3 - Organization: Organization Effectiveness & Development (From Study Group)

Question 1

Storming

Answer 1

2

• High levels of conflict and dissent
• Leader’s role: Enforce ground rules, increase levels of engagement, provide coaching

Bruce Tuckman

Question 2

Redesigning the Organization

Answer 2

Organizational design optimizes elements that support an organization’s functioning, including:

• The organization’s mission and vision and the strategies it is pursuing to achieve its goals.
• The way decisions are made.
• The way information is communicated.
• The processes used to perform work and the degree to which and how those processes connect parts of the organization’s structure.
• The systems used to align the organization’s needs with the resources required to fill those needs.

Question 3

Talent Development Interventions

Answer 3

Identify talent needs.

• Clarify performance standards.
• Identify competency deficiencies.

Develop existing staff.

• Coordinate selection processes.
• Develop comprehensive workforce development initiatives.

Build talent pool.

• Communicate performance expectations.
• Develop coaching or mentoring programs and internal social networks.

Question 4

Matrix Structures

Answer 4

• Combines departmentalization by division or program and function to gain the benefits of both.
• An organization may use when the vertical hierarchy begins to obstruct value activities—when silos get in the way of collaboration.
• Includes cross-functional teams who may work together to design, develop, and market products.
• Creates a dual rather than single chain of command. As a result, some employees report to two managers rather than one, with neither manager assuming a superior role

Question 5

Product or Customer Structure

Answer 5

Functional departments are grouped under major product divisions

Question 6

Characteristics of Effective Interventions

Answer 6

• Strategically aligned
• Collaborative
• Supported by top management
• Producing sustainable results
• Supporting continuous improvement
• Using common tools
• Using common language
• Explicit assumptions
• Fact-based
• Oriented toward systems and processes
• Flexibility
• Multiple perspectives

Question 7

Team Formation

Bruce Tuckman

Answer 7

1. Forming
2. Storming
3. Norming
4. Performing

Question 8

Organizational Culture Intervention

Answer 8

1. Describe current culture
2. Identify the aspirational culture
3. Identify gaps and conflicts
4. Develop change initatives

Question 9

Mechanistic and Organic Organizations

Answer 9

• Mechanistic organization tends to be highly specialized, hierarchical, and formal
• Organic organization job boundaries are less distinct and there are fewer levels of decision makers and a more flexible approach to structures and rules.

Question 10

Team or Unit Interventions

Answer 10

Goal may be to improve team processes and interactions through:

• Developing a team identity.
• Correcting dysfunctional behaviors.
• Redefining processes to remove conflicts and improve coordination.
• Building trust and helping diverse teams overcome cultural and geographic distances.

Question 11

Norming

Answer 11

3

• Growing sense of common direction, defined responsibilities and processes
• Leader’s role: facilitate communication and group decision making

Bruce Tuckman

Question 12

Staff units

Answer 12

• Assist the line units by performing specialized services for the organization
• Accounting or HR.

Question 13

Forming

Answer 13

1

• Low levels of commitment and communication
• Leader’s role: provide vision, describe expectations, encourage perseverance

Bruce Tuckman

Question 14

Formalization

Answer 14

• The extent to which rules, policies, and procedures govern the behavior of employees in the organization.
• The more formal the organization, the greater the written documentation, rules, and regulations.

Question 15

Functional Structure

Answer 15

Departments are defined by the services they contribute to the organization’s overall mission, such as marketing and sales, operations, and HR

Advantages

• Easy to understand
• Specializations develop
• Economies of scale
• Easier communication within functions
• Clear career paths

Disadvantages

• Weaker customer or product focus
• Potentially weak communication among functions
• Weak grasp of broader organizational issues

Question 16

Departmentalization

Organizational Structures

Answer 16

The way an organization groups its jobs and aligns effort

1. Functional
2. Product
3. Geographic
4. Matrix

Question 17

Remedial OED Interventions

(Organizational Effectiveness and Development)

Answer 17

Make changes that bring an organization back on course toward its strategic goals.

