After finishing with the background page and readings, go to the following interview with Rosabeth Moss Kanter, who is a renowned Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and an influential business advisor. Among other things, in this interview she talks about the evolution of changes in organizational structure in the past decades, and the link to employees’ well-being and functioning.
Required Reading
Both of the following articles can be found in the EBSCO Business Source Complete database.
Puffer, S. (2004) Changing organizational structures: An interview with Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Academy of Management Executive, 18(2).
The following article looks at changing organizational structures as open systems and the effect on managers.
Buhler, P. M. (2011). Changing organizational structures and their impact on managers. Supervision, 72(2), 24-26.
Assignment
Write a 4- to 5-page critique answering the questions below.
1.An organization’s structure can have significant effects on its members. What might those effects be? Analyze the behavioral implications of different organizational designs and use at least three examples, SAS being one of them.
2.Is it possible to generalize and say that a certain structure is better than others? That is, is there a structure that is superior in terms of its effects on its members?
Keys to the Assignment
The key aspects of this assignment that should be covered in your paper are:
•Define the problem: Explain the relationship between organizational structure and human behaviors.
•Analyze the cause: Analyze how specific organizational designs can elicit predictable attitudes and motivations. Be sure to use SAS as one of your examples (refer back to Module 2).
•Propose a solution: Take a position on Question 2 and defend it with references to the concepts in the readings in this module and any previous modules that you find relevant.
Background reading
Organizational Culture
Have you ever observed how some people just seem to “fit in” to an organization better than others? Have you noticed that it seems that they are the ones who are the most successful? Did you ever wonder why? Read the following material on organizational culture for some insights into what culture is, what it does, how it is formed, and how it is taught to newcomers in the organization. The material on organizational culture type may be particularly helpful as you prepare your Module 5 assignments.
McNamara, C. (2000) Organizational Culture. Adapted from the Fieldguide to Organizational Leadership and Supervision. Free Management Library. https://managementhelp.org/organizations/culture.htm
Organizational Structure and Design
An organizational structure defines how job tasks are formally divided, grouped, and coordinated. According to Robbins and Judge (2010) managers need to address six key elements when they design their organization’s structure:
Work specialization – the extent to which activities are subdivided into separate jobs.
Departmentalization – the basis on which jobs will be grouped together.
Chain of command – the people who individuals and groups report to.
Span of control – the number of individuals that a manager can direct efficiently and effectively.
Centralization and de-centralization – the locus of decision-making authority.
Formalization – the extent to which there will be rules and regulations to direct employees and managers.
Three common organizational designs are: the simple structure, the bureaucracy, and the matrix structure.
The simple structure is characterized by a low degree of departmentalization, a wide span of control, authority that is centralized in a single person, and little formalization.
The bureaucracy is an organizational structure with highly routine operating tasks achieved through specialization, highly formalized regulations and rules, tasks that are grouped into functional departments, centralized authority, narrow span of control, and decision making that follows the chain of command.
The matrix structure creates dual lines of authority and combines functional and product departmentalization.
There are of course other, newer structures that help their organizations develop an advantage over their competitors. The virtual organization and the boundaryless organization are among these new structures. The virtual organization is a relatively small, core organization that outsources major business functions. The boundaryless organization has teams instead of departments, and aspires to have as flat a hierarchy as possible.
Another classification of organizational designs focuses on mechanistic versus organic design. The mechanistic design is characterized by extensive departmentalization, high formalization, a limited information network, and centralization. The organic design is characterized by low formalization, flat hierarchy and the use of cross-hierarchical and cross-functional teams, free flow of information, and decentralization. An organization’s structure can have significant effects on its members and its ability to execute its strategy. In this module you will try to understand those effects and analyze the behavioral implications of different organizational designs.
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