Summary Organizational Theory design

and Change
Theory is a system of statements targeted at describing, explain and predicting a real world
phenomenon (Bacharach 1989). Theory is about abstraction from the observable.
Why theory matters? Helps us to synthesize and integrate observations made into a consistent
explanatory framework + can serve as a basic for making predictions on the effects of managerial
decision making + helps conclusions to be generalizable across different settings.

Chapter 1 Organization and organizational effectiveness

Organizations are intangible (=ontastbaar)
Essence of organization: grouping people and other resources to produce good and other services
Organization: is a tool people use to coordinate their actions to obtain something they desire or
value. An organization is a response and a means satisfying some human needs.
Entrepreneurship: is used to describe the process by which people recognize opportunities to satisfy
needs and then gather and use resources to meet those needs.
Organizational environment: is the set of forces and conditions that operate beyond an
organizations boundaries but affect its ability to acquire and use resources to create value.
Value creation model: can be used to describe the activities of most kinds of organizations.
Why do organizations exist?
-

To increase specialization and the division of labor. Together more can be accomplished than
working separately
To use large-scale technology to achieve economies of scale and/or economies of scope.
To management the organizational environment
To economize on transaction costs the costs associated with negotiating, monitoring, and
governing exchanges between people.
To exert power and control. Organizations can exert great pressure on individuals to conform to
task and production requirements in order to increase production efficiency.

Economies of scale: cost savings that result when good and services are produced in large volume on
automated production lines
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Economies of scope: cost savings that result when an organization in able to use underutilized
resources more effectively because they can be shared across different products or tasks.
Organizational theory: is the study of how organization function and how they affect and are
affected by the environment in which they operate.
Organizational structure : the formal system of task and authority relationships that control how
people coordinate their actions and use resources to achieve organizational goals.
Organizational culture: the set of shared values and norms that controls organizational members
interactions with each other and with suppliers, customers and other people outside the
organization
Organizational design: the process by which managers select and manage aspects of structure and
culture so that an organization can control the activities necessary to achieve goals.
Organizational structure and culture are the means the organization uses to achieve its goals.
Organizational design is about how and why various means are chosen.
Organizational change: the process which organizations redesign their structures and cultures to
move from their present state to some desired future state to increase their effectiveness.
Contingency: an event that might occur and must be planned for, like rising gas prices or the
emergence of a new competitor. (global environment and changing technology are raising
contingency)
Contingency theory: No one best way to organize. It depends context. Theoretical question:
-

What are core relationships context characteristics structure characteristics.

What are relationships context structure
What are the mechanisms at work

When environmental uncertainty increases the effectiveness of organic structures increases.

Uncertainty ----- (+mechanism) -- Organicness of structures
Uncertainty = Information essential for task execution information at hand before task execution

Not so
rational

Rational man.
perspectives

6x environmental context
Contingency
Configuration
Daft & Anand
Resource
Dependence
Populatie exology
Institutional theory

Universal mechanism: organization as information processing

systems
Classes or organization with their own theories
Sequence of organizational forms
Structuring of relationships with external parties
Evolutionary theory of genesis and disappearance of organization
forms
Organization adapt to norms and expectations in the
environment

Assumptions:
-

Organization is open system

2

In their task execution organizations are confronted with uncertainty

Organization can be viewed as information processing system

Coordination mechanism (Mintzberg)

Competitive advantage: the ability of one company to outperform another because its managers are
able to create more value from the resources at their disposal
Strategy: the specific pattern of decisions and actions that managers take to use core competence to
achieve a competitive advantage and outperform competitors
Many sources of competitive advantage, such as skills in research and development that result in
novel product features or state-of-the-art technology, evaporate because they are relatively easy for
competitors to imitate. It is much more difficult to imitate good organizational design and carefully
managed change that brings into being a successful organizational structure and culture.
Why did the performance of these blue-chip companies deteriorate to such a degree? A major
reason is that managers lost control of their organizational structures and cultures.
Control (in the context of controlling the organization) means having control of the external
environment and having the ability to attract resources and customers.
Innovation: developing an organizations skills and capabilities so the organization can discover new
products and processes.
Efficiency: developing modern production facilities using new information technologies that can
produce and distribute a companys products in timely and cost-effective manner.
Approaches to measure organizational effectiveness
Approach
External
resource
approach

Internal
systems
approach
Technical
approach

What evaluates?
Goals to set to measure effectiveness
Ability to secure, manage, and - Lower costs of inputs
control scarce and valued skills - Obtain high-quality inputs of raw materials
and resources
and employees
- Increase market share
- Increase stock price
Ability to be innovative and - Cut decision-making time
function quickly and responsively - Increase rate of product innovation
- Reduce time to market
Ability to convert skills and - Increase product quality
resources into goods and services - Reduce number of defects / costs
efficiency
- Improve customer service
- Reduce delivery time to customer

Two types of goals used to evaluate organizational effectiveness official goals and operative goals
Official goals: guiding principles which are stated in annual report and in other public documents.
These are lay out in the mission (goals that explain why the organization exists and what it should be
doing).
Operative goals: specific long-term and short-term goals that guide managers and employees as they
perform the work of the organization.

Chapter 2 stakeholders, managers and ethics

Inducements: include rewards such as money, power, and organizational status
Contribution: the skills, knowledge, and expertise that organizations require of their members
during task performance
Inside stakeholders: are people who are closest to an organization and have the strongest or most
direct claim on organization resources shareholders, managers and the workforce.
Stakeholder
Inside
Shareholders
Managers
Workforce
Outside
Customers
Suppliers
Government
Unions
Community
General public

Contribution to the organization

Inducement to contribute

Money and capital

Skills and expertise
Skills and expertise

Dividends and stock appreciation

Salaries, bonuses, status, and power
Wages, bonuses, stable employment,
and promotion

Revenue from purchase of goods and

services
High-quality inputs
Rules governing good business practice
Free and fair collective bargaining
Social and economic infrastructure
Customer loyalty and reputation

Quality and price of goods and services

Revenue from purchase of inputs
Fair and free competition
Equitable share of inducements
Revenues, taxes and employment
Natural pride

When shareholders delegate to managers the right to coordinate and use organizational skills and
resources, a divorce of ownership and control occurs.
The allocation of rewards, or inducements, is an important component of organizational
effectiveness because the inducements offered to stakeholders now determine their motivation.
Authority: the power to hold people accountable for their actions and to make decisions concerning
the use of organizational resources.
There are two kinds of directors:
-

Inside directors holds offices in a companys formal hierarchy: they are full-time employees of
the corporation.
Outside directors are not employees of the company: many are professional directors who hold
positions on the board of many companies. The goal of outside directors is to bring objectivity
to a companys decision making and to balance the power of inside directors.

Chain of command: the system of hierarchical reporting relationships in an organization

CEO is responsible for setting the organizations goals and designing it. The CEO selects key
executives to occupy the topmost levels of the managerial hierarchy. The CEO determines top
managements rewards and incentives. The CEO controls the allocation of scare resources such as
money and decision-making power among the organizations functional areas or business divisions.
The CEOs actions and reputations have a major impact on inside and outside stakeholders views of
the organization and affect the organizations ability to attract resources from its environment.
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After the chair and CEO, the chief operating officer (COO) is in line. The COO reports directly to the
CEO, and together they share the principal responsibility for managing the business. At the next level
of top management are the executive vice presidents they overseeing and managing a companys
most significant line and staff responsibilities.
Line role: managers who have direct responsibility for the production of goods and services.
Staff role: managers who are in charge of a specific organizational function such as sale or R&D
Top-management team: a group of managers who report the CEO and COO and help the CEO set the
companys strategy and its long-term goals and objectives.
Corporate managers: the members of the top-management team whose responsibility is to set
strategy for the corporation as a whole.
Divisional managers: managers who set policy only for the division they head
Functional managers: managers who are responsible for developing the functional skills and
capabilities that collectively provide the core competences that give the organization its competitive
advantage.
Agency theory: offers a useful way of understanding the complex authority relationship between top
management and the board of directors. An agency relation arises whenever one person (the
principal) delegates decision-making authority or control over resources to another (the agent).
Agency problem a problem in determining managerial accountability that arises when delegating
authority to managers.
Moral hazard problem: when (1) a principal finds it very difficult to evaluate how well the agent has
performed because the agent possesses an information advantage, and (2) the agent has an
incentive to pursue goals and objectives that are different from the principals.
Self-dealing: managers who take advantage of their position in an organization to act in ways to
further their own self-interest.
To overcome the agency problem governance mechanisms: the forms of control that align the
interest of principal and agent so both parties have the incentive to work together to maximize
organization effectiveness. Incentives can be stock-based compensation schemes or promotion
tournaments and career paths.
Stock-based compensation schemes: monetary rewards in the form of stocks or stock options that
are linked to the companys performance.
Ethics: moral principles or beliefs about what is right or wrong. Ethical beliefs alter and change as
time passes, and as they do so, laws change to reflect the changing ethical beliefs of a society.
Ethical grounds of a decision:
-

Within the accepted values of the organization environment?

