HUMBEHORG 02/22/2022

Organizational Structure and Design

– The overall set of structural elements that can be used to configure the total
organization
– A means to implement strategies and plans to achieve organizational goals

Job Specialization
– The degree to which the overall task of the organization is broken down and
divided into small component parts.
– Breakdown an entire process into small parts so you can assign each person to
each part
– Advantages vs. Disadvantages?

Alternatives to Job Specialization

1. Job Enlargement
– a horizontal expansion of a role that involves adding to new duties that are in
line with the employee’s existing tasks.
2. Job Enrichment
– a vertical expansion of a role that involves providing an employee with
additional responsibilities and autonomy
3. Job Rotation
– rotating an employee between jobs within the business to enable them to take
on new tasks for a period of time

Check conceptual framework based on “Motivation through the Design of Work: Test of a Theory”
by J.R. Hackman and G.R Oldham (1976)

5 Core Dimensions
1. Skill variety
2. Task identity
3. Task significance
4. Autonomy
5. Feedback

Grouping Jobs: Departmentalization

Departmentalization
– the process of grouping according to some logical arrangement
Common bases:
1. Functional
2. Product
3. Customer
4. Location
5. Geographical

Rationale for Departmentalization is???

Establishing Reporting Relationships

Chain of Command
– a clear and distinct line of authority among the positions in an organization
Unity of Commance
– each person must have a clear reporting relationship to one and only
one boss
Scalar Chain
– there must be a clear and unbroken line of authority that extends from
the lowest to the highest position in the organization

Span of Management
– the number of people who report to a particular manager

Tall vs Flat Organization

– Decision making is faster and easier with flat because the process does not
have to involve a lot of people and top management is closer to bottom
management
– Which is better? It depends on the nature of the organization

Pros and Cons can be seen in PPT (Chapter 6)

Distributing Authority
Authority
– power that has been legitimized by the organization
– power is actually recognized
Delegation
– the process by which managers assign a portion of their total workload to
others
Reasons:
1. To enable the manager to get more work done by utilizing the skills and talents
of subordinates
2. To foster development of subordinates by having them participate in decision
making and problem solving.

Decentralization vs Centralization

Coordinating Activities
Coordination
– the process of linking the activities of the various departments of the
organization

The need for coordination?? The greater the interdependence of departments and work
groups, the greater the need for coordination.

Forms of Interdependence
1. Pooled – when units operate with little interaction
2. Sequential – when the output of one unit becomes the input for another in a
sequential fashion
3. Reciprocal – when activities flow both ways between units

Continuation of discussion – recording