Organizational Theory Exam 2

elaboration

(mature, organizational structure and reputation are important), focuses on collaboration and teamwork. Managers develop skills for confronting problems and working together. Bureaucracy has reached its limit. Social control and self-discipline reduce the need for additional formal controls. Managers learn to work with in the bureaucracy without adding to it. manager teams and task forces simplify and replace formal systems. Crisis: Need for revitalization; After the organization reaches maturity, it may enter periods of temporary decline. A need for renewal may occur every 20 to 20 years. The organization shifts out of alignment with the environment or perhaps becomes slow moving and over bureaucratized, so it must go through a stage of streamlining and innovation. Top managers are usually replaced during this time.

formalization

(middle life, care about internal stability and market expansion) installation and use of rules, procedures, and control system. Communication is less frequent and more formal, and more likely to follow the hierarchy of authority. Top mngmt become concerned with issues such as strategy and planning and leaves the operations of the firm to middle managers. Product groups and decentralized units are made to improve coordination. Incentive system made to motivate managers to work for the good of the company. Crisis: too much red tape; the proliferation of systems and programs may begin to strangle middle-level executives. The organization seems bureaucratized. Middle management may resent the intrusion of staff. Innovation is restricted. Organization is too large and complex to be managed through formal programs

rites and ceremonies

(traditions/special activities) the elaborate, planned activities that make up a special event and are often conducted for the benefit of an audience. Special occasions that reinforce specific values, create a bond among people for sharing an important understanding, and anoint and celebrate heroes and heroines who symbolize important beliefs and activities. rite of passage - facilitates the transition of employees into new social roles.

collectivity

(youth, informal) Leadership crisis is resolved, strong leadership is obtained and the organization begins to develop clear goals and direction. Departments, hierarchy of authority, job assignments, and division of labor is established. Employees identify with the mission of the organization and spend long hours helping the organization succeed. Crisis: Need for delegation. Lower-level employees find themselves restricted by the strong top-down leadership. Lower-level managers begin to acquire confidence in their own functional area and want more discretion. Autonomy crisis occurs when managers are unwilling to give up responsibility to lower level managers. Organization needs to find a method to control and coordinate departments without direct supervision from the top.

Decline Stages (just to know)

1. Blinded stage 2. Inaction Stage 3. Faulty Action Stag 4. Crisis Stage 5. Dissolution Stage (pg. 370 -371)

Analyze how the Balanced Scorecard may be used as an organization level control system.

Definition: comprehensive management control system that balance traditional financial measures with operational measures relating to a company's critical success factors. Components: financial, internal business processes, customers, and learning and growth Purpose: components to reinforce one another and link short term actions with long term goals. pg.313-315

establish criteria for future work needs

Downsizing should be used as a way to make the firm stronger and more competitive when conditions change, not a way to cut workers. Firms need to identify what jobs, skills sets, and knowledge that will be needed in the future, and based on this they can make job cuts.Managers risk downsizing the people who have the skills and abilities that the firm needs to rebound

*Identify where the organization is in the Organization Life Cycle and assess the implications for how it is structured.

Entrepreneurial, collectivity, formalization, and elaboration pg. 350-355 ; graph on pg. 355

environmental decline and competition

Environ decline refers to reduced energy and resources available to support and organizations. Organizations have to scale down or change domain

internal business processes

Focuses on production and operating statistics such as order fulfillment and cost per order. Question: Do work processes add value to customers and shareholders?

reciprocal

Highest level of interdependence. This exists when the the output of firm A is the input for firm B and the output for firm Bis the input for firm A. The outputs of department influence each other. Occurs with intensive technology, which provides a variety of products and services in combination to a client. Departments work together intimately and frequently. Face to face communication and teamwork is frequent.

customers

How customers view the organization and as well as customer retention and satisfaction. Question: How well do we serve our customers?

learning and growth

How well resources and human capital are being managed for the company's future. This includes employee retention, business process improvements, and introduction of new products. Question: Are we learning, changing, and improving?

search for alternatives

Managers can use creative approaches to cut costs and limit the number of job cut during this decline. Furloughs allows employees to take unpaid leave but still be employed. Other firms cur pay, offer unpaid or partially paid sabbatical, mandatory shut down days, and other techniques to avoid across-the-board-job cuts.

Financial

Organization activities contribute to improving short term and long term financial performance. Question: Do actions contribute to better financial performance? Includes net income and return on investment

Provide assistance to displaced workers

Organization must help displaced workers cope with the loss of their jobs and get reestablished in the job market. Organization can provide training, severance packages, extended benefits, and outplacement assistant.

sequential

Parts produced in on department becoming inputs to another department. The first dept must perform correctly for the second dept to perform correctly. Depts exchange resources and depend on each other. This is used for long linked technology, which refers to the combination in one organization of successful stages of production. This can detrimental if one stage makes a mistake. Extensive planning, communication, and scheduling is needed

Help the survivors thrive

People experience guilt, anger, confusions, and sadness after loss of colleagues, and managers need to acknowledge those feelings. Managers need to interact with employees and do everything they can to reduce the uncertainty, stress, and confusion people are feeling.