Am I willing to see the decision known by all stakeholders which might be affected by it?
What would people close to me think of it?
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Whether a decision is ethical or not? three models

1. The utilitarian: an ethical decision is one that produces the greatest good for the greatest
number of people
2. Moral rights. An ethical decision is a decision that best maintains and protects the
fundamental rights and privileges of the people affect by it. For example ethical decisions
protect peoples right to freedom, life and safety etc.
3. Justices model: an ethical decision is a decision that distributes benefits and harms among
stakeholders in a fair, equitable or impartial way.
Ethical rules develop over time through negotiation, compromise and bargaining among
stakeholders. Ethical rules also can evolve from outright conflict and competition between different
stakeholder groups where the ability of one group to impose their solution on another groups
decides which ethical rules will be followed.
Sources of organizational ethics:
-

Societal ethics are codified in a societys legal system, in its custom and practices, and in the
unwritten norms and values.
Professional ethics are the moral rules and values that a group of people uses to control the way
they perform a task or use resources.
Individual ethics are the personal and moral standards used by individuals to structure their
interactions with other people.

Why do ethical rules develop? One of the most important reasons why ethical rules governing action
develop is to slow down or temper the pursuit of self-interest.
Why does unethical behavior occurs? Personal ethics, which are different for anyone because they
are taught in the environment where you live. Self-interest or outside pressure, many studies have
shown that the likelihood of a persons engaging in unethical or criminal behavior is much greater
when outside pressure exists for that person to do so.
Creating an ethical organization:
(1) to use the willingness of a person to have his or her action or decision shared with other people.
(2) putting in place an incentive for ethical behavior and punish those who behave unethically.
(3) a manager can make decisions to allocate organizational resources and pursue policies based on
the organizations ethical position. The following steps needs to be taken:
1. Designing and ethical structure and control system
2. Creating an ethical culture the values, rules and norms that define an organizations
ethical position are part of culture. The creation of an ethical corporate culture requires
commitment at all levels of an organizations, from top down.
3. Supporting the interests of stakeholder groups

Chapter 3 Organizing in a changing global environment

Environment: is the set of pressures and forces surrounding an organization that have the potential
to affect the way it operates and its access to scare resources.
Organizational domain: the particular range of goods and services that the organization produces.
An organization establishes its domain by deciding how to manage the forces in its environment to
maximize its ability to secure important resources. An organization attempts to structure its
transactions with the environment to protect and enlarge its domain so that it can increase its ability
to create value for customers, shareholders employees and other stakeholders.
Specific environment: the forces from outside stakeholder groups that directly affect an organization
ability to secure resources, i.e. customers, distributors, unions, competitors, suppliers and the
government.
General environment: the forces that shape the specific environment and affect the ability of all
organizations in a particular environment to obtain resources (DESTEP)
Environmental complexity: the strength, number, and interconnectedness of the specific and general
forces that an organization has to manage. Complexity can increase greatly when specific and
general forces in the environment become interconnected that is, when forces begin to interact so
their effects on the organization become unpredictable. Three factors causing uncertainty:
1. Complexity
2. Dynamism The degree to which forces in the specific and general environments change
quickly over time and thus contribute to the uncertainty an organization faces.
3. Richness The amount of resources available to support and organizations domain. In rich
environment the uncertainty is low.
Resource dependency theory: a theory that argues the goal of an organization is to minimize its
dependence on other organizations for the supply of scare resources in its environment and to find
ways of influencing them to make resources available. Which implies that an organization has to
manage two aspects:
1. It has to exert influence over other organization so it can obtain resources
2. It must respond to the needs and demand of the other organizations in its environment
To reduce uncertainty, an organization needs to devise interorganizational strategies to manage the
resources interdependencies in its specific and general environment.
In the specific environment, two basic types of interdependencies cause uncertainty:
1. Symbiotic: interdependencies that exist between an organization and its suppliers and
distributors
2. Competitive: interdependencies that exist among organizations that compete for scare
inputs and outputs.
The more formal a linkage, the greater are both the direct coordination and the likelihood that
coordination is based on an explicit written agreement or involves some common ownership
between organizations.
The more informal a linkage, the more indirect or loose is the method of coordination and the more
likely is the coordination to be based on an implicit or unspoken agreement.
Strategies for managing symbiotic resource interdependencies
Informal

Formal

7
Reputation

Cooptation

Strategic
alliance

Merger and
takeover

Reputation: a state in which an organization is held in high regard an trusted by other parties
because of its fair and honest business practices.
Cooptation: a strategy that manages symbiotic interdependencies by neutralizing problematic forces
in the specific environment. A common way to coopt problematic forces such as customers, suppliers
or other stakeholders it to bring them within the organization and in effect make them inside
stakeholders. Interlocking directorate: a linage that results when a director from one company sits
on the board of another company
Strategic Alliance: an agreement that commits two or more companies to share their resources to
develop a new joint business opportunity. Types of alliance:
-

Long term contracts

Networks: a cluster of different organizations whose actions are coordinated by contracts and
agreements rather than through a formal hierarchy of authority
Minority ownership: when organizations buy a minority ownership stake in each other this
makes organizations extremely interdependent, and that interdependence forges strong
cooperative bonds.
Joint ventures: a strategic alliance among two or more organization that agree to jointly establish
and share the ownership of a new business.

Keiretsu: a group of organizations, each of which owns shares in the other organizations in the
group, that work together to further the groups interests. A division is made between capital
keiretsu and financial keiretsu.
Merger and takeover: most formal strategy for managing symbiotic resource interdependencies it to
merge with or take over a supplier or distributor because now resource exchanges occur within one
organization rather than between organizations.
Strategies for managing competitive resource interdependencies
Informal
Collusion and
cartels

Formal
Third-party
linkage
mechnism

Strategic
alliances

Merger and
takeover

Collusion: a secret agreement among competitors to share information for a deceitful or illegal
purpose
Cartel: an association of firms that explicitly agree to coordinate their activities
Third-party linkage mechanisms: a regulatory body that allows organizations to share information
and regulate the way they compete, i.e. a trade association, an organizations that represents
companies in the same industry and enables competitors to meet, share information and informally
allow them to monitor one anothers activities. The third-party linkage mechanisms provide rules and
standards that regulate and stabilize industry competition and so reduce the complexity of the
environment and thus increases its richness.
Strategic alliance: competitors can cooperate and form a joint venture to develop common
technology that will save them a lot of money.

Merger and takeover: mergers and takeovers can improve a companys competitive position by
allowing the company to strengthen and enlarge its domain and increase its ability to produce a
wider range of products to better serve more customers.
Transaction cost theory: the cost of negotiating, monitoring and governing exchanges between
people. transaction costs also arise when organizations exchange resources or information.
According to the transaction cost theory, the goal of the organization is to minimize the costs of
exchanging resources in the environment and the costs of managing exchanges inside the
organization. Sources of transaction cost are:
-

Environmental uncertainty vs bounded rationally

Opportunism vs small numbers
Risk vs specific assets

Specific assets: investments- in skills, machinery, knowledge and information that create value in
one particular exchange relationship but have no value in any other exchange relations.
Transaction costs and linkage mechanisms: organizations base their choice of interorganizational
linkage mechanisms on the level of transaction costs involved in an exchange relationship.
Transaction costs are low when these conditions exists:
-

Organizations are exchanging nonspecific goods and services

Uncertainty is low
There are many possible exchange partners

In these environmental conditions, it is easy for organizations to negotiate and monitor

internorganizational behavior. Thus, in a low-transaction-cost environment, organizations can use
relatively informal linkage mechanisms, such as reputation and unwritten, word-of-mouth contracts.
Why not use the formal linkage mechanisms all the time? internal transaction costs are called
bureaucratic costs to distinguish them from the transaction costs of exchanges between
organizations in the environment.
Managers should choose the link mechanism that gives the most transaction cost savings at the
lowest bureaucratic cost.
The relatively informal linkage mechanisms avoid the need for an organization to incur bureaucratic
costs. Three linkage mechanisms that help organization to avoid bureaucratic costs while still
minimizing transaction costs are:
-

Keiretsu mechanism for achieving the benefits of a formal linkage mechanism without
incurring its costs.
Franchising is a business authorized to sell a companys product in a certain area. The
franchiser sells the right to use its resources to a person or group in return for a flat fee or a
share of the profits.
Outsourcing the process of moving a value creation activity that was performed inside an
organization to outside where it is done by another company

A transaction cost approach sheds light on why and how organization choose different linkage
mechanisms to manage their interdependencies

Chapter 4 Basic Challenges of Organizational Design

Differentiation: the process by which an organization allocates people and resources to

organizational tasks and establishes the task and authority relationships that allow the organization
to achieve its goals.
Division of labor: the process of establishing and controlling the degree of specialization in the
organization.
In a simple organization, differentiation is low because the division of labor is low. In complex
organization, both the division of labor and differentiation are high.
Organizational role: the set of task-related behaviors required of a person by his or her position in an
organization.
Function: a subunit composed of a group of people, working together, who possess similar skills or
use the same kind of knowledge, tools or techniques to perform their jobs.
Division: a subunit that consists of a collection of functions or departments that share responsibility
for producing a particular good or service.
As organizations grow in size, they differentiate into five different kinds of functions;
-

Support functions: facilitate an organizations control of its relations with its environment and its
stakeholders. It includes purchasing, sales and marketing, public relations and legal affairs.
Production functions: functions that manage and improve the efficiency of an organizations
conversion processes so more value is created.
Maintenance functions: functions that enable an organization to keep its departments in
operations.
Adaptive functions: functions that allow an organization to adjust to changes in the
environment. For example research and development, market research and long-range planning.
Managerial functions: functions that facilitate the control of coordination of activities within and
among departments. For example acquisition of, investment in, and control of resources.

