.

Line-and-staff structure

Utilizes the chain of command from a line structure but also provides line managers with specialists, called staff managers. Therefore, this structure works much better for medium- and large-sized organizations than line management alone.

Performing

When the team achieves its full potential, finally focusing on the assigned task. This stage may take a long time to develop, as team development issues can be complicated. The members of the team finally work in harmony under the established roles to accomplish the necessary goals.

Team competition

When two teams are competing for a single prize or recognition, they are forced to become more goal-oriented and to put aside conflict.

The span should be narrow when:

Workers are physically located far from one another, The manager has much work to do in addition to supervising workers, A great deal of interaction is required between supervisor and workers, and New problems arise frequently.

Use of teams is popular because...

encourages employees to participate more fully in business decisions.

A firm that has practiced centralization or decentralization...

is likely to maintain that same posture in the future.

The growing number of companies organizing their workforces into teams reflects an effort to increase employee productivity and creativity because

team members are working on specific goals and are given greater autonomy. This leads to greater job satisfaction as employees feel more involved in the management process.

The nature of the decision itself. The riskier or more important the decisions that have to be made...

the greater is the tendency to centralize decision making.

The abilities of lower-level managers. If these managers do not have strong decision-making skills...

top managers will be reluctant to decentralize.

Team

Two or more workers collaborating to achieve a shared mission, goal, or work product. In particular, team members share responsibility and accountability, and their performance is measured by their collective effort. A team may be assigned any number of tasks or goals, from development of a new product to selling that product. A team can also be created to identify or solve a problem that an organization is experiencing. Teamwork may seem like a simple concept, but teams are a microcosm of the organization, and any complications in the work environment will affect the team.

Informal group

Created by the group members themselves to accomplish goals that may or may not be relevant to the organization. Workers may create an informal group to go bowling, form a union, get a particular manager fired or transferred, or meet for lunch. The group may last for several years or a few hours.

AD HOC comittee

Created for a specific short-term purpose, such as reviewing the firm's employee benefits plan or updating its diversity initiatives. Once its work is finished, the ad hoc committee disbands.

The idea team size is...

5-12

Dual role

A combination of the socioemotional and task-specialist roles. Team leaders might not always play this dual role, but the team is likely to be most successful when they do.

Organization

A group of two or more people working together to achieve a common set of goals.

Departmentalization by location disadvantages

A large administrative staff and an elaborate control system may be needed to coordinate operations across many locations.

Departmentalization by customer disadvantages

A larger-than-usual administrative staff is needed.

Line advantages

A line structure's simplicity and clear chain of command allow line managers to make decisions quickly with direct accountability because the decision maker only has one supervisor to report to.

Advantages of matrix structures

Added flexibility probably being the most obvious one. The matrix structure can also increase productivity, raise morale, and nurture creativity and innovation. In addition, employees experience personal development through doing a variety of jobs.

Departmentalization by location advantages

Allows the organization to respond readily to the unique demands or requirements of different locations.

Committee disadvantages

Committee deliberations take longer than individual actions. In addition, unnecessary compromise may take place within the committee, or the opposite may occur, as one person dominates (and thus negates) the committee process.

Cross-functional team

Consists of individuals with varying specialties, expertise, and skills who are brought together to achieve a common task. Charged with the responsibility of developing new products.

Virtual team

Consists of members who are geographically dispersed but communicate electronically. In fact, team members may never meet in person but rely solely on email, video conferences, voice mail, and other technological interactions. Increasingly, virtual teams rely on group collaboration services such as Slack and Teams that serve as virtual offices where employees can gather to chat and share files and information. They are also likely to use video meeting services such as Skype, Webex, or GoToMeeting to have real-time direct visual interactions. In the global business environment, virtual, or remote, teams connect employees located anywhere in the world on a common task. Indeed, some virtual team members may be outside the firm, such as contract employees, freelancers, consultants, or employees from other organizations that are involved in the team's project.

Narrow span of management

Exists when the manager has only a few subordinates.

Delegation barriers

For several reasons, managers may be unwilling to delegate work. This may be because the manager does not trust the employee to complete the task, or because the manager fears the employee will perform exceptionally and attract the notice of higher-level managers. Finally, some managers do not delegate because they are disorganized and they are not able to plan and assign work effectively.

