Chapter 8 Flashcards
(22 cards)
Define organising
The process of delegating and co-ordinating tasks, activities and resources in order to achieve the organisational objectives
Must be communication, co-operation and co-ordination between people and departments
Control mechanism put in place to ensure the organisational structure does enable the organisation to attain its vision
Define organisational structure
- The set of formal tasks assigned to individuals and departments
- Formal reporting relationships, lines of authority, hierarchical levels, span of managerial control
- Design of systems to ensure effective co-ordination of employees across departments
The importance of organising
- Detailed analysis of work to be done and resources to be used
- Tasks, resources, methods, procedures can be systemised
- Needs an organisational structure to support its goals
- Divides the total workload into activities that can easily be performed by an individual/group
- Results in higher productivity
- Productive employment of resources
- Related activities grouped together in specialised fields allowing experts to carry out their roles
- Organisational structures results in a mechanism that co-ordinates the activities of the business into complete, uniform, harmonious units
What are the types of job design
- Job rotation - moving laterally from job to job
- Job enlargement - increase number of tasks performed
- Job enrichment - increases number of tasks and amount of control
- Job specialisation - broken up into specific tasks
- Working in teams - allows team to design work system
What are the types of departmentalisation
- Functional
- Product
- Location
- Customer
- The matrix organisational structure
- The virtual organisational structure
Explain:
Functional Departmentalisation
- Most basic type
- Activities belonging to each management function are grouped together
Explain:
Product Departmentalisation
- Designed so all activities concerned with a product or group of products are grouped together
- Each product department has finance, marketing, production, human resources
- Managers for one product can lose sight of activities in other product departments
- Administrative costs increase
Explain:
Location Departmentalisation
- Different geographical locations
- Autonomy to area managers, decentralised decision-making
- Multinational businesses
Explain:
Customer Departmentalisation
- Focus on a special segment of the market
- Limited group of users; eg industrial suppliers
- Same advantages and disadvantages as product/location departmentalisation
- Resembles in some aspects a small business, responsible for profits/losses and somewhat autonomous
- Subject to goals and strategies of top management
Explain:
Matrix organisational structure
- No other structure will meet all the needs of a particular business
- Each has pros and cons
- Horizontal (staff) and vertical (line) authority occur in same structures; project managers (horizontal) and functional managers (vertical) have authority
- Suited to ad hoc/complex projects needing specialised skills
Explain:
Virtual organisational structure
- Integration between internal and external employees
- Boundaryless organisation
- Control through network links
- Flexibility and efficiency
- Higher levels of interdependence
Reporting relationships/span of management
- Establish who reports to who, chain of command
- Chain of command - clear/distinct line of authority among positions in an organisation
- Unity of command - clear reporting to one and only one supervisor
- Scalar principle - clear/unbroken line of authority from the lowest to the highest; someone must be accountable for every decision
- Establish span of management
Establishing authority relationships
- How authority is distributed amongst roles
- Responsibility is the duty to perform the task
- Authority is the right to give orders
- Accountability
- Delegation - process to transfer authority/responsibility (Manager stays accountable)
- Decentralised vs centralised
Characteristics of formal authority
- Organisational positions
- Accepted by employees
- Flows down the hierarchy
Line authority
- Down the line of command
Staff authority
- Indirect and supplementary
- Special knowledge
Co-ordinating activities
- Linking smaller jobs to still work towards the goals of the organisation
- Departments are interdependent; greater interdependence needs greater co-ordination
The informal organisation
- Communication happens faster; faster decision making
- Promotes teamwork
- Supports formal organisation
Explain factors that influence structure:
The environment - stable
- Does not change much, no unexpected change
- Changes are the exception not the rule
- Functional structure works well, little innovation, less need for co-ordination
Explain factors that influence structure:
The environment - turbulent
- Change is the norm
- Product Departmentalisation
- Quick decision making is key
Explain factors that influence structure:
The environment - technological
- Changes how business does business
- More managers/levels of management
- Work in narrow specialised fields