Vertical differentiation: the way an organization designs its hierarchy of authority and creates
reporting relationships to link organizational roles and subunits. Vertical differentiation establishes
the distribution of authority between levels to give the organization more control over its activities
and increase its ability to create value.
Horizontal differentiation: the way an organization groups organizational tasks into roles and roles
into subunits (functions and divisions) become more specialized and productive and increases its
ability to create value.

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Lawrence and Lorisch: interdepartmental differences

-

Departmental structures, procedures

Members emotional-, value- and cognitive orientations.

Organizational design challenges

Subunit orientation: a tendency to view ones role in the organization strictly from the perspective of
the time frame, goals, and interpersonal orientations of ones subunit.
Integration: the process of coordinating various tasks, functions, and divisions so that they work
together and not at cross purposes. Seven integrating mechanisms or techniques are given that
managers can use as their organizations level of differentiation increases:
-

Hierarchy of authority simplest integrating technique. It differentiates people by the amount

of authority they possess. Because the hierarchy dictates who report to whom, it coordinates
various organization roles.
Direct contact managers meet face to face to coordinate
Liaison role a specific manager is given responsibility for coordinating with managers from
other subunits on behalf of his or her subunit.
Task force managers meet in temporary committees to coordinate cross-functional activities
Team managers meet regularly in permanent committees to coordinate activities
Integrating role a new role is established to coordinate the activities of two or more functions
or divisions
Integrating department a new department is created to coordinate the activities of functions
or divisions

Managers facing the challenge of deciding how and how much to differentiate and integrate must
do two things:
(1) carefully guide the process of differentiation so an organization builds the core competences that
give it a competitive advantage: and
(2) carefully integrate the organization by choosing appropriate coordinating mechanisms that allow
subunits to cooperate and work together to strengthen its core competences.
Mutual adjustment: the compromise that emerges when decision making and coordination are
evolutionary processes and people use their judgment rather than standardized rules to address a
problem. Mutual adjustment typically implies decentralization of authority because employees must
have the authority to commit the organization to certain actions when they make decisions.
Formalization: the use of written rules and procedures to standardize operations
Socialization: the process by which organizational members learn the norms of an organization and
internalize these unwritten rules of conduct.
Mechanistic and organic organizational structures two useful concepts for understanding how
managers manipulate all these challenges collectively to influence the way an organizational
structure works are the concepts of mechanistic structure and organic structure.

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Mechanistic structures result when an

organization makes these choices
Individual specialization : employees work
separately and specialize in one clearly defined
task
Simple integration mechanisms: hierarchy of
authority is clearly defined and is the major
integrating mechanism
Centralization: authority to control tasks is kept
at the top of the organization. Most
communication is vertical
Standardization: extensive use is made of rules
and SOPs to coordinate tasks, and work process
is predictable.

Organic structures result when an organization

makes these choices
Joint specialization : employees work together
and coordinate their actions to find the best way
of performing a task
Complex integrating mechanisms: task forces
and teams are the major integrating
mechanisms
Decentralization: authority is control tasks is
delegated to people at all levels in the
organization. Most communication is lateral.
Mutual adjustment: extensive use is made of
face-to-face contact to coordinate tasks, and
work process is relatively unpredictable

Mechanistic structures: structures that are designed to induce people to behave in predictable,
accountable ways.
Organic structures: structures that promote flexibility, so people initiate change and can adapt
quickly to changing conditions. People assume the authority to make decisions as organizational
needs dictate.
Contingency approach: a management approach in which the design of an organizations structure is
tailored to the sources of uncertainty facing an organization. One of the most important of these is
the nature of the environment. In order the manage its environment effectively, an organization
should design its structure for fit with the environment in which the organization operates. an
organization must design its internal structure to control the external environment.
Lawrence and Lorsch found that when the environment is perceived as unstable and uncertain,
organizations are more effective if they are less formalized, more decentralized and more reliant on
mutual adjustment. When the environment is perceived as relatively stable and certain,
organizations are more effective if they have a more centralized, formalized and standardized
structure. The message of their study was organizations must adapt their structures to match the
environment in which they operate if they are to be effective
Burns and Stalker found that companies with an organic structure were more effective in unstable,
changing environments that were companies with a mechanistic structure. And visa versa
What is the reason for those results? When the environment is rapidly changing and on-the-spot
decision have to be made, lower-level employees need to have the authority to make important
decisions in other words, they need to be empowered.
Managers confront five design challenges as they coordinate organizational activities. The choices
they make are interrelated and collectively determine how effectively an organization operates:
1. Choose the right extent of vertical and horizontal differentiation
2. Strike an appropriate balance between differentiation and integration and use appropriate
integrating mechanisms.
3. Strike an appropriate balance between the centralization and decentralization of decisionmaking authority
4. Strike an appropriate balance between standardization and mutual adjustment by using the
right amounts of formalization and socialization.
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How to measure the effectiveness of an organization? effectiveness may be conceived is presented

by Quinn en Rohrbaughs Competing Values model of the interpretations which experts of
management and organization give to the effectiveness concept. The reason for their study was the
observation that although effectiveness is a central concept in organization research and theory little
agreement exists on the meaning of the concept. It turned out that the various understandings could
be arranged along two dimensions. The first one focus indicates if emphasis is put on either the
internal or the external functioning of the organization. The second dimension structure refers
to the question if flexibility or rather control is deemed important. These two dimensions
orthogonally combined produce four different dominant effectiveness approaches.

Sum up competing values model:

-

conceptual effectiveness multifaceted

Practical : almost always for each organization a mix of various effectiveness considerations
Practical: effectiveness values as strategic choices management

Management is apparently primarily externally focused on growth by flexibility. However, at the

same time management realizes that effectiveness on other criteria need to be maintained at a
minimum level at least.
Organization models:

Open forms:

Functional structure
Divisional structure
Matrix structure
Horizontal organization

Hollow organization (Apple Foxconn)

Modular organization
Virtual organization

Chapter 5 Designing Organizational Structure: Authority and Control

An organization does two things to improve its ability to control:
1. It increases the number of managers it uses to monitor, evaluate and reward employees
2. It increases the number of levels in its managerial hierarchy so that hierarchy of authority
becomes taller over time
Tall organization: an organization in which the hierarchy has many levels relative to the size of the
organization. Problems which arising are: Communication problems, motivation problems.
Bureaucratic costs.

13

Distortion: information becomes distorted as it flows up and down the hierarchy through many
levels of management.
Flat organization: an organization that has few levels in its hierarchy
Parkinsons law problem: the growth in the number of managers and hierarchical levels is controlled
by two principles: (1) an manager wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals and (2) managers make
work for on anther. Saying that managers value their rank, grade or status in the hierarchy. The
fewer managers at their hierarchical level and the greater the number of managers below them, the
larger is their empire and the higher their status.
Principle of minimum chain of command: an organization should choose the minimum number of
hierarchical levels consistent with its goals and the environment in which it operates.
The only reason why an organization should choose a tall structure over a flat structure is when it
needs a high level of direct control and personal supervision over subordinates. For instance an
nuclear plant.
Span of control: the number of subordinates a manager directly manages. The span of control is
related to two factors: Complexity and the interrelatedness of subordinates tasks.
Horizontal differentiation: leads to the emergence of specialized subunits
Factors affecting the shape of the hierarchy: (the level of vertical differentiation is affected by:)
1.
2.
3.
4.

The level of horizontal differentiation

The level of decentralization
The level of standardization
The strength of the informal ties and relationships that exist between organized members

When authority is decentralized, the authority to make significant decisions is delegated to the
people throughout the hierarchy, not concentrated at the top.
Decentralization does not eliminate the need for many hierarchical levels in a large and complex
organization. However, it enables even a relatively tall structure to be more flexible because it
reduces the amount of direct supervision required.
Standardization: the use of standardization reduces the need for personal control by managers and
the need to add levels in the hierarchy because rules and SOPs substitute for direct supervision and
face-to-face contact.
Bureaucracy: a form of organizational structure in which people can be held accountable for their
actions because they are required to act in accordance with rules and standard operating
procedures.
The advantage of bureaucracy: it lays out the ground rules for designing an organizational hierarchy
that efficiently control interaction between organizational levels. Another advantage is that is
separates the position form. One of the problems that emerges within a bureaucracy over time is
that managers fail to control the development of the organizational hierarchy properly. Another
14

problem is that organizational member come to rely too much on rules and SOPs to make decisions,
and this overreliance makes them unresponsive to the needs of customers and other stakeholders.
Role conflict: the state of opposition that occurs when two or more people have different views of
what another person should do and, as a result, make conflicting demands on the person.
Role ambiguity: occurs when a persons tasks or authority are not clearly defined ant he person
becomes afraid to act on or take responsibility for anything.
Management by objectives (MBO): a system of evaluating subordinates on their ability to achieve
specific organizational goals and to meet operating budgets.
Altering the formal structure often disrupts the informal norms that make the organization work.
The increasing use of IT has led to a decentralization of authority in organizations and an increasing
use of teams.
Empowerment: the process of giving employees throughout an organization the authority to make
important decisions and to be responsible for their outcomes.
Self-managed teams: work groups consisting of people who are jointly responsible for ensuring that
the team accomplishes its goals and who are empowered to lead themselves.
Cross-functional teams: formal work groups of employees from across an organizations different
function that are empowered to direct and coordinate the value-creation activities necessary to
complete different programs or projects.
Contingent workers: workers who are employed for temporary periods by an organization and who
receive no indirect benefits such as health insurance or pensions.
As an organization grows, the increase in the size of the managerial component is less than
proportional to the increase in the size of the organization.
According to the principle of minimum chain of command, an organization should choose the
minimum number of hierarchical levels consistent with the contingencies it faces.
Managers need to recognize how the informal organization affect the way the formal hierarchy of
authority works and make sure the two fit enhance organizational performance.