• During economic downturns, organizations can adopt a “do more with less” operating style that reaps some short-term benefits due to cost savings
• Diminished capacity, capability, and agility. The organization no longer has the quality or quantity of human resources to remain competitive.
• Misaligned organizational structure. Employees may be forced to perform duties for which they are not equipped. Managers may be neglecting strategic work to accomplish immediate tactical tasks.
• Broken work processes. Processes are not redesigned to the conditions. Rather, they work around current limitations and grow less efficient and effective.
• Declining workforce engagement. Feeling stressed and underpaid for their increased workloads, employee productivity may decline. If the economy has improved, valued employees may leave.

Question 18

Organizational Model

Answer 18

• Structure—the way the organization separates and connects its pieces.
• Systems—the policies that guide behavior and work, the processes that define how tasks will be performed, and the technology or tools used to support that work.
• Culture—the set of beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors shared by members of the organization and passed on to new members.
• Values—principles that the organization and its leaders have explicitly selected as a guide for decisions and actions.
• Leadership—the model of behavior that leaders set for the rest of the organization.

The way these elements are implemented and aligned can affect:

• The motivation employees apply to their work.
• Employees’ engagement or identification with their work and the organization’s goals.
• Performance levels and results—i.e., the effectiveness and efficiency in reaching goals—for the entire organization, for its structural pieces (e.g., divisions, functions, teams), and for individual employees.
• Governance—the organization’s ethical and legal compliance and its approach to managing risk.

Question 19

Line units

Answer 19

• Work groups that conduct the major business of the organization
• Production or marketing functions

Question 20

RACI Matrix

Answer 20

• Describes roles as responsible (R), accountable (A), consult (C), and inform (I).
• Help an organization establish clarity around critical activities by assigning responsibility and describing communication needs.

Question 21

Geographic Structure

Answer 21

• Geographic regions or countries—rather than products—define the organizational chart​
• Each region or country has its own complete and self-sufficient set of functions

Question 22

Performing

Answer 22

4

• High levels of productivity and self-direction
• Leader’s role: monitor, evaluate and foster improvement; motivate by celebrating accomplishments

Bruce Tuckman

Question 23

Decision-Making Authority

Answer 23

• How decisions are made within the organization.
• Authority relates to the scope of responsibilities that define the area in which a manager or supervisor is empowered to make decisions.
• The organization determines which decisions can be made at each level of the organization and within each function in order to ensure that the best decisions are made in the most timely manner.
  
  • In a global organization, decisions may be made at headquarters (centralized) or delegated to other parts of the organization (decentralized).

Question 24

Layers of Hierarchy

Answer 24

• Range from the chief executive officer to the employee in a function.
• The trend in organizational structure has been to reduce the number of layers and waste within organizations.
• The result is flatter and, leaders hope, more efficient organizations with fewer staff support positions.

There are two important concepts when determining the layers of hierarchy: chain of command and span of control.

• Span of control: the number of individuals who report to a supervisor.
• Chain of command: the line of authority within an organization.

Question 25

Structural Characteristics in Organizational Design

Answer 25

* Work specialization * Decision-making authority * Layers of hierarchy * Formalization * Mechanistic and organic organizations

Question 26

OED Interventions (Organizational Effectiveness and Development)

Answer 26

Interventions can be seen as stepping in to interrupt the status quo in order to examine a situation more closely and make changes that improve outcomes.

Question 27

Proactive OED Interventions (Organizational Effectiveness and Development)

Answer 27

Identify and correct potential problems before they begin affecting performance * Communication networks that allow critical information to be exchanged quickly, free of hierarchical structures that slow communication. * Iterative work processes (developing a product through increasingly functional versions) that control the costs of mistakes while allowing continuous learning and improvement. * Structures that allow employees to make decisions quickly and independently. * Intrinsically motivated employees who feel they can try new ideas without being punished for worthy failures.

Question 28

Why Interventions Fail

Answer 28

* Lack of senior management support and buy-in * Poor planning * “Analysis paralysis” * Reluctance to take reasonable risks * Failure to communicate need * Too much change for available resources, time, or change management capability

Question 29

Team-Building Activities

Answer 29

Activities may focus on: * Goals and priorities. * Roles and responsibilities. * Processes. * Interpersonal relationships.

Question 30

Work Specialization

Answer 30

The degree to which tasks are performed as separate jobs

Question 31

Group Roles

Answer 31

* Task roles * Social roles * Dysfunctional roles