Chapter 15 Foundations of Organizational StructureWhat is Fou.docx
- 1. Chapter 15: Foundations of Organizational Structure What is Foundations of Organizational Structure?! (1 paragraph) 100wards Reply to the following answers: agree or not – would you like to add anything ? what do you thing ?! 50 to 100 wards each 1- There are a variety of foundations pertaining to the structure of an organization. There are six key elements that managers need to address when they design an organizational structure. 1.Work specialization - the degree to which tasks in the organization are subdivided into separate jobs. 2. Departmentalization - the basis by which jobs are grouped together. 3. The chain of command is the unbroken line of authority that extends from the top of the organization to the lowest, span of control, centralization/decentralization, and formalization. An organization’s internal structure contributes to explaining and predicting behavior and an organization’s structure reduces ambiguity for employees. 2- Chapter 15 focuses on how organizations are structured, especially where the control lies and the division of power. This is an important to a business because if a company isn't clear where the power lies, many issues can arise. This is especially apparent in a matrix structure, which one of the companies I have worked at has faced. They bring in teams that are permanently working together from different departments of the company. Sometimes it is easy to tell what should be reported to who, but there are times where there could be 3 different options that would all care about an issue, and have a different
- 2. solution each. This has caused confusion and even fights at times, with some department heads getting upset that they weren't consulted for a decision that was made that affected their entire department. If a company can handle having a matrix structure, it can allow for resources to be spent much more efficiently, with greater communication across the board. However, if it's handled poorly, it can end up making projects much worse to deal with and put a damper on production. Chapter 16: Organizational Culture What is organization culture ?! (1 paragraph) 100wards Reply to the following answers: agree or not – would you like to add anything ? what do you thing ?! 50 to 100 wards each 1- Organizational culture is essential in the workplace. It is what distinguishes one business from another based on the views and beliefs held by its members. One of the most important jobs of any manager is creating an organizational culture that will support its employees and business processes. Many different characteristics are compose in organizational culture: innovation and risk taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness, and stability. All of these must be evaluated and implemented according to what the business needs, or else the culture is bound to harm not help. Creating an organizational culture that provides for growth and development in the employees will lead to natural attraction from job seekers. Keeping the business supplied with resourceful talent. We can measure our culture through job satisfaction tests, which tells us how employees feel about the workplace environment. It is interesting to see how cultures vary across businesses, specifically considering the overall professional 'norm' or industry standard. Each business brings something else to the table, certain start up companies tend to have more lax cultures than corporate goliath, who have strict rules to
- 3. avoid interpersonal conflict at all costs. 2- Having different cultures and ethnicities in an organization is extremely important in being able to work and understand others. Whether we acknowledge it or not, America is a melting pot filled with a variety of people. Organizational culture is also defined as the underlying beliefs, assumptions, values and ways of interacting that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization. It's the way things are accomplished in a work environment. Culture is also how organizations do and go about different ideas and things. A successful corporation or workplace is one with a strong culture and a staff able to work and cooperate well with each other. Chapter 17: Organizational Change and Stress Management What is Organizational Change and Stress Management?! (1 paragraph) 100wards Reply to the following answers: agree or not – would you like to add anything ? what do you thing ?! 50 to 100 wards each 1- Change is inevitable in business, and businesses that can adjust with change are more likely to be successful. There are many factors that influence change: Nature of the workforce, Technology, Economic shocks, Competition, World politics, and Social trends. Managers need to consider the factors and be ready to realign at a moments notice. This can take form through planned changes, change agents or any other assortment of such; however, most of the time managers will run into resistance to change. Most people are resistant to change by
- 4. nature, and for good reason, not all change is good change. This is why its so important for managers to understand their people and their organization as to not implement changes that will affect productivity. The resistance can come in a number of forms, specifically individual and organizational. Individual resistance can come from habits, security, economic factors, fear of the unknown, and selective information processing. Organizational resistance can come in the form of structural inertia, limited focus of change, group inertia, threat to expertise, threat to established power relationships, and resource allocations. These can be conquered through communication, participation, building support and commitment, developing positive relationships, implementing changes fairly, manipulation and cooptation, selecting people who accept change, and coercion. Every situation is different, and managers need to be able apply the correct procedures, in the correct situations, if they are to be successful. 2- There are many different reasons for change in the workplace. The main reasons are because of technology, economic shocks, competition, and social trends. Many people are resistant to change because they find it threatening, which can cause stress. Moreover, the people who are in charge of managing change are the change agents within an organization. Change agents are usually managers and can help employees overcome their resistance to change by using different approaches. One approach to managing change is by implementing Lewin’s three-step model. This model suggests that organizations will be successful with changes by unfreezing the status quo, movement to a desired end state, and refreezing the new change to make it permanent. No matter what approach you decide to use, managers must realize that the decisions they make and how they behave will shape their organizations
- 5. change culture. Therefore, managers should be willing to learn and adapt to changing factors. They also should be able to recognize when their employees are stressed and be able to help alleviate that stress. Overall, it is evident that dealing with changes can be stressful, but with effective management, challenges can enhance engagement, which may lead to high performance.