Chapter 6 Designing Organizational Structure: Specialization and

coordination
functional structure: a design that groups people together on the basis of their common expertise
and experience or because they use the same resources.
The problem facing a successful organization is how to keep control of increasingly complex activities
as it grows and differentiates.
communication problems As more organizational function develop, each with its own hierarchy,
they become increasingly distance from one another.
15

measurements problems, location problems, customer problems, strategic problems

how to avoid these problems? combine two functions into one in the long run. Such changes to the
functional structure increase control by increasing integration between functions.
from functional structure to divisional structure the structure needed is will simultaneously (1)
increases managers' control of its different individual subunits so that subunits can better meet
product and customer needs, and (2) allow managers to control and integrate the operation of the
whole company. managers regain control of their organizations when they decide to adopt a more
complex structure, which is the result of three design choices:
1. an increase in vertical differentiation. This involves increasing the number of levels in the
hierarchy, deciding how much decision-making authority to centralize at the top of the
organization and deciding how much to rules, SOPs and norms to standardize the behavior of
low-levels employees.
2. an increase in horizontal differentiation. overlaying a functional grouping of activities with
some other kind of subunit grouping.
3. an increase in integration. increase integration between subunits.
Divisional structure: a structure in which function are grouped together according to the specific
demand of products, markets or customers. three kinds of product structure:

product division structure: an organization whose products are broadly similar and aimed at
the same market will choose to centralize support services. a divisional structure in which a
centralized set of support functions services the needs of a number of different product
lines.
multidivisional structure: an organization whose products are very different and that
operates in several different markets or industries. a structure in which support function are
placed in self-contained divisions. self-contained means that each division has its own set of
support functions and controls its own value-creation activities. the divisions are overseen by
corporate headquarters staff. Only when an organization has a multidivisional structure does
the management hierarchy expand to include the three main levels of management:
corporate managers, who oversee the operations of all divisions; divisional managers, who
run the individual divisions and functional mangers who are responsible for developing the
organization's core competences

Advantages
increased organizational effectiveness
increased control
profitable growth
internal labor market

Disadvantages
managing
the
corporate-divisional
relationship
coordination problems between divisions
transfer pricing (the price at which one
division sells a product or information about
innovations to another division)
bureaucratic costs
communication problems
product team structure: an organization whose products are very complex technologically or
whose characteristics change rapidly to suit changing customer needs. a divisional structure

16

in which specialists from the support functions are combined into product development
teams that specialize in the needs of particular kind of product.
geographic divisional structure: a divisional structure in which divisions are organized according to
the requirements of the different locations in which an organization operates.
A market structure aligns functional skills and competences with the product needs of different
customer groups. Marketing, not manufacturing, determines how managers decide how to group
organizational activities into divisions.
Matrix structure: a structure in which people and resources are grouped in two ways simultaneously:
by function and by project or product. the organizations itself is very flat and decentralized authority.
Advantages of Matrix
the use of cross-functional teams is designed to
reduce functional barriers and overcome the
problem of subunit orientation
it opens up communication between functional
specialists and provides an opportunity for
team members from different functions to
learn from one another and develop their skills
it enables an organization to effectively use the
skills of it specialized employees who move
from product to product as needed
the dual functional and product focus
promotes concern for both cost and quality

Disadvantages of Matrix
a matrix lacks the advantages of
bureaucratic structure
the lack of clearly defined hierarchy of
authority can lead to conflict between
functional product teams
matrix structures have to be carefully
managed to retain their flexibility
because they do not automatically
produce the high level of coordination

multidivisional matrix structure: a structure that provides for more integration between corporate
and divisional managers and between divisional managers.
hybrid structure: the structure of a large organization that has many divisions and simultaneously
uses many different types of organizational structures.
recall also how outsourcing is moving a value-creation activity that was done inside an organization
to the outside, where it is performed by another company.
Advantages of network structures: the degree that an organization can find a network partner that
can perform a specific functional activity reliability, and at a lower cost, production costs are
reduced. A network structure allows an organization to act in an organic way.
disadvantages of network structures: the coordination problems arising from having different
companies perform different parts of the work process would be enormous.
the boundary less organization is composed of people who are linked by computers, faxes, CAD
systems, they may rarely or ever see one another face to face. People come and go as their services
are needed, much as in a matrix structure, but they are not formal members of an organization. they
are independent function experts who form an alliance with an organization

17

e-commerce: trade that takes place between organizations, and between organizations and
customer using IT and the Internet.

Chapter 7 Creating and Managing Organizational Culture

Organizational culture: the set of shared values and norms that control organizational members
interaction with each other and with people outside the organization. to increase organizational
effectiveness. Because it control the way members make decisions.
Values: general criteria, standards or guiding principles that people use to determine which types of
behaviors, evens, situations, and outcomes are desirable or undesirable
Terminal value: a desired end state or outcome that people seek to achieve. For example excellence
Instrumental value: a desired mode of behavior. Include, working hard, respecting traditions.
An organizations culture consists of the end states that the organization seeks to achieve (its
terminal values) and the modes of behavior the organization encourages (its instrumental values).
Ideally, instrumental values help the organization achieve tis terminal goals.
Norms: standards or styles of behavior that are considered acceptable or typical for a group of
people.
Culture can inspire and facilitate the intense kind of personal and team interaction that are necessary
to develop organizational competences and obtain a competitive advantage:
1. Cultural values are important facilitators of mutual adjustment in an organization. When
shared cultural values provide a common reference point, employees do not need to spend
much time establishing rapport and overcoming differences in their perceptions of events.
2. Organizational culture is a form of informal organization that facilitates the working of the
organizational structure.
Core competence when: (VRIN)
-

Valuable: greater value, in terms of relative costs and benefits, than similar resources in
competing firms.
Rare: scare relative to demand
Inimitable: it is difficult to imitate
No substitutable: no functional substitutes (other resources) exist

Socialization: the process by which members learn and internalize the values and norms of an
organizations culture.
Role orientation: the characteristic way in which newcomers respond to a situation.
An institutionalized role orientation results when individuals are taught to respond to a new context
in the same way that existing organizational members respond to it. An individualized role
orientation results when individuals are allowed and encourages to be creative and to experiment
with changing norms and values so an organization can better achieve its values.
18

Type of rite
Rite of passage
Rite of integration
Rite of enhancement

Example of rite
Introduction and basic training
Office Christmas party
Presentation of annual award

Purpose of rite
Learn and internalize norms and values
Build common norms and values
Motivate commitment to norms and values

The concept of organizational language encompasses not only spoken language, but how people
dress, the office they occupy, the company cars they drive, and how they formally dress one another.
Organizational culture effects organizational effectiveness because it can (a) provide an organization
with a competitive advantage, (b) improve the way an organizational structures works, and (c)
increase the motivation of employees to pursue organizational interests.
Positive function of culture
- Behavioral control
- System stability in time
- Members identity

Negative function of culture

- Frustrates changes
- Strengthens sub-unit orientation: integration problems
- Conflicts with diversity goals
- Frustrates mergers

Culture is transmitted to an organizations members by means of (a) socialization and training

programs, (b) stories, ceremonies and language used by members of the organization.
Organizations culture develops from the interaction of four factors:
-

The personal and professional characteristics of people within the organization.

Organizational ethics are the moral values, beliefs and rules that establish the appropriate
way for organizational member to deal with one another and with the organizations
stakeholders. (professional ethics + individual ethics)
Property rights: the rights that an organization gives to its members to receive and use
organizational resources. The distribution of property rights has a direct effect on the
instrumental values that shape employees behavior and motivate organizational members.
The structure of the organization: organizational structure effects the cultural values that guide
organizational members as they perform their activities. In turn, culture improves the way
structure coordinates and motivates organization resources to help and organization achieve its
goals.