Team interaction

Frequent interaction also builds team cohesiveness through increasing familiarity.

Departmentalization by location

Groups activities according to the defined geographic area in which they are performed. Departmental areas may range from whole countries (for international firms) to regions within countries (for national firms) to areas of several city blocks (for police departments organized into precincts).

Departmentalization by function

Groups jobs that relate to the same organizational activity. Under this scheme, all marketing personnel are grouped together in the marketing department, all production personnel in the production department, and so on.

Compromise

However, if conflict turns hostile and affects the work environment, then steps must be taken to arrive at a compromise. Can be difficult because neither party ends up getting everything they want. The best solution is a middle-ground alternative in which each party is satisfied to some degree.

Socioemotional role

Played by the individual who supports and encourages the emotional needs of the other members, placing the team members' personal needs above the task at hand. Although this may sound like an unimportant role, this member's dedication to team cohesiveness leads to greater unity and higher productivity.

Forming stage

Team members are introduced to one another and begin to develop a social dynamic. The members of the team are unsure about how to relate to one another, what behaviors are acceptable, and what the ground rules are for the team. Through group member interaction over time, team members become more comfortable and a group dynamic emerges.

Specialization jobs advantages

The "job" of most organizations is too large for one person to handle. When a worker has to learn one specific, highly specialized task, that individual can learn it quickly and perform it efficiently. A worker repeating the same job does not lose time changing operations. The more specialized the job, the easier it is to design specialized equipment. And finally, the more specialized the job, the easier the job training.

Adam Smith

The 18th-century economist whose theories gave rise to capitalism, was the first to emphasize the power of specialization in his book, The Wealth of Nations.

Departmentalization by customer advantages

The advantage of this approach is that it allows the firm to deal efficiently with unique customers or customer groups.

Specialized jobs disadvantages

The boredom and dissatisfaction employees may feel when repeating the same job. Bored employees may be absent from work frequently, not put much effort into their work, and even sabotage the company's efforts to produce quality products.

Line structure

The chain of command goes directly from person to person throughout the organization. Thus, a straight line could be drawn down through the levels of management, from the chief executive down to the lowest level in the organization.

Grapevine

The informal communications network within an organization. It is completely separate from—and sometimes much faster than—the organization's formal channels of communication.

Storming stage

The interaction may be volatile, and the team may lack unity. This is the stage at which goals and objectives begin to develop. Team members will brainstorm to develop ideas and plans and establish a broad-ranging agenda. It is important for team members to grow comfortable with each other so that they can contribute openly. It is unlikely that a team leader has materialized by this stage, although an informal leader may emerge. The success or failure of the ideas in the storming stage determines how long the team will take to reach the next stage.

Chain of command

The line of authority that extends from the highest to the lowest levels of the organization.

Span of management (span of control)

The number of workers who report directly to one manager. Hundreds of years of research has shown that there is no perfect ratio of subordinates to managers. More recently, theorists have focused on the width of the span of management. This issue is complicated because the span of management may change by department within the same organization.

Informal organization

The pattern of behavior and interaction that stems from personal rather than official relationships. Embedded within every informal organization are informal groups and the notorious grapevine.

Authority

The power, within the organization, to accomplish an assigned job or task. This might include the power to obtain specific information, order supplies, authorize relevant expenditures, or make certain decisions.

Departmentalization

The process of grouping jobs into manageable units. Today, the most common bases for organizing a business into effective departments are by function, by product, by location, and by customer.

Disadvantages of cohesive teams

The process of organizing teams can be stressful and time consuming, and there is no guarantee that a team will develop effectively. Obviously, teams require individuals to give up some independence in order to achieve goals, and they may have to share credit for ideas they develop within the team—even if they did most of the work. Teams can be frustrated by the unwillingness of one member to work toward team goals. If a team lacks cohesiveness and is unable to resolve conflicts, the company may experience lower productivity.

Specialization

The separation of a manufacturing process into distinct tasks and the assignment of different tasks to different people. Here we are extending that concept to all the activities performed within an organization.

