20 Questions
What is the main purpose of organizational structure?
To enable efficient production and delivery of the organization's outputs
According to the text, what does formalization in organizational structure refer to?
The extent to which written rules, procedures, instructions, and communications are set out for employees
What is the main focus of organizational design?
To provide managerial responses to environmental contingencies
What is a characteristic of network organizations?
They create specialized units focused on customers and markets
What is a challenge of managing lateral relationships in network structures?
Members may be reluctant to give up autonomy
What is a characteristic of virtual organizations?
They use technology to link people, assets, and ideas without relying on conventional organizational boundaries
According to Actor-Network Theory (ANT), what is the role of interessement?
Enrolling actors to align their behavior with desired outcomes
What is the primary focus of Institutional Theory?
Cultural influences on decisions and stability of organizational arrangements
How does Chandler's Strategy-Structure thesis differ from the perspective of Amburgey and Dacin?
Strategy influencing structure more than vice versa
According to Derek Pugh and colleagues, which of the following is NOT an underlying dimension of organizational structure?
Informal communication channels
Which structural form is characterized by rational legal authority, the idea of office, and impersonal order?
Bureaucracy
What type of structures reduce the number of levels while retaining the same number of staff?
Flat structures
What type of organization design involves overlaying a hierarchical structure with a horizontal one around big projects?
Matrix organization design
Which organizational form operates primarily through project teams with functional departments having a supporting role?
Project organizations
What are the disadvantages of matrix structures mentioned in the text?
Administrative expense and complexity
What are the seven forces driving organizations, according to Mintzberg?
Direction, efficiency, proficiency, concentration, innovation, collaboration, competition
Which organizational form is characterized by high complexity and formalization, low centralization, and trained specialists for core work?
Professional form
What influences organizational structure and production systems according to the text?
Size and technology
Which force encourages standardization and formalization within organizations?
Efficiency
What do informational technology systems support within organizations according to the text?
Employee empowerment and decentralization
Study Notes
- Mintzberg's "forces" and "forms" and their roles in strategy and organization.
- Seven forces driving organizations: direction, efficiency, proficiency, concentration, innovation, cooperation, and competition.
- Forces for direction and efficiency: strategic vision, balancing costs and benefits, encourages standardization and formalization.
- Forces for proficiency, concentration, innovation: high levels of knowledge and skills, serving particular markets, searching for new products or services.
- Forces for cooperation and competition: pulling together ideology and culture, pulling apart policies and non-legitimate behavior.
- Mintzberg's "organizational forms": entrepreneurial, machine, professional, adhocracy, and diverse.
- Entrepreneurial form: low formalization and standardization, high centralization, authority located in a single person.
- Machine form: high formalization and standardization, centralized authority vested in rules and regulations, functional departments.
- Professional form: high complexity and formalization, low centralization, trained specialists for core work.
- Adhocracy form: very low standardization and formalization, little hierarchy, much use of temporary project teams.
- Diverse form: a combination of functions and products, with products dominating.
- Other influences on structure: size, technology, and informational technology.
- Size: positively correlated to overall role specialization and formalization of procedures.
- Technology: influences organizational structure and production systems.
- Informational technology: gives managers the ability to push information closer to the point of use, increases responsibility on employees, supports decentralization and matrix structures, and reduces hierarchy.
- External and environmental influences: the choice of organizational structure depends on the capacity, stability, and complexity of the environment.
- Socio-cultural influences: employees' desire for more flexible ways of organizing their work-life balance.
Learn about the benefits and drawbacks of network organizations, including their flexible and adaptive responses, potential for rapid expansion, and challenges in managing lateral relations and motivation.
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