Chapter 8
What is one of the first steps to organize your business?
Organizing
Organizing is otherwise known as...
Structuring
What is the trend today for the span of control?
The trend today is to expand the span of control as organizations adopt empowerment, reduce the number of middle managers, and hire more talented and better educated lower-level employees. Information technology also allows managers to handle more information, so the span can be broader still.
Why do large organizations use flat structures?
To try to match the flexibility of smaller firms, whose workers often know customers by name.
Cross-functional self-managed teams
are groups of employees from different departments who work together on a long-term basis (as opposed to the temporary teams established in matrix-style organizations)
What are the four organizational issues?
centralization vs decentralization, span of control, tall vs flat organizational structures, and departmentalization
formal organization
details lines of responsibility, authority, and position
Job specialization
dividing up tasks into smaller jobs
Division of labor
dividing up the production process between multiple workers
line organization
has direct two-way lines of responsibility, authority, and communication running from the top to the bottom of the organization, with everyone reporting to only one supervisor
flat organizational structures
have fewer layers of management and a broad span of control (many people report to each manager). they respond readily to customer demands because lower-level employees have authority and responsibility for making decisions, and managers can be spared some day-to-day tasks
What are the moral and ethical values of the best companies?
honesty, reliability, fairness, environmental protection, and social involvement (and many others)
hybrid forms of business organizations
limited partnerships, s corporations, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships
what are the four ways to structure an organization?
line organizations, line-and-staff organizations, matrix-style organizations, and cross-functional self-managed teams.
self-managed
means that they are empowered to make decisions without management approval
mass production
methods for efficiently producing large quantities of goods
What is seem in the evolving business environment?
more global competition, faster technological change, and pressure to preserve the natural environment
frontline workers
most important people
What is the key to a productive culture?
mutual trust
centralized authority
occurs when decision making is concentrated at the top level of management.
Decentralized authority
occurs when decision making is delegated to lower-level managers and employees more familiar with local conditions than headquarters management could be.
restructuring
redesigning an organization so it can more effectively and efficiently serve its customers.
line personnel
responsible for directly achieving organizational goals, and include production workers, distribution people, and marketing personnel.
hierarchy
system in which one person is at the top of the organization and there is ranked or sequential ordering from the top down of managers and others who are responsible to that person.
real time
the present moment or the actual time in which an event takes place.
why do some firms use a combination of departmentalization techniques?
to create hybrid forms
networking
uses communications technology and other means to link organizations and allow them to work together on common objectives.
What should cross-functional teams be?
Cross-functional teams should be empowered and collaborative. They work best when leadership is shared.