Social responsibility: refers to a managers duty or obligation to make decisions that nurture,
protect, enhance, and promote the welfare and well-being of stakeholders and society as a whole.
The strength of an organizations commitment to social responsibility ranges from low to high. At the
low end of the range is an obstructionist approach choose not to behave in a socially responsible
way. A defensive approach indicates at least a commitment to ethical behavior stay with the law
and abide strictly within legal requirements but they make no attempt to exercise social
responsibility beyond what the law dictates.
Accommodative approach is an acknowledgement of the need to support social responsibility.
Accommodative managers agree that organizational member ought to behave legally and ethically,

19

and they try to balance the interests of different stakeholder against one another so the claims of
stockholders are seen in relation to the claims of other stakeholders.
Proactive approach managers who actively embrace the need to behave in socially responsible
ways, go out of their way to learn about the needs of different stakeholder groups, and are willing to
use organizational resources to promote the interests not only of stockholders but of the other
stakeholders.
Advantages of social responsibility
1. Workers and society benefits directly because organization bear some of the costs of helping
workers
2. If all organization in a society were socially responsible, the quality of life as a whole would
be higher.
Whistle-blowing: informing (by and employee) an outside person or agency, such as a government
agency or a newspaper or television reporter, about an organizations illegal or immoral behavior.

Chapter 8 Organizational Design and Strategy in a changing global

environment
An organization develops a strategy to increase the value it can create for its stakeholders.
Sources of core competence:
1. Specialized resources. This can be either functional resources or organizational resources.
Functional resources the skills possessed by an organizations functional personnel.
Organizational resources the attributes that give an organization a competitive advantage
such as the skills of the top-management team or possession of valuable and scare
resources.
2. Coordination abilities an organizations ability to coordinate its functional and
organizational resources to create maximal value.
Four ways in which global expansion allows an organization to create value for its stakeholders:
-

Transferring core competences abroad

Establishing a global network sets of task and reporting relationships among managers,
functions, and divisions that link an organizations value-creation activities around the world.
Gaining access to global resources and skills
Using global learning to enhance core competences

An organization must formulate strategy at four levels:

-

Functional-level strategy: a plan of action to strengthen an organizations functional and

organizational resources, as well as its coordination abilities, in order to create core
competences.

20

Business-level strategy: a plan to combine functional core competences in order to position the
organization so that it has a competitive advantage in its domain. Business-level strategy is the
responsibility of the top-management team.
Corporate-level strategy: a plan to use and develop core competences so that the organization
can not only protect and enlarge its existing domain but can also expand into new domains.
Global expansion strategy: a plan that involves choosing the best strategy to expand into
overseas markets to obtain scare resources and develop core competences.

According to contingency theory, an organizations design should permit each function to develop a
structure that suits its human and technical resources.
To create value at the function level, the organizational strategy must allow and encourage each
function to develop a core competence in lowering costs or differentiating its production from those
of competitors. The sources of core competences lie in the resources an organization embeds in each
function, and in the abilities of functional experts to take advantage of and coordinate those
resources. To gain a competitive advantage, an organization needs to design its functional structure
and culture to provide a setting in which core competences develop. The more a functions core
competence is based on coordination abilities embedded in the way people in the organization
interact, the more difficult it is for competing organization to duplicate the core competences and
the greater is the organizations competitive advantage.
The challenge of business-level strategy is for an organization to take the core competences created
by its functions and combine them to take advantage of opportunities in the environment to create
value. The organization needs a business-level strategy that does both of the following: (1) selects
the domain the organization will compete in an (2) positions the organization so it can use its
resources and abilities to manage its specific and general environments in order to protect and
enlarge that domain.
Low-cost business-level strategy: a plan whereby an organization produces low-priced goods and
services for all customer groups.
Differentiation business-level strategy: a plan whereby an organization produces high-priced
products, quality products aimed at particular market segments.
Focus strategy: specializing in one segment of a market and focusing all of the organizations
resources on that segment.
From a strategy perspective, three factors affect an organizations choice of a structure to create a
competitive advantage:
1. As an organization produces a wide range of products, it will need greater control over the
development, marketing and production of these products
2. As an organization seeks to find new customers group for its products, it will need a structure
that allows it to serve the need of its customers
3. As the pace of new product development in an industry increases, an organization will need
a structure that increases coordination among its functions.
Product structure: handle a wide range of products
21

Market structure or geographic structure: handling different groups of customers in which

functional activities are grouped to best meet the needs of different types of customers.
Product team structure or matrix structure: when rapid product development and speedy response
to competitors are the keys to competitive advantage.
Vertical integration: a strategy in which an organization takes over and owns its suppliers (backward
vertical integration) or its distributors (forward vertical integration). The more an organization
pursues vertical integration the larger it becomes, and the bureaucratic costs associated with
managing the strategy rise sharply.
Related diversification: the entry into new domain that is related in some way to an organizations
domain.
Unrelated diversification: the entry into a new domain that is not related in any way to an
organizations core domain.
Conglomerate structure: a structure in which each business is placed in a self-contained division and
there is no contact between divisions.
Companies can use four principal strategies as they begin to market their products and establish
production facilities abroad:
1. Multi-domestic strategy: orientated towards local responsiveness of a company
decentralized control to subsidiaries and divisions in each country in which its operates to
produce and customize products to local markets. When using this structure, a company
duplicates all value-creation activities and establishes an overseas division in every country
or world area in which it operates.
2. International strategy: based on R&D and marketing being centralized at home and all the
other value-creation functions being decentralized to national units.
3. Global strategy: oriented towards cost reduction, with all the principal value-creation
functions centralized at the lowest cost global locations. It locates its manufacturing and
other value chain activities at the global location that will allow it to increase efficiency and
quality.
4. Transnational strategy: achieve both local responsiveness and cost reduction. Some
functions are centralized and others are decentralized at the global location best suited. It
overcomes to responsiveness to customers because the focus is still on centralized control.

Chapter 9 Organizational design, competences, and technology

Technology: the combination of skills, knowledge, abilities, techniques, materials, machines,
computers, tools and other equipment that people use to convert or change raw materials into
valuable goods and services. Inside the organization it exists in three levels:
-

Individual level technology is the personal skills

Functional or department level the procedures and techniques that groups work out to
perform their work create competences that constitute technology.
Organizational level the way organizations converts inputs into outputs
22

An organization taking the external resources approach uses technology to increase its ability to
manage and control external stakeholders.
An organization taking the internal system approach uses technology to increase the success of its
attempts to innovate: to develop new products, services and processes; and to reduce the time
needed to bring new products to market.
An organization taking the technical approach uses technology to improve efficiency and reduce
costs while simultaneously enhancing the quality of reliability of its products.
Programmed technology: a technology in which the procedures for converting input into outputs can
be specified in advance so that tasks can be standardized and the work process can be made
predictable.
Technical complexity: a measure of the extent to which a production process can be programmed so
that it can be controlled and made predictable.
According to one researcher, Joan Woodward, the technical complexity of a production process is the
important dimension that differentiates technologies. High technical complexity exists when
conversion processes can be programmed in advance and fully automated. Low technical complexity
exists when conversion processes depend primarily on people and their skills and knowledge and not
on machines. Joan Woodward identified ten level of technical complexity, which are associated with
three types of production technology:
1. Small-batch and unit technology: production of simple units to consumers orders, fabrication of
large equipment in stages, production in small batches
2. Large-batch and mass production technology: mass production
3. Continuous-process technology: process production of chemical batches, continuous flow
production of liquids, gases and solid shapes.
One of Woodwards goals in classifying technologies according to their technical complexity was to
discover whether an organizations technology affected the design of its structure. each
technology is associated with a different structure because each technology presents different
control and coordination problems. Small batch three levels of their hierarchy. Mass production
technology four levels, continuous-process technology six levels.
Technological imperative: the argument that technology determines structure.
According to Charles Perrow, two dimensions underlie the differences between routine and nonroutine or complex tasks and technologies: task variability and task analyzability.
Task variability: the number of exceptions new or unexpected situations that a person
encounters while performing a task
Task analyzability: the degree to which search activity is needed to solve a problem. The greater the
number of exceptions that workers encounter in the work process, and the greater the amount of
search behavior required to find a solution to each exception, the more complex and less routine are
tasks. Four types of technology:

23

1. Routine manufacturing low task variability and high task analyzability (mass production)
2. Craftwork task variability is low and task analyzability is also low (a high level of search
activity is needed to find a solution to problems).
3. Engineering production task variability is high and task analyzability is high. Finding a
solution is relatively easy.
4. Non-routine research high task variability and low task analyzability. Tasks are complex
because not only is the number of unexpected situations is large, but search activity is high.
Each new situation creates a need to expend resources to deal with it.
Argue that an organization should move from a mechanistic to an organic structure as tasks become
more complex and less routine. Because employee tasks can be standardized with routine
technology, the organizational hierarchy is relatively tall and decisions making is centralized.
A craftswork-like organization structure has replaced the mechanistic structure to achieve the
advantages of flexibility at lower costs.
Woodward focused on how an organizations technology affects its choice of structure. Perrows
model of technology focused on the way in which the complexity of tasks affects organizational
structure. Another view of technology, developed by James D. Thompson focuses on the way in
which task interdependence, the method used to relate or sequence different tasks to one another,
affects an organizations technology and structure. When task interdependence is low, people and
departments are individually specialized that is, they work separately and interdependently to
achieve organizational goals. Thompson identified three types of technology:
-

