Chapter 01 Flashcards
(25 cards)
administrative principles
A closed systems management perspective that focuses on the total organization and grows from the insights of practitioners (p. 26)
bureaucratic organization
An organization design that emphasizes management on an impersonal, rational basis through elements such as clearly defined authority and responsibility, formal record keeping, and uniform application of standard rules (p. 26)
change strategy
A plan to guide an organizational change (p. 6)
chaos theory
A scientific theory that suggests that relationships in complex, adaptive systems are made up of numerous interconnections that create unintended effects and render the environment unpredictable (p. 28)
closed system
A system that is autonomous, enclosed, and not dependent on its environment (p. 15)
contextual dimensions
Traits that characterize the whole organization, including its size, technology, environment, and goals (p. 18)
contingency
A theory meaning one thing depends on other things; the organization’s situation dictates the correct management approach (p. 27)
effectiveness
The degree to which an organization achieves its goals (p. 22)
efficiency
The amount of resources used to produce a unit of output (p. 22)
Hawthorne Studies
A series of experiments on worker productivity begun in 1924 at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric Company in Illinois; attributed employees’ increased output to managers’ better treatment of them during the study (p. 6)
learning organization
An organization in which everyone is engaged in identifying and solving problems, enabling the organization to continuously experiment, improve, and increase its capability (p. 28)
level of analysis
In systems theory, the subsystem on which the primary focus is placed; four levels of analysis normally characterize organizations (p. 32)
meso theory
A new approach to organization studies that integrates both micro and macro levels of analysis (p. 33)
open system
A system that must interact with the environment to survive (p. 15)
organizational behaviour
A micro approach to organizations that focuses on the individuals within organizations as the relevant units for analysis (p. 33)
organizational theory
A macro approach to organizations that analyzes the whole organization as a unit (p. 33)
organizations
Social entities that are goal-directed, deliberately structured activity systems linked to the external environment (p. 11)
role
A part in a dynamic social system that allows an employee to use his or her discretion and ability to achieve outcomes and meet goals (p. 29)
scientific management
A classical approach that claims decisions about organization and job design should be based on precise, scientific procedures (p. 25)
stakeholder
Any group within or outside an organization that has a stake in the organization’s performance (p. 23)
stakeholder approach
Also called the constituency approach, this perspective assesses the satisfaction of stakeholders as an indicator of the organization’s performance (p. 23)
structural dimensions
Descriptions of the internal characteristics of an organization (p. 18)
subsystems
Divisions of an organization that perform specific functions for the organization’s survival; organizational subsystems perform the essential functions of boundary spanning, production, maintenance, adaptation, and management (p. 15)
system
A set of interacting elements that acquires inputs from the environment, transforms them, and discharges outputs to the external environment (p. 15)