Job specialization

The separation of all organizational activities into distinct tasks and the assignment of different tasks to different people.

Job rotation

The systematic shifting of employees from one job to another. For example, a worker may be assigned a different job every week for a four-week period and then return to the first job in the fifth week. Job rotation provides a variety of tasks so that workers are less likely to become bored and dissatisfied. Job rotation helps workers stay interested in their jobs, develop new skills, and identify new roles where they may want to focus their energies in the future.

Adjourning

The team is disbanded because the project is complete. Team members may be reassigned to other teams or tasks. This stage will not occur if the team is placed together for a task with no specific date of completion.

Commitee advantages

Their several members are able to bring information and knowledge to the task at hand. Furthermore, committees tend to make more accurate decisions and to transmit their results through the organization more effectively.

Virtual structure advantages

Flexibility that allows the organization to adjust quickly to changes. Virtual structures consist of a lot of teams working together, rather than relying on one centralized leader. One noteworthy benefit is that firms with a virtual structure are more likely to survive the loss of an important member.

Self-managed teams

Groups of employees with the authority and skills to manage themselves. Experts suggest that workers on self-managed teams are more motivated and satisfied because they have greater task variety and job control. On many work teams, members are cross trained to perform everyone else's jobs and rotate through all the jobs for which the team is responsible. When self-managed teams are in place, they take over some or all of these management functions.

Departmentalization by product disadvantages

It causes some duplication of specialized activities—such as finance—between departments. Moreover, the emphasis is placed on the product rather than on the whole organization.

Problem-solving team

It is generally used temporarily to bring knowledgeable employees together to tackle a specific problem.

Functional authority

It is the authority of staff managers to make decisions and issue directives about their areas of expertise.

Task force

A committee established to investigate a major problem or pending decision. A firm contemplating a merger with another company might form a task force to assess the pros and cons of the merger.

Combination of departmentalization bases

A company or an organization uses a mixture or combination or union of two or more different bases of departmentalization.

Organization chart

A diagram that represents the positions and relationships within an organization. Each rectangle represents a particular position or person in the organization. At the top is the president, next are the vice presidents, and so on. The solid vertical lines connecting each level of the hierarchy indicate who is in the chain of command.

Team appraisal

A favorable appraisal from an outsider may strengthen team cohesiveness. Because the team is being praised as a group, team members recognize their contribution as a unit.

Disadvantages of matrix structures

Having employees report to more than one supervisor can cause confusion about who is in charge. Like committees, teams may take longer to resolve problems and issues than individuals working alone. Other difficulties include personality clashes, poor communication, undefined individual roles, unclear responsibilities, and difficulties in finding ways to reward individual and team performance simultaneously. Because more managers and support staff may be needed, a matrix structure may be more expensive to maintain.

Tall

If the span of management is narrow, more levels are needed. In a tall organization, administrative costs are higher because more managers are needed. Communication may become distorted because information has to pass up and down through more levels. When companies are cutting costs, one option is to decrease organizational height in order to reduce related administrative expenses.

Flat

If the span of management is wide, fewer levels are needed. Their managers may perform more administrative duties simply because there are fewer managers. Wide spans of management also may require managers to spend considerably more time supervising and working with subordinates.

Generally, the span of management may be wide when:

The manager and the subordinates are very competent, The organization has a well-established set of standard operating procedures, and Few new problems are expected to arise.

Project manager

The manager in charge of a team. Any individual who is working with the team reports to both the project manager and the individual's superior in the functional department.

Organizational height

The number of layers, or levels, of management in a firm. The span of management plays a direct role in determining the height of the organization. If the span of management is wide, fewer levels are needed, and the organization is flat. If the span of management is narrow, more levels are needed, and the resulting organization is tall.

Team size

To assure cohesiveness, the ideal team size is generally 5 to 12. Anything larger and relationship development becomes too complicated. Anything smaller and the group may be excessively burdened, and tasks may not get completed.

The external environment in which the firm operates. The more complex and unpredictable this environment, ...

the more likely it is that top management will let lower-level managers make important decisions because lower-level managers are closer to the issues and the customers.