Mediating: a technology characterized by a work process in which input, conversion, and output
activities can be performed independently of one another. (piece work or franchise)
Long linked: a technology characterized by a work process in which input, conversion, and
output activities must be performed in series. (assembly-line or continuous-process plant)
Intensive: a technology characterized by a work process in which input, conversion and output
activities are inseparable. (general hospital or research and development laboratory). Expensive.
Can reduce costs to specialism (producing only a narrow range of outputs)

Slack resources: extra or surplus resources that enhance an organizations ability to deal with
unexpected situations.
To reduce costs, a mass production company must maximize the gains from economies of scale and
from the division of labor associated with large-scale production. Use Dedicated machines and fixed
workers.
Materials technology: technology that comprises machinery, other equipment, and computers.
Advanced manufacturing technology (AMT): technology that consists of innovations in material
technology and in knowledge technology that change the work process of traditional mass
production organizations. With AMT, the organization actively seeks ways to increase its ability to
integrate or coordinate the flow of resources among input, conversion, and output activities. AMT
allows an organization to reduce uncertainty not by using inventory stockpiles but by developing the
capacity to adjust and control its procedures quickly to eliminate the need for inventory at both the
input stage and the output stages. Examples are:
24

Computer-Aided Design (CAD): an advanced manufacturing technique that greatly simplifies the
design process
Computer-aided materials management (CAMM): an advanced manufacturing technique that is
used to manage the flow of raw materials and component part into the conversion process, to
develop master production schedules for manufacturing and to control inventory. It uses the pull
approach.
Just-in-time inventory (JIT)

In sum, JIT, CAMM and CAM increase technical complexity and task interdependence and thus
increase the degree to which a traditional mass production systems operates like a continuousprocess technology: they also increase efficiency and reduce production costs.
Flexible manufacturing technology: technology that allows the production of many kinds of
components at little or no extra cost on the same machine.
Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM): an advanced manufacturing technique that controls the
changeover from one operation to another by means of the commands given to the machines
through computer software.

Chapter 10 Types and Forms of Organizational Change

Organizational change: the process by which organizations move from their present state to some
desired future state to increase their effectiveness.
Planned organizational change is normally targeted at improving effectiveness at one or more of four
different levels:
-

Human resources find the most effective way of motivating and organizing human resources
to acquire and use the skills of the employees. For example training, changing norms and values.
Functional resources an organization can improve the value that its functions create by
changing its structure, culture and technology.
Technological capabilities often a redesign of organizational activities to create value for
stakeholders.
Organizational capabilities often involves changing the relationship between people and
functions to increase their ability to create value.

Forces for change

-

Competitive forces: striving for competitive advantage

Economic, political and global forces: compel them to change and how and where they produce
goods and services.
Demographic and social forces: changes in the demographic characteristics of the workforce
have led managers to change their styles of managing all employees.
Ethical forces

Organizational inertia: the tendency of an organization to resist change and maintain the status quo.

25

Resistance or impediments to change that cause inertia are found at the organization, group and
individual levels. Mechanistic structures are more resistant to change.
Lewins force-field theory of change: a theory of organizational change that argues that two sets of
opposing forces within an organization determine how change will take place. To change increase
the force and decrease the resistance. The process of changing is the following:
-

Unfreezing the organization from its present state

Making the change
Refreezing the organization in the new, desired state

Action research: a strategy for generating and acquiring knowledge that managers can use to define
an organizations desired future state and to plan a change program that allows the organization to
reach that state. Steps are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Diagnosing the organization

Determining the desired future state
Implementing action
Evaluation the action
Institutionalizing action research

Evolutionary change: change that is gradual incremental, and specifically focused. Not drastic or
sudden altering of the basic nature of an organizations strategy and structure. Theories:
-

Sociotechnical systems theory: a theory that proposes the importance of changing role and task
or technical relationships to increase organizational effectiveness. managers need to fit or
jointly optimize the workings of an organizations technical and social systems or in terms of
the present discussion, culture to promote effectiveness. A poor fit between an organizations
technology and social system leads to failure, but a close fit leads to success.
Total quality management: a technique developed by W. Edwards Deming to continuously
improve the effectiveness of flexible work teams. Quality circles: groups of workers who met
regularly to discuss the way work is performed to find new ways to increase performance.
Flexible workers and flexible work teams: a group of workers who assume responsibility for
performing all the operations necessary for completing a specified stage in the manufacturing
process.

Revolutionary change: change that is sudden, drastic, and organizational-wide. Methods are:
-

Reengineering: the process by which managers redesign how tasks are bundled into roles and
functions to improve operational effectiveness. The focus is on the business process instead of
the organizational functions.
E-Engineering: companies attempts to use all kinds of information systems to improve their
performance.
Restructuring: a process by which managers change task and authority relationships and
redesign organizational structure and culture to improve organizational effectiveness. Another
type is downsizing: the process by which managers streamline the organizational hierarchy and
lay off managers and workers to reduce bureaucratic costs.

26

Innovation: the process by which organizations use their skills and resources to develop new
goods and services or to develop new production and operating systems so they can better
respond to the needs of their customers.

Organizational development (OD): a series of techniques and methods that managers can use in
their action research program to increase the adaptability of their organization. OD techniques to
deal with resistance to change:
-

Education and communication

Participation and empowerment
Facilitation providing a training to help learn how to perform new tasks
Bargaining and negotiation help to manage conflicts
Coercion (dreigen/onderdrukken) threaten with consequences if people resists change.

Sensitivity training: an OD technique that consists of intense counseling in which group members,
aided by a facilitator, learn how others perceive them and may learn how to deal more sensitively
with others.
Process consultation: an OD technique in which a facilitator works closely with a manager on the job
to help the manager to improve his or her interactions with other group members
Intergroup training: an OD technique that uses team building to improve the work interactions of
different functions or divisions.
Organizational mirroring: an OD technique in which a facilitator helps two interdependent group
explore their perceptions and relations in order to improve their work interactions.
Incrementalist decision making : The science of muddling through
-

Decision making = correcting mistakes

Living according to your SOPs
Inertia, complacency
Low level of organizational learning Weathering the storm Strategy
Closed mind sets/ cognitive structures

Conclusion: Contingency model of decision making

High Goal consensus
Low goal consensus
High knowledge of Rational
Carnegie
causal relations
Homo economics
Negotiating, coalitions
Calculation
Political satisficing
Management
science,
operation
research
Low knowledge of Judgement, Trial & error, unstructured Garbage can
causal relations
[Mintzberg e.a.]
Incremental
Knowledge management: a type of IT-enabled organization relationship that has important
implications .. al learning and decision making.

27

Codification approach: knowledge is carefully collected, analyzed, and stored in databases where it
can be retrieved easily by users who input organization-specific commands and keywords.
Suitable for standardized product or service
Personalization approach: IT designed to identify who in the organization might possess the
information required for a custom job. More reliance on know-how, insight and judgment to make
decisions.
Organizational learning: The process through which managers seek to improve organization
members desire and ability to understand and manage the organization and its environment so they
make decisions that continuously raise organizational effectiveness.
Exploration: experimenting, developing new things
Exploitation: improving, fine tuning existing processes.
Central idea: organizations can adapt in principle: but some are too late, or not so rational.
Institutional environment:
-

Institutional field: Collection of other organizations, regulating bodies, associations, within

recognizable social sphere of activity [health care, insurance .]
Rationalized myths: norms and beliefs that are rationalized translated into rule-like procedures
to attain certain ends. An organization needs to comply in order to obtain resources/legitimacy.
Isomorphism: organizations become similar

Chapter 11 Organizational transformations

Organizational life cycle: The four principal stages of the organizational life cycle are birth, growth,
decline and death.
Entrepreneurs: People who recognize and take advantage of opportunities to use their skills and
competences to create value.
28

Organizational birth: the founding of an organization: a dangerous life cycle stage associated with
the greatest change of failure.
Liability of newness: the danger associated with being the first in a new environment
Population ecology theory: a theory that seeks to explain the factors that affect the rate at which
new organizations are born (and die) in a population of existing organizations. The availability of
resources determines the number of organizations in a population. Two factors account for the rapid
birthrate:
1. As new organization are founded, there is an increase in the knowledge and skills available to
generate similar new organizations
2. A new environment is that when a new kind of organization is founded and survives, it
provides a role model. The success of the new organization makes it easier for entrepreneurs
to found similar new organizations because success confers legitimacy, which will attract
stakeholders.
First-mover advantages: the benefits an organization derives from being an early entrant into a new
environment.
Population of organizations: the organization that are competing for the same set of resources in
the environment. For example: all the fast-food restaurants in Houston, Texas, constitute of
population of restaurants that compete to obtain environmental resources in the form of dollars that
people are willing to spend to obtain food conveniently. Organization can choose to focus on
different environmental niches, particular set of resources.
Population density: the number of organizations that can compete for the same resources in a
particular environment.
Population ecologists have identified two sets of strategies that organizations can use to gain access
to resources and enhance their chances of survival in the environment:
1. R-strategy versus K-strategy. R-strategy: a strategy of entering a new environment early. Kstrategy: a strategy of entering an environment late, after other organizations have tested
the water.
2. Specialist strategy versus generalist strategy. Specialist: organizations that concentrate their
skills to pursue a narrow range of resources in a single niche. Generalist: organization that
spread their skills thinly to compete for a broad range of resources in many niches.
Generalists can often outcompete specialists when there is considerable uncertainty in the
environment and when resources are changing so that niches emerge and disappear
continually.
Strategies for competing in the Resource Environment
r-strategy (early entry into
environment)
K-strategy (lately entry into
environment)

