Management Organisations Useful vocabulary organising organisational structure organisational
Management Organisations
Useful vocabulary • • • organising organisational structure organisational chart organisational design work specialisation departmentalisation chain of command authority responsibility unity of command • • • span of control centralisation decentralisation formalisation mechanistic organisation organic organisation simple structure functional structure divisional structure
Today’s lecture We will: • Describe six key elements in organisational design • Contrast mechanistic and organic structures • Discuss the contingency factors that favor either the mechanistic model or the organic model of organisational design • Describe traditional organisational designs
What is an organisation? • “A consciously coordinated social unit composed of two or more people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals. ” • (Robbins, 2011)
Three elements to understanding organisations Individual Group Organisation System
Why look at organisations? • Understanding organisations helps improve manager effectiveness • A more effective manager = – Lower turnover of quality employees – Higher quality applications for recruitment – Better financial performance • = Business and people success!
Reasons for organising
Designing organisational structure • Organising - arranging and structuring work to accomplish an organisation’s goals (one of the 4 functions of a manager) • Organisational Structure - the formal arrangement of jobs within an organisation (organogram/organisational chart) • Organisational Design – elements which affect the organisational structure
Organisational design There are six key elements: 1. Work specialisation (sub-dividing jobs) 2. Departmentalisation (grouping jobs) 3. Chain of command (who reports to who) 4. Span of control (how many people you manage) 5. Centralisation and decentralisation (where does decision making power lie) 6. Formalisation (the level of rules and regulations)
Organisational design - 1 1. Work specialisation • The degree to which tasks in the organisation are divided into separate jobs with each step completed by a different person (Taylor – pig in a cart) • Over-specialisation can result in human diseconomies such as boredom, fatigue, stress, poor quality, increased absenteeism, and higher turnover.
Organisational design – 2 Departmentalisation Functional • Grouping jobs by functions performed Product • Grouping jobs by product line Geographical • Grouping jobs on the basis of territory or geography Process • Grouping jobs on the basis of product or customer flow Customer • Grouping jobs by type of customer and needs
2. Departmentalisation – Function and Geography
2. Departmentalisation Product
2. Departmentalisation – process and customer
Organisational design - 3 • Chain of Command is the continuous line of authority that extends from upper levels of an organisation to the lowest levels of the organisation—clarifies who reports to whom.
3. Chain of command – authority, responsibility, unity • Authority - the rights inherent in a managerial position to tell people what to do and to expect them to do it. • Responsibility - the obligation or expectation to perform. • Unity of Command - the concept that a person should have one boss and should report only to that person.
3. Example of chain of command authority
3. Line and staff authority Line = contributes directly to the achievement of organisational goals.
Organisational design - 4 • Span of Control is the number of employees who can be effectively and efficiently supervised by a manager.
4. Span width is affected by… • • Skills and abilities of the manager Employee characteristics Characteristics of the work being done Similarity of tasks Complexity of tasks Physical proximity of subordinates Standardisation of tasks Sophistication of the organisation’s information system • Strength of the organisation’s culture • Preferred style of the manager
4. Span examples
Organisational design – 5 • Centralisation - the degree to which decision making is concentrated at upper levels in the organisation. • This is common in organisations in which top managers make all the decisions and lower-level employees simply carry out those orders.
Organisational design – 5 • Decentralisation - when an organisation relegates decision making to managers who are closest to the action. • Employee Empowerment • Increasing the decision-making authority (power) of employees
5. Comparing centralisation and decentralisation
Organisational design - 6 Formalisation - the degree to which jobs within the organisation are standardised and the extent to which employee behavior is guided by rules and procedures. • Highly formalised jobs offer little discretion over what is to be done. • Low formalisation means fewer constraints on how employees do their work.
Organisational structures
Mechanistic or organic structures?
Contingency factors Structural decisions are influenced by: • Strategy - overall strategy of the organisation • Size - size of the organisation • Technology – technology and how it is used in the organisation • Environment Uncertainty - degree of environmental uncertainty
Contingency factors (1) Strategy Frameworks: Innovation • Pursuing competitive advantage through meaningful and unique innovations favors an organic structuring Cost minimization • Focusing on tightly controlling costs requires a mechanistic structure for the organisation
Contingency factors Strategy and Structure • Achievement of strategic goals is facilitated by changes in organisational structure that accommodate and support change. Size and Structure • As an organisation grows larger, its structure tends to change from organic to mechanistic with increased specialisation, departmentalisation, centralisation, and rules/regulations.
Sizes of organisations
Contingency factors (2) Technology and Structure • organisations adapt their structures to their technology. • Woodward’s classification of firms based on the complexity of the technology employed: – Unit production of single units or small batches – Mass production of large batches of output – Process production in continuous process of outputs • routine technology = mechanistic organisations • non-routine technology = organic organisations
Contingency factors (3) Environmental Uncertainty and Structure • Mechanistic organisational structures tend to be most effective in stable and simple environments. • The flexibility of organic organisational structures is better suited for dynamic and complex environments.
Woodward – technology and structure
Traditional organisation designs Simple structure • low departmentalisation, wide spans of control, centralised authority, little formalisation Functional structure • departmentalisation by function • operations, finance, marketing, human resources, and product research and development Divisional structure • composed of separate business units or divisions with limited autonomy under the coordination and control of the parent corporation
Traditional organisation designs
Summary diagram
Summary Today: • Design and structure of organisations • Factors which affect the structure and design • Traditional designs Tomorrow: • Contemporary designs and structures
Reading Please read Chapter 11 before tomorrow’s lecture.
Activity • Using the organogram, describe this organisation in terms of the 6 organisational design key elements. • Eg. This organisation has a span of… • Is it mechanistic or organic?
An organogram/organisational chart
- Slides: 41