Evaluate how your organization uses social media technologies and Big Data.

Social media technologies such as blogs, social networks, or twitter is used for interacting with and facilitating communication and collaboration among employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Social media include company online community pages and forums, blogs, and wikis for virtual collaborations. Provides more effective sharing of tacit knowledge (quick responses, simple and informal). Can be used to search for tags that will identify others with knowledge and resources that you need. Creates trusting relationships between customers and employees. create credibility. Social media command centers allow the company to monitor what is being said about the company on social media platforms. Big data: any massive data set that exceeds the boundaries and conventional processing capabilities of IT. The purpose of big data is to examine these large data sets to uncover hidden patterns, correlations, and other useful info and make better decisions (five elements: volume (real big that it is hard to comprehend), use all data (use small and big data) , use messy data (includes inaccuracies, vary in quality and have different sources) , organization structure, and adopt new mindset) pg. 323 -330

stories and sayings

Stories: are narratives based on true events that are frequently shared among employees and told to new employees to inform them about an organization. Stories are based of heroes or are legends but are used to to symbolize norms and values. (ex. Lee bell tower = soulmates) Sayings: mottoes or mantras that encapsulate key cultural values (ex. Chick-fil-A, "My pleasure)

Analyze how the technical complexity of the organization affects its organization structure.

Technical complexity represents the extent of mechanization of the manufacturing process. high technical complexity means most of the work is performed by machines. low technical complexity means most of the work is performed by employees Three basic technology groups: small batch and unit production, large batch and mass production, and continuous process production pg. 262- 264

pooled

The lowest form of interdependence among departments. Work does not flow between unites. Each department is part of the organization and contributes to the common good of the organization, but works independently. This is used fo firms that use mediating technology, products or services that mediate or linked clients from the external environment but also allows each dept to work independently.

*Should the organization experience an economic slowdown or other reasons to reduce the workforce, identify the key components the organization should implement to insure effective downsizing

The three causes of organizational decline: organizational atrophy, vulnerability, and environmental decline and competition Implementation: 1. Establish criteria for future work needs 2. Search for alternatives 3. Communicate more, not less 4. Provide assistance to displaced workers 5. Help them survivors thrive pg. 368-372

Dissolution stage

This stage of decline is irreversibly. The organization is suffering loss of markets and reputation, the loss of its best personnel, and capital depletion. The only available strategy is to close down the organization in an orderly fashion and reduce the separation trauma of employees

*Explore the use of organizational applications of technology in the organization.

Transaction Processing Systems (TPS), Data Warehousing Busn intelligence social business Big Data Analytics Evolution of Organization Application 1. Operations (transaction processing systems, data warehousing, business intelligence) 2. Control & Coordination (knowledge mngmt, mngmt control systems, balanced scorecard) 3. Adding Strategic Value (social busn and big data) pg. 306 - 307

Service

achieve primary purpose through the production and provisions of services; produces intangible output; simultaneous production and consumption, the intangible product does not exist until it is request by the customer, cannot be stores, inventories, or viewed as a finished good; if not consumer immediately upon production, then it disappears; labor and knowledge intensive (meet the needs of customers); high interaction b/t employees and customers; human element is extremely important; quality of service is perceived and cannot be measured; has a rapid response time (service is provided when customer needs and wants it); site selection is important (dispersed and located geographically close to customers), provides more customized output

Manufacturing

achieve primary purpose through the production of products, produces tangible outputs, can be inventoried for later sales; capital intensive (rely on mass production, continuous process, and smart manufacturing tech); little interaction b/t employees and customers, little human element (work with sales people rather than the employees who make the product), quality can be measure; site selection less important

Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)

automates business transactions; collects data from transactions such as sales, purchases from suppliers, inventory changes, and store them in a database

Assess the forms of control used in this organization

bureaucratic, market, and clan pg. 363-368

*Identify and explain which of the four types of organizational culture would best describe the organization.

bureaucratic, mission, adaptability, and clan pg. 394-396

Explore how the organization engages in corporate social responsibility.

corporate social responsibility refers to managements obligation to make choices and take action so that the organization contributes to the welfare and interest of all organizational stakeholder, such as employees, customers, shareholders, the community, and the broader society. includes conscious capitalism, which has been referred to as shared values approach, refers to organizational policies and practices that both enhance the economic success of the company and advance economic and social conditions of the communities in which the company operates. (ex. Starbucks hiring 10,000 veterans, ASU education/tuition paid for for employees) - pg. 403

power relationships

deciphering who influences or manipulates or has the ability to do so. Which people and departments are the key power holders in the organization? Also, consider if the power relationship is formal or informal or if the power is based on their position in the hierarchy or based on other factors like expertise or admirable characteristics (ex. Traci Davis instead of D. Thompson)