Specialist strategy (one niche)

R-specialist

Generalist Strategy (several niches)

R-Generalist

K-specialist

K-generalist

29

Natural selection: the process that ensures the survival of the organizations that have the skills and
abilities that best fit with the environment.
Organizational growth: the life cycle state in which organizations develop value creation skills and
competences that allow them to acquire additional resources. Growth allows an organization to
increase its division of labor and specialization and thus develop a competitive advantage.
Institutional theory: studies how organizations can increase their ability to grow and survive by
becoming legitimate, that is, accepted, reliable, and accountable in the eyes of their stakeholders.
Institutional environment: the set of values and norms in an environment that govern the behavior
of a population of organizations.
Organizational isomorphism: the similarity among organization in a population. the process by
which organizations in a population become more alike or similar. Three processes that explain why
organizations become more alike have been identified:
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Coercive isomorphism: when an organization adopts certain kind of values and norms because it
is pressured to by other organizations or by society in general. For example using child labor
Mimetic isomorphism: when organizations intentionally imitate and copy one another to
increase their legitimacy.
Normative isomorphism: when organizations come to resemble one another over time because
they indirectly adopt the norms and values of other organization in the environment. For
example from moving managers and employees over organizations.

Disadvantages of isomorphism:
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The way organization have learned to operate may become outdates, inertia sets in, and the
result in low effectiveness
The pressure to imitate the competitions may reduce the incentive to experiment so that the
level of innovation declines.

Greiners Model of organizational growth: he proposes that an organization passes through five
sequential growth stages during the course of its evaluation, and each stage a specific organizational
design problem causes a crisis that must be solved if a company is not to fall into a chasm and so
becomes unable to advance from one stage to the next.
Stage 1: growth through creativity. This stage involves the birth of the organization. The
entrepreneurs are mainly busy with developing the product. They will forget the need to manage
organizational resources efficiently + so involved in providing customers with high-quality products,
they ignore the costs involved. Crisis of leadership will begin.
Stage 2: Growth through direction: the crisis of leadership ends with the recruitment of a strong topmanagement team to lead the organization through the next stage of organization growth: growth
through direction. Crisis of autonomy will arise arises because the organizations creative people
in departments such as R&D, product engineering and marketing become frustrated by their lack of
control over new product development and innovation. The structure designed by top managers and
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imposed on the organization centralized decision making and limited the freedom to experiment,
take risks and be internal entrepreneurs.
Stage 3: growth through delegation: to solve crisis of autonomy, organizations must delegate
authority to lower-level managers in all functions and link their increased control over organizational
activities to a reward structure that recognizes their contributions. It allows the organization to strike
a balance between recruiting experienced managers to improve performance and the need to
provide room for entrepreneurship so that the organization can innovate and find new ways to
reduce costs or improve its products. Then crisis of control will arise when top managers compete
with function or corporate level managers for control of organizational resources.
Stage 4: Growth through coordination: to resolve the crisis of control, an organization must find the
right balance between centralized control from the top of the organization and centralized control at
the function or divisional level. Top management takes on the role of coordinating different divisions
and motivating divisional manager to take a company-wide perspective. Crisis of red tape when
organizations fail to manage the organization when it is in growth.
Stage 5: Growth through collaboration. Solve the crisis of the red tape and put the organization up
the growth curve. Use the product team and matrix structures to improve the ability to respond to
customer needs and introduce new products quickly.
Organizational decline: the life cycle stage that an organization enters when it fails to anticipate,
recognize, avoid, neutralize, or adapt to external or internal pressures that threaten its long-term
survival.
Profitability: a measurement of how well a company is making use of resources relative to its
competitors. This is something different from profit. Because the profit says little about how well its
managers are making use of resources and its ability to generate future profits.
Two factors that often lead to continuing decline and loss in effectiveness are:
-

Organizational inertia: forces inside an organization that make it resistant to change. This might
be caused by risk aversion: they become unwilling to bear the uncertainty associated with
entrepreneurial activities.
Environmental changes: that affect an organizations ability to obtain scare resources may lead
to organizational decline. Example are the changes in the automobile industry, due to rising gas
prices, they start to make hybrid cars and electricity driven cars.

Weitzel and Jonsson have identified five stages of decline.

Stage 1: Blinded organizations are unable to recognize the internal or external forces and
problems that threaten their long-term survival.
Stage 2: Inaction top managers make a little attempt to correct problems (stage 1).This failure ot
act may be because managers are misinterpreting available information. Often a major
reorganization and change to a new form of structure is necessary to overcome the inertia that has
developed as the organization had become large and complex.

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Stage 3: Faulty action problems continue to multiply despite corrective action. Managers may
have made the wrong decisions due to conflict with top management or changed too little too late
because they feared that a major reorganization might do more harm than good.
Stage 4: Crisis only radical top-down changes to an organizations strategy and structure can stop
a companys rapid decline and increase its chances of survival. Very often, only a new topmanagement team can turn a company around. To overcome inertia, an organization needs new
ideas so it can adapt and change in response to new condition in the environment.
Stage 5: Dissolution it cannot recover, and decline is irreversible. The organization has lost the
support of its stakeholders, and its access to resources shrivels as its reputation and markets
disappear.

Chapter 12 Decision Making, learning, knowledge management and IT

Organizational decision making: the process of responding to a problem by searching for and
selecting a solution or course of action that will create value for organizational stakeholders.
Programmed decisions: decisions that are repetitive and routine (incrementalist model)
Nonprogrammed decisions: decisions that are novel and unstructured (unstructured model)
Models of organizational decision making:
The rational model: decision making is a straightforward three-stage process. There are the
following assumptions:
1. The decision makers have all the information they need
2. Decision makers have the ability to make the best decision
3. Decision makers agree about what needs to be done
The Carnegie Model: the model recognize the effects of satisficing bounded rationality, and
organizational coalitions. Satisficing The limited information searches to identify problems and
alternative solutions. The model also assumes that managers ability is restricted by bounded
rationality limited capacity to process information
Differences between the rational and the Carnegie models of decision making
Rational Model
Carnegie Model
Information is available
Limited information available
Decision making is costless
Decision making is costly (e.g. information costs)
Decision making is value free
Decision making affected by the preferences and
The full range of possible alternatives is values of decision makers
generated
A limited range of alternatives is generated
Solutions is chosen by unanimous agreement
Solution is chosen by compromise, bargaining
Solutions choses is best for the organization
Solution chosen is satisfactory for the org.

The incrementalist model: when selecting a set of new alternative courses of action, managers tend
to choose those that are only slightly, or incrementally different from those used in the past.
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The unstructured model: it describes how decision making take place when uncertainty is high. It
recognizes that decision making takes place in a series of small, incremental steps that collectively
have a major effect on organizational effectiveness over time. Managers make decisions in a
haphazard, intuitive way, and uncertainty forces them to reexamine their decisions continuously to
find new ways to behave in an constantly changing environment.
The garbage-can model: extreme unstructured process. This model turns the decision-making
process around and argues that managers are as likely to start decision making from the solution side
as from the problem side. thus, decision makers may propose solutions to problems that do net
exists.
Organizational learning: the process managers use to improve organization members capacity to
understand and manage the organization and its environment so they can make decisions that
continuously increase organizational effectiveness.
Two principal types of organizational learning strategies:
-

Exploration: organizational members search for and experimentation with new kinds or forms of
organizational activities and procedures.
Exploitation: organizational members learning of ways to refine and improve existing
organizational activities and procedures. more radical learning strategy

Learning organization: an organization that purposefully designs and constructs its structure, culture,
and strategy so as to enhance and maximize the potential for organizational learning to take place.
The routines and procedures that an organization uses to make programmed decisions can cause
organizational inertia. When programmed decision making drives out nonprogrammed decision
making, the level of organizational learning drops. To encourage organizational learning, managers
can act at the individual level, group, organizational, and interorganizational levels.
Adaptive cultures: cultures that value innovation and encourage and reward experimentation and
risk taking by middle and lower-level managers.
Inert cultures: cultures that are cautious and conservative and do not encourage risk taking by
middle and lower-level managers.
Knowledge management: a type of IT-enabled organizational relationship that has important
implications for both organizational learning and decision making.
How to create an IT-based knowledge management system? With a codification approach,
knowledge is carefully collected, analyzed, and stored in databases. Personalization approach, to
knowledge management is pursued when an organization needs to provide customized products or
solutions to clients, when technology is changing rapidly, and when employees rely much on knowhow, insight and judgment to make decisions.
Cognitive structure: the system of interrelated beliefs, preferences, expectations, and values a
person uses to define problems and events.

