10.1c Flexible Organisations Flashcards
Flexible organisation definition
One that can quickly adapt to changes in the external environment in order to remain competitive
Businesses need to have structures in place that enable them to respond quickly to changes. This includes what?
- Employment contracts
- Flexible working options
- Effective knowledge and information management systems
Problems of being a flexible organisation:
- Operational pressures and meeting customer requirements
- Negative attitudes
- Culture change
Restructuring definition
Designing an appropriate organisational structure to meet the needs of a more flexible approach to the employment of staff
Delayering definition
Removing one or more levels of hierarchy
What does delayering involve?
- Increasing the average span of control of senior managers
- Reducing operating costs
Advantages of delayering:
- Opportunities for better delegation, empowerment and motivation
- Improve communication
- Reduce costs as fewer managers required
Disadvantages of delayering:
- Not all organisations suited to flatter organisational structures
- Negative impact on motivation and people can become insecure about their jobs
- Create skills shortages - loses managers with valuable experience
What are flexible employment contracts?
Working arrangements that give some degree of flexibility about how long, where, when and at what time employees work
Examples of flexible employment contracts:
- Part-time
- Full-time
- Job sharing
- Zero hour contracts
Organic structure features:
- Informality
- Flexible and fluid
- Decentralised and employee empowerment
- Find change easier to handle
- Flat structure
- Employees work in teams
- E.g. Facebook
Mechanistic structure features:
- More formality and bureaucratic
- Centralised
- Greater resistance to change
- Tall structure
- Employees are specialised
Reasons for a business to be flexible:
- Adapt to changes in the market
- Reduce lead time
- Reduce costs
- More efficient use of resources
Issues with flexibility:
- Business can’t plan effectively if it is not sure when employees are working
- Business can’t judge the progress of someone working from home