Inaction Stage

denial occurs despite signs of deteriorating performance. Leaders may try to persuade employees and other stakeholders that all is well. Managers use "creative accounting" to make things look fine during this period (cooking the books) Anyways, solution for leaders is to acknowledge decline and take prompt actions to realign the organization with the environment. Leaders should adopt new problem solving approaches, increase decision making participation, and encourage employees and customer expression of dissatisfaction to learn what is wrong.

mission culture

emphasis on clear vision of the organization's purpose and on the achievements of goals, such as sales growth, profitability, or market share, to help achieve the purpose. Individual employees may be responsible for a specified level of performance, and the organization promises specified rewards in return. Managers shape behavior by envisioning and communicating desired future. can reflect high level of competitiveness and profit making orientation.

Faulty action stage

firm is facing serious problems, and indicators of poor performance cannot be ignored. Failure to adjust to the declining spiral at this point can lead to organization failure. Leaders are forced to sever circumstances to consider major changes. Actions may involve retrenchment, including downsizing personnel. Leaders can reduce employee uncertainty by clarifying values and providing info. A mistake could decrease the change of a turnaround. Solution is to find the correct action.

control systems

inner workings of how the organization controls people and operations. This includes look at how info is managed, whether managers apply behavior or outcome control related to employee activities, quality control systems, methods of financial control, reward systems, and how decisions are made. (ex. pep rally to start the day to help motivate people to sell more)

Blinded Stage

internal and external change that threatens long term survival and may require the organization to tighten up. Has excess personnel, cumbersome procedures, or lack of harmony with customers. Leaders miss the signals of decline at this point, and solution is to develop effective scanning and control systems that indicate when sometime is wrong. Timely info can alert executives and allow them to bring the organization back to top performance

bureaucratic culture

internal focus and a consistency orientation for a stable environment. Supports a methodical approach. Symbols, heroes, and ceremonies reinforce the values of cooperation, traditions, and following established policies and practices as way to achieve goals. Organization is highly integrated and efficient.

Behavior Control

is based on managers direct observation and supervision of employee actions to see whether the individual follows rules and policies and perform tasks as instructed. Do people get to work on time? Managers provide heavy supervision and monitoring, pay attention to the methods people use to accomplish their jobs, and evaluate and reward people based on specific criteria, which might include areas such as appearance, punctuality, skills, and activities.

Outcome Control

is based on monitoring and rewarding results, and managers might pay little attention to how those results are obtained. Managers don't supervise employees in the traditional sense. People have a great deal of autonomy in terms of how they do their job. Care about producing the desired outcomes. managers focus on how much work the employee accomplishes. Pay attention less to what people do and more on what they accomplish

symbols

is something that represents another thing. Physical artifacts of an organizations and are powerful because they focus attention on a specific item (ex. Amazon using door desks instead of conference tables to demonstrate their frugality)

Data Warehousing

is the use of huge databases that combine all of a company's data and allow users to access the data directly, create reports, and obtain responses to what if questions.

bureaucratic control

is the use of rules, policies, hierarchy of authority, written documentation, standardization, and other bureaucratic mechanisms to standardize behavior and assess performance. Managers should have authority to maintain control over the organization. Three types of authority: rational-legal: employee's believe in the legality of rules and the right of those elevated to positions of authority to issue commands (gov. firms use) traditional: belief in traditions and status of people exercising authority through those traditions (monarchies) Charismatic: devotion to the exemplary character and the order defined by him or her (military)

communicate more, not less

it is impossible to over-communicate during declining times. Remaining employees need to know what is expected of the, whether future layoffs are possible, and what the organization is doing to help those who lost their jobs.

Large Batch and mass production

manufacturing process characterized by long production runs of standardized parts. Output often goes into inventory from which orders are filled because customers do not have special needs

Big Data Analytics

newest technologies, natural outgrowth of business intelligence. refers to technologies skills, and processes for searching and examining massive, complex sets of data that traditional data processing applications cannot handle to uncover hidden patterns and correlations

organizational atrophy

occurs when organizations grow older and become inefficient and overly bureaucratized. The organization's ability to adapt to its environment deteriorates. Organizations take the longer period of success for granted and become attached to those practices and structures in the past that they fail to adapt to the changes in the environment.

