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MGF1010: Introduction to Management

Week 6:Functions of Management (O):

Organising

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Assignment Reminder: Case Study

Report

• Friday, May 8, 2015

• Case Study Style

• 2000 words (+/- 10%)

• Worth 30%

• Case: Bahfen and Associates (Moodle)

• Minimum 5 Journal Articles

• Moodle is the place for lots of information goodies

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Learning objectives

Explain why organising is important.

Describe six key elements in organisational design.

Contrast mechanistic and organic structures.

Identify the contingency factors that favour either the

mechanistic model or the organic model of organisational

design.

Describe traditional organisational designs.

Discuss contemporary organisational designs.

Describe today’s organisational design challenges.

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ORGANISING

- is how an organisation’s structure is created

-Organisational structure

is the formal arrangement of

jobs within an organisation.

-Managers need to establish

structural designs that will

best support and allow

employees to do their work

effectively and efficiently

Organisational design is the process of

developing or changing an organisation’s

structure.

This process involves decisions about six

key elements: work specialisation,

departmentalisation, chain of command,

span of control,

centralisation/decentralisation and

formalisation.

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Elements of organising

Work specialisation: is the degree to which tasks in an organisation are

divided into separate jobs. Another term for this is division of labour .

Departmentalisation: process of grouping tasks (function, geography,

process, customer and product).

Chain of Command: is the line of authority that extends from the upper

organisational levels to the lowest levels and clarifies who reports to whom. Three

concepts related to chain of command are authority, responsibility and unity of command

.

Span of Control: refers to the number of employees a manager can effectively

and efficiently manage.

Centralisation/de-centralisation: address who, where and how

decisions are made in organisations.

Formalisation: refers to the degree to which jobs within an organisation are

standardised and the extent to which employee behaviour is guided by rules and

procedures.

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ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN

• Mechanistic

OrganisationRigid, Tightly Controlled

– High Specialisation,

– Rigid

Departmentalisation,

– Narrow spans of control,

– High formalisation,

– Limited information

network

– Little participation in

decision making by low-

level employees.

• Organic

OrganisationHighly adaptive and flexible

– Little work

specialisation,

– Minimal formalisation,

– Little direct supervision

of employees.

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ORGANISATION DESIGN

Traditional

organisational

designs

E.g. bureaucracy

Simple structures

Emerging/Contempo

rary organisational

designs

E.g. Outsourcing

Teams

Virtual teams

Global teams

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REVIEW QUESTIONS

• Explain why organising is important.

Organising, which involves arranging and structuring work

to accomplish the organisation’s goals, is important for

managers because an appropriate structure allows

employees to effectively and efficiently do their work while

accomplishing organisational goals and objectives.

Organising results in the development of an organisational

structure, which is the formal framework by which job tasks

are divided, grouped and coordinated.

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• TRADITIONALThe traditional view of work

specialisation was that it was seen

as an unending source of increased

productivity—and for a time it was.

Discuss the traditional and contemporary

views of work specialisation .

• CONTEMPORARYThe contemporary view of work

specialisation is that it is an

important organising mechanism but

not a source of ever-increasing

productivity. Managers recognise the

economies it provides in certain

types of jobs, but they also

recognise the problems it creates

when it is carried to extremes.

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EXPLAIN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

• Strategy and StructureStructure should follow strategy.

Most current strategy–structure frameworks tend to focus on three dimensions: (1)

innovation, (2) cost minimisation, and (3) imitation. Innovators need the flexibility and free

flow of information from the organic structure, whereas cost minimisers seek the efficiency,

stability and tight controls of the mechanistic structure. Imitators use structural characteristics

of both—the mechanistic structure to maintain tight controls and low costs and the organic

structure to mimic the industry’s innovative directions.

• Organisational size and StructureOrganisational size influences structure in that large organisations tend to have more

specialisation, departmentalisation, centralisation and rules and regulations than do

small organisations.

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Describe the factors that influence the amount

of centralisation and decentralisation.

Factors that influence greater centralisation include stable

environments, when lower-level managers are not as capable or

experienced at making decisions as upper-level managers, when lower-

level managers do not want to have a say in decisions, when decisions

are significant, when the organisation is facing a crisis or the risk of

company failure, when the company is large, and when effective

implementation of company strategies depends on managers retaining a

say over what happens.

Factors that influence greater decentralisation include when the

environment is complex and uncertain, when lower-level managers are

capable and experienced at making decisions and want a voice in

decisions, when decisions are relatively minor, when corporate culture is

open to allowing managers to have a say in what happens, when the

company is geographically dispersed, and when effective

implementation of company strategies depends on managers having

involvement and the flexibility to make decisions.

