3.1 Flashcards
What is an organization?
- An entity, such as a company, an institution, or an association,
comprising of one or more people working together to achieve
a common goal - Profitable business
- Non-profit (school, charitable organisation)
- An organization can be small, medium or large
Purpose of an organization
The broad purpose of any organization is to provide goods or
services of value to customers and clients
A clear sense of purpose tied to “quality products and services,”
“customer satisfaction,” and “social responsibility”
A clear sense of purpose is an important source of
organizational strength and performance advantage.
Organizations as open systems
All organizations are open systems that interact with their
environments.
They do so in a continual process of obtaining resource
inputs—people, information, resources, and capital—and
transforming them into outputs in the form of finished goods and
services for customers.
Performance
Organizations create value when they use resources well to produce good products and take
care of their customers.
When operations add value to the original cost of resource inputs, then a business
organization can earn a profit—by selling a product for more than the costs of making it, and
a non-profit organization can add wealth to society—by providing a public service like fire
protection that is worth more than its cost. One of the most common ways to assess
performance within organizations is productivity.
Productivity measures the quantity and quality of outputs relative to the cost of inputs.
division of labour
Division of labor is an arrangement in which different people perform
discrete (separate and distinct) parts of a task for greater efficiency.
Division of labour refers to the allocation of tasks to individuals or
organisations according to the skills and/or equipment those people or
organisations possess.
Often division of labour and division of work are both part of the
economic activity within an industrial nation or organisation.
hierarchy
Hierarchy of authority is the control mechanism for making sure the right
people do the right things at the right time.
Organization hierarchy is the order of members based on authority. It refers to
the ranks from entry-level employees to senior managers or executives.
changing nature
Focus on valuing human capital: The premium is on high involvement work settings that
rally the knowledge, experience, and commitment of all members.
Demise of “command-and-control”: Traditional top-down “do as I say” bosses are giving
way to participatory bosses who treat people with respect.
Emphasis on teamwork: Organizations are becoming less hierarchical and more driven by
teamwork that pools talents for creative problem solving.
Pre-eminence of technology: Developments in computer and information technology
keep changing the way organizations operate and how people work.
Importance of networking: Organizations and their members are networked for intense,
real-time communication and coordination.
New workforce expectations: The new generation of workers is attentive to performance
merit, concerned for work–life balance, less tolerant of hierarchy, and more informal than
previous generations.
Concern for sustainability: Social values call for more attention to the preservation of
natural resources for future generations and understanding how work affects human
well-being.
preeminence
the quality of being superior. It’s a type of high status or distinction for anything
considered to be the best at something.
participatory
involving or characterized by participation.