Entrepreneurial (small/born)

organization is born. The emphasis is on creating a product or service and surviving in the marketplace. The founders are entrepreneurs, and they devote their full energies to the technical activities of production and marketing. Organization is informal and non-bureaucratic. Control based on owner's personal supervisor. Growth is from a creative produce to service. Crisis: Need for leadership. As organization starts to grow, the larger number of employees causes problem. Management issues arise, but they prefer to focus their energies on making an selling product or inventing new products and services. Entrepreneurs must either adjust the structure of the organization to accommodate continued growth or else bring in strong managers who can do so.

Evaluate an organization's departmental workflow interdependence and explore structural implications.

pooled, sequential, and reciprocal pg. 284-288 Structural implications: Reciprocal: manufacturing firm, new product development, engineering, purchasing, manufacturing, and sales departments. A horizontal structure or cross functional teams could be used to handle the back and forth flow of info and resources. relational coordination, mutual adjustment, face to face communication, unscheduled meetings, full time integrators Sequential: Once a product is designed, with a flow of goods from one dept to another, such as among purchasing, inventory, assembly. planning, scheduled meetings, task forces, vertical communication Pooled: The ordering and delivery, with warehouses working independently. Plans and Rules, standardization graph pg. 289

market control

price competition is used to evaluate the output and productivity of an organization or its major departments and divisions. Originates in economics. A dollar price is an efficient form of control because managers can compare prices and profits to evaluate the efficiency of the corporation. Sales and costs are summarized in a profit loss statements and compared again performance in previous years or with other companies. Output must be sufficiently explicit for a price to be assigned and the competition exists. Without competition, internal efficiency is not accurate. Used in product divisions and individual departments

clan culture

primary focus on the involvement and participation of the organization's members and on rapidly changing expectations from the external environ. Focuses on meeting the needs of employees as the rough to high performance. Involvement and participation creates a sense of responsibility and ownerships, hence, greater commitment to the organization. Care about employees and making them sure they have enough resources to make them satisfied and productive.

vulnerability

reflects an organization's strategic inability to prosper in its environment. This happens to small firms that are not fully established. Organizations are unable to defined the correct strategy to fit the environment. Firms need to redefine their environ domain to enter new industries and markets.

Identify the artifacts of culture in the organization and how they are interpreted.

rites and ceremonies, stories and sayings, symbols, organizational structure, power relationships, control system pg. 389-392

*Assess the implications for manufacturing (M) and service (S) organizations on organization structure

separate boundary roles: S - few M- many geographical dispersion: S - much M - little decision making: S - decentralized M - Centralized formalization: S - lower M - Higher employee skill level: S - higher M - Lower skill employees: S-Interpersonal M - technical pg. 273-279; graph on pg. 277

Busn intelligence

software is called analytic software, helps users make sense of all these data; high-tech analysis of a company' data in order to make better strategic decisions. also called data mining, searching out and analyzing data from multiple sources across the enterprise, and increasingly from outside sources as well, to identify patterns and relationships that might be significant.

adaptability culture

strategic focus on the external environment through flexibility and change to meet customer needs. Culture encourages entrepreneurial values, norms, beliefs that support the capacity of the organization to detect, interpret, and translate signals from the environ into new behavior responses. Reacts quickly to the environ changes and creates changes.

continuous process production

the entire process is mechanized. There is no starting or stopping. This represents mechanization and standardization one step beyond those in an assembly line. Automated machines control the contentious process, and outcomes are highly predictable.

Crisis Stage

the firm still has not been able to deal with decline effectively and is facing a panic. Chaos may occur, efforts go back to basics, sharp changes, and anger. Only solution is major reorganization. The social fabric of the firm is eroding, and dramatic actions are necessary such as replacing top admin and instituting revolutionary changes in structures, strategy, and culture. Workforce downsizing may be severe

small batch and unit production

these firms tend to be job shop operations that manufacture and assemble small orders to meet specific needs of customers. Custom work is the norm. Relies heavily on the human operator; it is thus not highly mechanized.

organizational structure

this is how an organization is designed (mechanistic vs. organic) or (tall vs flat hierarchy); the way people and depts are arranged into a whole and the degree of flexibility and autonomy people have, tells a lot about which cultural values are emphasized in the organization.

clan control

use of social characteristics, such as shared values, commitment, traditions, and beliefs, to control behavior. Organizations have strong cultures that emphasize shared values and trust among employees. useful when ambiguity and uncertainty is high. There is strong pressure to confirm to a group norms, which govern a wide range of employee behaviors. With self control, employees set their own goals and monitor their performance, yet companies relying on self control need strong leaders who can clarify boundaries within people exercise their own knowledge and discretion (make sure internal values are in line with firm's values and goals).

social business

using social media technologies such as blogs, social networks, or Twitter for interacting with and facilitating communication and collaboration among employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Social business can improve an organization's efficiency, increase productivity, and facilitate faster and smoother operations by improving communication , collaboration, and knowledge sharing within and across firms