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DESCRIBE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF

A LEARNING ORGANISATION

A learning organisation is one that has developed the

continuous capacity to adapt and change because all its

members take an active role in identifying and resolving

work-related issues.

The important characteristics of a learning organisation

revolve around organisational design, information sharing,

leadership and culture.

Some organisational design experts even go so far as to

say that an organisation’s ability to become a learning

organisation may be the only sustainable source of

competitive advantage.

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Discuss the organisational design challenges facing

managers today in relation to keeping employees

connected.

Many organisational design concepts were developed during the

20th century, when work tasks were fairly predictable and

constant, most jobs were full-time and continued indefinitely, and

work was done at an employer’s place of business under a

manager’s supervision. Today’s challenge for managers is to

develop structural designs that keep widely dispersed and mobile

employees connected to the organisation. The fact is that

whether you are a large or small company in today’s business

world, changes in information technology and globalisation have

made old hierarchical structures less suitable in this new

environment.

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Describe the design of virtual and

network organisations.

A boundaryless organisation is one whose design is not defined

by, or limited to, the horizontal, vertical or external boundaries

imposed by a predefined structure. Two types of boundaryless

organisations are virtual and network.

A virtual organisation is an organisation that consists of a small core of full-

time employees and which temporarily hires outside specialists to work on

opportunities that arise.

A network organisation is a small core organisation that outsources major

business functions.

A number of factors have influenced the increasing emergence of

boundaryless organisational designs. First there is the increasing

globalisation of markets and competitors. Another factor is the

rapidly changing technology that permits boundaryless

organisations to work. Finally, the need for innovation has

contributed to the evolution and development of the boundaryless

organisation.

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Assignment Two

Executive Summary (10%)– This section should comprise a brief overview of the case, giving a

brief background of the current situation to set the scene for the

report and noting any important assumptions made. (You will not

have all the information you would like - so you may need to make

some assumptions). As well as this, you should give a synopsis of

your case report, outlining the major problems identified and

– the recommendations that have been made in the report. This

should be NO more than one page double spaced. The executive

summary should be on its own page. It is numbered in ROMAN

NUMERALS – eg ii or iii.

– Separate Page

– What you found

– Recommendations, 150-250 words

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Assignment Two

• Problem Identification and Analysis

(25%)

– Analysing the case

– Identify the theories that are relevant

– i.e. Motivation

> e.g Maslow (Hierarchy of Needs)

> e.g McClelland (Three Needs)

– I want to see the theorists and I want you to reference

them (not the textbook)

– Don’t tell me the theory, tell me the case and explain

the theory through the case.

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Assignment Two

• Statement of Major Problems (5%)

– Clearly what are the major problems

1. Leadership

a) Lack of transformational leadership

b) Too focus on process and not on people

2. Motivation

a) Employees feel a lack of equity

b) Employees need to be intrinsically motivated

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Assignment Two

• Generation and Evaluation of a Range of

Alternate Solutions (20%)

– Under each of the problem headings speak about 2 to 3

recommendations for each problem

– Advantages and disadvantages of each

– Be able to link them to the relevant theory

– Make it clear and creative

– Ensure that they are practical solutions

– You must reference!

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Assignment Two

• Recommendations (15%)

– Choose one recommendation for each problem

– So for the sake of this example 4 recommendations

– Justify why using theory

– You must reference

– Make sure you are suggesting things that would actually

work!

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Assignment Two

• Implementation (10%)

– What are the steps for implementing this change

– What will happen

– Who should be responsible for each step

– How will it be implemented

– What are the costs

– This can be in a table if it is nicely presented

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Assignment Two

• Presentation (10%)

– The paragraphs are correct

– Spelling and grammar

– Consistency of wording

– Double spaced

– Page numbers at the bottom right hand corner

– Sub-headings (report)

– Size 11/12 font Times / Calibri

– Justify the paragraphs

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Assignment Two

• Referencing (5%)

– 5 Journal Articles APA Style

> Peer-reviewed journals

> Business Week / New York Times is not a journal

> A book is not a journal

> Big Dog Little Dog Blog is not a journal

> Wikipedia is not a journal

> Sparknotes is not a journal

> Lecture Slides are not a journal

> Websites are not a journal

> Mickey Mouse is not a journal

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Case Study:De Best Fashions

You are consultants.

• Group 1: Accenture

• Group 2: Delloitte

• Group 3: Ernst & Young

• Group 4: KPMG Consulting

• Group 5: PWC (Price Waterhouse Coopers)

Lighthart has contacted you because Wishnoski has

suggested she is not happy with another raise, and is

looking for another job. Lighthart wants to know what to do

next.

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Next Week

• Read Chapter 18 pp. 649-661, 667-668

• Answer related review questions

• Download Fresh Produce from the Moodle, read and prepare

for discussion next week.