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Cognitive biases: factors that systematically bias cognitive structures and affect organizational
learning and decision making.
Cognitive dissonance: the state of discomfort or anxiety a person feels when there is an
inconsistency between his or her beliefs and actions.
Illusion of control: a cognitive bias that causes managers to overestimate the extent to which the
outcomes of an action are under their personal control
Frequency: a cognitive bias that deceives people into assume that extreme instances of a
phenomenon are more prevalent than they really are
Representative: a cognitive bias that leads managers to form judgments based on small and
unrepresentative samples.
Projection: a cognitive bias that allows managers to justify and reinforce their own preferences and
values by attributing them to others.
Ego-defensiveness: a cognitive bias that leads manager to interpret events in such a way that their
actions appear in the most favorable light.
Escalation of commitment: a cognitive bias that leads managers to remain committed to a losing
course of action and refuse to admit they have made a mistake.
Groupthink: the conformity that emerges when like0minded people reinforce one anothers
tendencies to interpret events and information in similar ways.
Devils advocate: a person who is responsible for critiquing ongoing organizational learning. The
person is willing to stand up and question the beliefs of more powerful people.
Collateral organizational structure: an informal organization of managers set up parallel to the
formal organizational structure to shadow the decision making and actions of mangers in the formal
organization.
An organization can counter the effect of cognitive biases and raise the level of learning and decision
making in several ways. It can implement strategies for organizational learning, use game theory,
increase the breadth and diversity of the top-management team, use devils advocacy and dialectical
inquiry to evaluate proposed solutions, and develop a collateral organizational structure.

Chapter 13 Innovation, Intrapreneurship and Creativity

Innovation: the process by which organizations use their skills and resources to develop new goods
and services or to develop new production and operating systems so that they can better respond to
the needs of their customers.
Quantum technological change: a fundamental shift in technology that revolutionizes products or
the way they are produced. Example is the first PC.
Quantum innovations: new products or operating systems that incorporate quantum technological
improvements.
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Incremental technological change: technological change that represents a refinement of some base
technology.
Incremental innovations: products or operating systems that incorporate refinements of some base
technology.
Intrapreneurs: entrepreneurs inside an organization who are responsible for the success or failure of
a project.
Creativity: ideas going beyond the current boundaries, whether those boundaries are based on
technology, knowledge, social norms or beliefs.
Knowledge-creating organization: an organization where innovation is going on at all levels and in all
areas.
Creative destruction: a process that the widespread technological changes brought about by
increasing global competition that generate new innovations.
Product life cycle: the changes in demand for a product that occur over time. New products passes
through four stages:
1. The embryonic stage the product has gain widespread acceptance
2. Growth then the growth is setting in
3. Mature stage the market demand peaks because customers have already bought the
product.
4. Decline the demand falls because quantum technological change results in the emergence
of a superior alternative product. Example is that the iPod replaced the Walkman.
Managing the innovation process:
Project management: the process of leading and controlling a project so it results in the creation of
effective new or improved products. A project a subunit whose goal centers on developing the
products or service on time, within budget, and in conformance with predetermined performance
specifications.
Stage-Gate Development Funnel: the purpose is to establish a structured and coherent innovation
process that both improves control over the product development effort and forces manager to
make choices among competing new product development projects so resources are not spread too
thinly over too many projects. First with mouth to promote innovation and encourage as many
new product ideas as possible from both new and established project managers. Then proposals that
is check if it fit with the goals and strategies of the organization and chance of success in the market,
when this is met, it passes on thought stage 2. In stage 2, the prospective project manager must draft
a detailed new product development plan. Once completed, the plan is reviewed by a senior
management committee. Then the ideas are either rejected, sent back for revision or allowed to
proceed. In stage 3 the product is developed and sold.
Using Cross-Functional Teams and a product team structure: there is a coordination of the activities
of the R&D with the activities of other departments (Marketing, manufacturing, materials

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management, process engineering and product engineering). The core members are R&D,
engineering and manufacturing.
Lightweight team leader: is a mid-level functional manager who has lower status than the head of a
functional department. He is not given control over human, financial and functional resources. Keeps
under control of the heads of the functional departments.
Heavyweight team leader: is a true project manager. He is given primary control over key human,
technological and financial resources for the duration of the project.
Skunk Works: is a task force, a temporary team that is created to expedite new product design and
to promote innovation by coordinating the activities of functional groups. Task force consists out of
members of the R&D, engineering, manufacturing, and marketing functions who are assigned to a
spate facility, at a location isolated from the rest of the organization.
New venture division: a self-contained, independent division given the resources to develop a
complete set of value-creating functions to manage a project from the beginning to end. Unlike a
skunk works, which is dissolved when the product is brought to the market, a new venture divisions
assumes full responsibility for the commercialization of the project.
Modeling approach:
PERT/CAM network: are flowcharts of a project.
Critical path method (CPM): the goal is to determine which particular tasks or activities
Three factors that shape organizational culture and the degree to which its values and norms
emphasize innovation are:
-

Organizational structure
People ensuring the same set of values among people result over time a recognizable set of
values and norms that creates a culture the promotes creativity, cooperation, and the voluntary
sharing of new ideas emerges.
Property rights strong property rights are needed to align the interests of talented employees
with those of their organization. These are created if an organization links effective individual
and group performance to substantial organization rewards or inducements.

Information efficiencies: the cost and time saving that occur when IT allows individual employees to
perform their current tasks at a high level, assume additional tasks, and expand their roles in the
organization due to advances in the ability to gather and analyze data.
Knowledge or information availability alone will not lead to innovation; it is the ability to creatively
use knowledge that is the key to promoting innovation and creating competitive advantage.
Information synergies: the knowledge building created when two or more individuals or subunits
pool their resources and cooperate and collaborate across role or subunit boundaries.
Boundary-spanning activity: the interaction of people and groups across the organizational
boundary to obtain value information and knowledge from the environment to help promote
innovation.
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Chapter 14 Managing Conflict, Power and Politics

Organizational conflict: the clash that occurs when the goal-directed behavior of one group blocks or
thwarts the goals of another. an conflict can be beneficial because it can overcome organizational
inertia and lead to organizational learning and change.
Pondys Model of Organizational Conflict: Pondy views conflict as a process that consists of five
sequential episodes or stages.
Stage 1: Latent Conflict no outright conflict exists; however, the potential for conflict to arise is
present, although latent, because of the way an organization operates. Five potential sources of
conflict between subunits can be identified: subunits interdependence, subunits differing goals,
bureaucratic factors, incompatible performance criteria and competition for resources.
Stage 2: Perceived Conflict subunits become aware of conflict and begin to analyze it. Conflict
escalates as groups battle over the cause of conflict.
Stage 3: Felt Conflict subunits respond emotionally to each other, and attitudes polarize: us
versus them. What began as a small problem escalates into huge conflict
Stage 4: Manifest Conflict subunits try to get back at each other. Fighting and open aggression are
common, and organization effectiveness suffers.
Stage 5: Conflict Aftermath Conflict is resolved in a way that leaves subunits feeling combative or
cooperative.
Two common strategies managers use to resolve conflict involve:
1. Changing an organizations structure to reduce or eliminate the conflict
2. Trying to change the attitudes of individuals or replacing the individuals themselves. One way
to harness conflict between subunits and prevent the polarization of attitudes that results
during the stage of felt conflict in Pondys model is to set up a procedural system that allows
parties in conflict to air their grievances and hear other groups point of view.
Organizational power: the ability of one person or group to overcome resistance by others to resolve
conflict and achieve a desired objective or result. Conflict and power are intimately related. Sources
of organizational power are:
1. Authority: the power that is legitimized by the legal and cultural foundation on which an
organization is based.
2. Control over resources. Power is not a fixed quantity. Managers who make decisions and
perform actions that benefit the organization, such as changes that raise performance, can
increase their power. Just as an organizations power grows if it is able to obtain control of
more and more resources its environment, so power within an organization comes from the
ability to control resources.
3. Control over information.
4. Nonsubstitutability. If no one else can perform the tasks that a person or subunit performs.
5. Centrality.
6. Control over uncertainty
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7. Unobtrusive power: controlling the premises of decision making. When managers of

different subunits have similar goals and interests, they often join in a coalition to increase
their power to achieve their goal. Acting in concert, the dominant coalition can often use its
power subtly to control the premises behind decision making. This is called unobtrusive
power because other managers are generally not ware that the coalition is shaping their
perception or interpretation of a situation.
Organizational politics: activities taken within organization to acquire, develop, and use power and
other resources to obtain ones preferred outcomes in a situation in which there is uncertainty or
disagreement about choices.
Tactics for playing politics: the reward for success is change that gives them a greater share of
organizational resources. Individuals and subunits can use many political tactics to obtain the power
they need to achieve their goals and objectives. The tactics are:
-

Becoming indispensable. This can be achieved by an increase in no substitutability or an

increase in centrality.
Associating with powerful managers: attaching oneself to powerful managers who are clearly on
their way to the top. By supporting a powerful manager and making oneself indispable to that
person, it is possible to rise up the organization ladder with that person.
Building and managing coalitions.
Ability to manipulate decision making
Controlling the agenda: Managers and coalition like to be on committees so they can control the
agenda or business decisions of the committee. By controlling the agenda, they are able to
control the issues and problems that important decision makers will consider.
Bringing in an outside expert.

Using power to play organizational politics can improve the quality of decision making if the people
who have the power are those can best serve the needs of the organization. However, if top
managers have the ability to control and hoard power and entrench themselves in the organization,
the interest of other organizational stakeholders may be jeopardized as decisions are made to serve
top managements personal interest. Thus there needs to be a balance of power between
organizational stakeholders.

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