Organizational Management and Conflict Resolution

Study Notes

Transitioning from Formulating to Implementing Strategies

Strategic management is a complex process that requires extensive planning and periodic evaluation and modification of plans
Comprehensive Strategic Management Model involves a recurring procedure that includes strategy execution

Policies and Resource Allocation

Policies refer to specific guidelines, methods, procedures, rules, forms, and administrative practices established to support and encourage work toward stated goals
Resource allocation involves distributing an organization's "assets" across products, regions, and segments according to priorities established by annual objectives
Trade-offs are necessary because no firm has sufficient resources to pursue all strategies that would benefit the firm

Managing Conflict

Conflict is defined as a disagreement between two or more parties on one or more issues
Approaches for managing and resolving conflict include:
- Avoidance: ignoring the problem
- Defusion: playing down differences between conflicting parties while accentuating similarities and common interests
- Confrontation: exchanging members of conflicting parties

Organizational Structures

Functional Organizational Structure:
- Groups tasks and activities by business function (e.g. production, marketing, finance)
- Centralized type
Divisional Structure:
- Organized in one of four ways:
  - By geographic area
  - By product or service
  - By customer
  - By process
- Decentralized type
Other organizational designs include:
- Geography-Based Organizational Design
- Product-Based Organizational Design
- Customer-Based Organizational Design
- Process-Based Organizational Design
- Strategic Business Unit (SBU) Form of Multidivisional Structure
- Matrix Organizational Structure (combines vertical and horizontal flows of authority and communication)

Strategic Production/Operational Issues

Restructuring:
- Reducing the size of the firm in terms of number of employees, divisions, or units, and hierarchical levels
Reengineering:
- Reconfiguring or redesigning work, jobs, and processes for the purpose of improving cost, quality, service, and speed

Managing Resistance to Change

Strategies for managing resistance to change include:
- Force Change Strategy: giving orders and ensuring they are followed
- Educative Change Strategy: educating employees about the need for change
- Rational or Self-interest Change Strategy: convincing employees that the change will benefit them personally

Description

This quiz covers various concepts in organizational management, including trade-offs, conflict resolution approaches, and types of organizational structures. It includes strategies for managing and resolving conflicts, such as avoidance, diffusion, and confrontation.