Materials Science Quiz

Organizational Theory - Introduction

• Course name: ADMN 2510H
• Textbook authors: Richard L. Daft and Ann Armstrong
• Textbook edition: Fourth Canadian Edition (2022)
• Course content covers organization theory and design
• Grade breakdown:
  • Discussion Questions: 40% (10 x 4%)
  • Film Analysis Assignments: 30% (2 x 15%)
  • Final Exam: 30%

What is an Organization?

• An entity, a social collective, designed to produce a product or provide a service to others
• Relationships with others are formed both inside and outside the organization
• Set goals and objectives
• Mission statement/vision – reason for "being", communicate to the public to build legitimacy
• Operational, employee, market, innovation/change, stakeholder goals
• Structure and coordinate activities
• Linked to the external environment - cannot exist without it
• Types: For-profit, not-for-profit, multinational, government, grassroots, groups of people gathering, protests, activism

Purpose of Organizations

• Create value for owners, customers, employees
• Bring together resources to achieve desired goals
• Produce goods and services efficiently
• Accommodate diversity, ethics, and coordination challenges
• Adapt to and influence a rapidly changing environment
• Use modern manufacturing and information technologies
• Facilitate innovation

Organizational Change

• Organizations in the 20th century faced stable environments, but this changed in WWII.
• Industries switched production for wartime supplies, tech advances
• Globalization, worker rights, ethics and social responsibility were major factors.
• Society demands more variety and choice in products/services
• Changes in how society buys goods (Supermarkets, department stores, big box stores, online) impact organizations

Organization Design

• Mechanistic design (efficiency):
  • Strict Hierarchy of Authority
  • Centralized Structure
  • Specialized Tasks
  • Vertical Communication
  • Many Rules, Formalized
• Organic design (learning):
  • Decentralized Structure
  • Empowered Roles
  • Horizontal Communication
  • Few Rules, Informal
• Contingency factors (influencing organization design): Size, Technology, Strategy, and Culture

Organization Configuration

• Five basic parts of an organization:
  • Technical core – basic work
  • Top management – Direction, strategy, goals
  • Middle management – Implementation and coordination
  • Technical support – Adaptation
  • Administrative support – Smooth operation and upkeep

Dimensions of Organizational Design

• Structural dimensions (e.g., formalization, specialization, hierarchy, centralization, professionalism, and personnel ratios)
• Contextual dimensions (e.g., goals and strategy, environment, and size)

Organizational Theories

• Guidelines to understand organizations
• People have been leading and controlling others for thousands of years
• Social, environmental, and technological changes have led to new theories (neo-classical)
• Organization theory is a way of thinking about and informing action within organizations

Classical and Scientific Management

• Classical management- Efficiency management of industrial processes in factories.
• Scientific management (Taylorism) - Focused on maximizing outputs/efficiency.
• Problems: dealing with complex and customized products, services, workers' rights, and rapidly changing markets.

Human Relations

• Hawthorne studies showed that social factors have a significant impact on organizations.
• Focused on understanding and motivating employees
• Human Resources thrive in organizations that treat employees as humans.
• Authority delegated, humane and collaborative.

Bureaucracy (Weber)

• Bureaucracy is an essential part of classical management
• Applied through administration, hierarchy of authority, uniform rules, and record keeping
• Clear lines of communication and accountability.

Politics: Conflict, Power, Goals, Decision Making

• Conflict can be a good thing.
• Power: influence to accomplish desirable outcomes for oneself or one's stakeholders.
• Decision-making involves multiple managers handling complex and/or ambiguous goals
• Satisficing rather than maximizing decisions
• Issues like decision-making and crisis often need to be addressed.

Newer Theories

• New theories address economic aspects of decisions and consider stakeholder well-being, environment, and social considerations.

Organizational Frames

• Organizational theories are often categorized using four main frames: structural, human resource, political, and symbolic.
• Frames are tools with strengths and limitations used by managers for decision-making and solving problems.

Organization Types

• Government, business, corporations, not-for-profits, creative industries, worker co-ops, charities, unions, and MNCs.

Strategic Design

• Organizations are designed to achieve a purpose.
• Determine strategies to align with goals, mission, and competitive strategy.
• Environmental factors (internal and external) are considered for effective design outcomes.

Organization Design Variables

• Environmental Factors (stability and complexity of the environment
• Strategy and organizational structure
• Technology
• Culture
• Size

Organizational Purpose

• Mission statement reflects the vision, values, and beliefs of an organization.
• Daily/Operational goals guide the organization's activities (e.g., productivity, profits, market share,)

Organizational Operative Goals

• Typical operating goals involve Employee Development, Overall Performance Goals, Resource Goals, Market Goals, and Innovation/Change Goals.

Framework for Selecting Strategy

• Organizations interact with the competitive environment to achieve its organizational goals.

Porter’s Competitive Strategies

• Low-cost leadership- (e.g., Walmart)
• Differentiation (e.g., Four Seasons Hotels)

Miles and Snow Typology

• This typology categorizes organizations based on their strategic approach to market relations (e.g., defender strategies)

Framework for Selecting Strategy

• Organizational characteristics (e.g., size, strategy, environment).

Organizational Effectiveness

• Measures for effectiveness: Resource-based, internal process, goal approach
• Competing values model: balance of internal and external interests

Contingency Approaches

• Different categories of organizational effectiveness are based on environmental issues and the organization's organizational structure.

Organizational Structure

• Formal reporting relationships
• Department groupings
• Communication systems

Organizational Hierarchy

Types of hierarchies: vertical, horizontal

Information-Processing

• Vertical organization
• Horizontal organization
• Departmental Grouping

Holacracy Team Structure

• How Holacracy works?
• Benefits of Holacracy

Structural Deficiencies

• Tell-tale symptoms of structural deficiencies

New Directions in Organizational Design, Outsourcing

• Metaphors of understanding organization

Organizational Politics

• What is organization politics
• What is power?
• Sources of power
• Sharing power
• Organizational conflict
• How to manage conflict
• Decision making and Sensemaking:
• Rational Decision Making
• Bounded Rationality
• Cognitive Biases
• Sensemaking processes
• Weick's 7 properties of Sensemaking
• Case study on Oscars (2017) - flub

Organizational Decline

• Factors of organizational decline
• Stages of decline
• Case study on Kodak

Organizational Innovation and Change

• What is Innovation?
• Ten Faces of Innovation
• Strategic Role of Change
• Types of Changes
• Elements for Successful Change
• Culture Change: Getting Rid of the Toxic Workplace
• Barriers to Change
• Implementing Change Techniques

Corporate Social Responsibility and Stakeholders

• CSR and ESG goals
• Benefit Corporations
• The triple bottom line
• Stakeholders
• Balancing stakeholder interests
• The role of power and legitimacy in organizational behavior.

Organizational Control Strategies

• Bureaucratic, market, and clan strategies
• Institutional pressures

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