Chapter 8 Flashcards
(37 cards)
Organization structure
A framework that enables managers to divide responsibilities, ensure employee accountability, and distribute decision-making authority
Organization chart
A diagram that shows how employees and tasks are grouped and where the lines of communication and authority flow
Core competencies
Activities that a company considers central and vital to its business
Work specialization
Specialization in or responsibility for some portion of an organization’s overall work tasks; also called division of labor
Chain command
A pathway for the flow of authority from one management level to the next
Span of management
The number of people under one manager’s control; also known as span of control
Centralization
Concentration of decision-making authority at the top of an organization
Decentralization
Delegation of decision-making authority to employees in lower-level positions
Agile organization
A company whose structure, policies, and capabilities allow employees to respond quickly to customer and changes in the business environment
Departmentalization
Grouping people within an organization according to function, division, matrix or network
Functional structure
Grouping workers according to their similar skills, resource use, and expertise
Divisional structure
Grouping departments according to similarities in product, process, customer, or geography
Matrix structure
A structure in which employees are assigned to both a functional group and a project team
Network structure
A structure in which individual companies are connected through digital communication to perform selected tasks for a small headquarters organization
Team
A unit of two or more people who share a mission and collective responsibility as they work together to achieve a goal
Problem-solving team
A team that meets to find ways of improving quality, efficiency, and work environment
Self-managed team
A team in which members are responsible for an entire process or operation
Functional team
A team whose members come from a single functional department and that is based on the organization’s vertical structure
Cross-functional team
A team that draws together employees from different functional areas
Task force
A team of people from several departments who are temporarily brought together to address a specific issue
Committee
A team that may become a permanent part of the organization and is designed to deal with regularly recurring tasks
Virtual team
A team that uses communication technology to bring together geographically distant employees to achieve goals
Groupthink
Uniformity of thought that occurs when peer pressures cause individual team members to withhold contrary or unpopular opinions
Hidden agenda
Private, counterproductive motives in a team setting, such as a desire to take control of the group, to undermine someone else on the team, or to pursue an incompatible goal
