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Exam 9: Organisational Structure and Design

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Question 21

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list and discuss the four contingency factors that should be considered in determining an appropriate structure in organizational design.

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1. Strategy and structure-an organizatio...

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Question 22

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Many of today's organizations are extremely reliant on strict rules and standardization to guide and regulate employee behavior.

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Question 23

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__________is the obligation or expectation to perform a duty.

In describing the relationship between structure and strategy, it can be said that __________.

Ismail (Scenario) Ismail graduated from college and was hired by a corporation that manufactured parts for the automotive industry. The employees on the assembly line seemed bored, and their motivation was low. Ismail's employer decided to reorganize, in an attempt to increase productivity. -Ismail majored in engineering and really enjoyed the work assigned to him. The reorganization changed some of his work assignments to include working on a team with production workers and marketing specialists, designing the newest products the company will offer. This could be described as a(n) __________ .

Organizational design is based on decisions about________ .

A__________ _ organization consists of a small core of full- time employees and temporarily hires outside specialists to work on emergent opportunities.

According to Woodward's studies, what type of production works best with a mechanistic structure?

Global competition, accelerated product development by competitors, and increased demands by customers for better service have encouraged organizations to become more__________ .

General Hospital (Scenario) Maha is a registered nurse in charge of a new unit at her hospital. She would like to have a more laid back approach in dealing with her new staff, but the hospital demands that there be strict hierarchical levels and that all decisions must be signed off by Maha. Sometimes this drives Maha crazy-the constant filling out of forms, and so forth. She also feels that the numerous levels of hierarchy are unnecessary and place barriers between herself and her staff. She isn't sure why things have to be so "organized" and is thinking about speaking with her boss in an attempt to change her unit so that it has more flexibility and fewer rules. -Maha has noticed that everyone is very concerned about the line of authority within the organization. The line of authority within the organization is also called__________ .

General Hospital (Scenario) Maha is a registered nurse in charge of a new unit at her hospital. She would like to have a more laid back approach in dealing with her new staff, but the hospital demands that there be strict hierarchical levels and that all decisions must be signed off by Maha. Sometimes this drives Maha crazy-the constant filling out of forms, and so forth. She also feels that the numerous levels of hierarchy are unnecessary and place barriers between herself and her staff. She isn't sure why things have to be so "organized" and is thinking about speaking with her boss in an attempt to change her unit so that it has more flexibility and fewer rules. -Maha's unit specializes in cardiology cases. Dividing up work units in such a manner is most representative of__________ departmentalization.

An organic organization tends to be characterized by high specialization, extensive departmentalization, narrow spans of control, high formalization, a limited information network, and little participation in decision making by low- level employees.

Ismail (Scenario) Ismail graduated from college and was hired by a corporation that manufactured parts for the automotive industry. The employees on the assembly line seemed bored, and their motivation was low. Ismail's employer decided to reorganize, in an attempt to increase productivity. -Ismail sees this new assignment as an increase in ___________, or an obligation or expectation for him to perform at a new level.

The concept of centralization- decentralization is absolute.

When decisions tend to be made at lower levels in an organization, the organization is said to be decentralized.

Custom Leather (Scenario) Lamia has been hired as a consultant for XYZ Consulting. Her first assignment is to work with one of XYZ's newest clients, Custom Leather, Inc., a manufacturer of high- end leather furniture. Custom Leather was founded over a decade ago with the idea that great looking, comfortable leather furniture could be custom made and delivered to customers in 30 days. Traditionally, retailers stock leather sofas to satisfy the desire to receive new furniture fast-limiting the choice of colors and style for the consumer. In stark contrast, Custom Leather offers 13 different styles in over 70 different colors-from rich, deep browns to bright, sunflower; sleek, silver grays and bright, ruby red-through a select group of retail outlets. Each piece is built to the customer's individual requirements and is shipped within 2- 3 weeks. However, the emergence of a new manufacturing technology has enabled a few, traditionally mass- production competitors to offer greater customization, minimizing some of Custom Leather's competitive advantage. As a result, Custom Leather is considering sweeping changes to current work processes and organizational structure. -After reading Woodward's work at Lamia's suggestion, Custom Leather CEO, Masoud, asks her about other contingency factors that should be considered in optimally designing the firm's structure. Lamia responds that another contingency factor linked to structure is .

During his career, Ismail saw his job change from an engineering role to a more complex job assignment. Eventually, Ismail's department evolved to become an advanced structure in which Ismail continually worked on projects. This structure is known as a ___________ structure.

You Can Take That to the Bank (Scenario) Changes in banking regulations, a series of loan defaults by customers, and a decline in the real estate market have forced Eastern Bank, a large regional Gulf bank, to downsize in an effort to improve profitability and bolster its sagging stock price. Sawsan, a regional branch supervisor, has been tasked with preparing a management report concerning how these cuts are affecting bank operations and customer service. Sawsan believes that the most important problem that has emerged concerns the span of control and decision- making authority within the bank. In the past, bank policy was that no manager should supervise more than six subordinates and only managers could make decisions for their individual units. However, with many of the cuts coming in middle management, upper management has increased its span of control while still insisting on managerial- only decision making at the unit level. The result is that upper managers spend all of their time putting out fires and subordinates feel they are getting answers too slowly. As a result, lower level employees are requesting greater authority to make decisions on their own. However, they are not as experienced at making decisions as upper- level managers. Sawsan believes that structural changes must be made that reflect Eastern Bank's new situation. -Sawsan believes that Eastern Bank should be more highly adaptive and flexible. She would like Eastern Bank to possess more of a(n) ___________ structure?

Today, most managers see work specialization as a source of ever- increasing productivity.

Since Woodward's initial work, numerous studies have demonstrated that organizations adapt their structures to their technology.