58. Briefly discuss the contingency factors of an organization.
ANSWER:
Contingency factors include size, organizational technology, the external environment, goals and strategy, and organizational culture.
a. Size can be measured for the organization as a whole or for specific components, such as a plant or division.
b. Organizational technology refers to the tools, techniques, and actions used to transform inputs into outputs.
c. The environment includes all elements outside the boundary of the organization.
d. The organization’s goals and strategy define the purpose and competitive techniques that set it apart from other organizations.
e. An organization’s culture is the underlying set of key values, beliefs, understandings, and norms shared by employees.
59. Discuss in detail the stakeholder approach.
ANSWER:
Achieving effectiveness is not always a simple matter because different people want different things from an organization. For customers, the primary concern is high-quality products and services provided in a timely manner at a reasonable price, whereas employees are mostly concerned with adequate pay, good working conditions, and job satisfaction. Managers carefully balance the needs and interests of various stakeholders in setting goals and striving for effectiveness. This is referred to as the stakeholder approach, which integrates diverse organizational activities by looking at various organizational stakeholders and what they want from the organization. A stakeholder is any group within or outside of the organization that has a stake in the organization’s performance. The satisfaction level of each group can be assessed as an indication of the organization’s performance and effectiveness.
60. What is scientific management? How is it used?
ANSWER:
Pioneered by Frederick Winslow Taylor, scientific management emphasizes scientifically determined jobs and management practices as the way to improve efficiency and labor productivity. Taylor proposed that workers “could be retooled like machines, their physical and mental gears recalibrated for better productivity.” He insisted that management itself would have to change and emphasized that decisions based on rules of thumb and tradition should be replaced with precise procedures developed after careful study of individual situations. To use this approach, managers develop precise, standard procedures for doing each job, select workers with appropriate abilities, train workers in the standard procedures, carefully plan work, and provide wage incentives to increase output.
61. What is a mechanistic design?
ANSWER:
A mechanistic design means that an organization is characterized by machine-like standard rules, procedures, and a clear hierarchy of authority. Organizations are highly formalized and are also centralized, with most decisions made at the top.
62. Differentiate between specialized tasks and empowered roles.
ANSWER:
A task is a narrowly defined piece of work assigned to a person. With a mechanistic design, tasks are broken down into specialized, separate parts, as in a machine, with each employee performing activities according to a specific job description. A role, in contrast, is a part in a dynamic social system. A role has discretion and responsibility, allowing a person to use his or her judgment and ability to achieve an outcome or meet a goal.
63. Discuss how communication takes place in mechanistic and organic organizations.
ANSWER:
Mechanistic organizations emphasize vertical communication up and down the hierarchy. Top managers pass information downward to employees about goals and strategies, job instructions, procedures, and so forth, and in turn ask that employees provide information up the hierarchy concerning problems, performance reports, financial information, suggestions and ideas, and so forth. In an organic organization, there is greater emphasis on horizontal communication, with information flowing in all directions within and across departments and hierarchical levels. The widespread sharing of information enables all employees to have complete information about the company so they can act quickly. In addition, organic organizations maintain open lines of communication with customers, suppliers, and even competitors to enhance learning capability.
64. Describe the levels of analysis of an organization.
ANSWER:
Each organization is a system that is composed of various subsystems. Organization systems are nested within systems, and one level of analysis has to be chosen as the primary focus. Four levels of analysis normally characterize organizations. The individual human being is the basic building block of organizations. The human being is to the organization what a cell is to a biological system. The next higher system level is the group or department. These are collections of individuals who work together to perform group tasks. The next level of analysis is the organization itself. An organization is a collection of groups or departments that combine into the total organization. Organizations themselves can be grouped together into the next higher level of analysis, which is the interorganizational set and community. The interorganizational set is the group of organizations with which a single organization interacts. Other organizations in the community make up an important part of an organization’s environment.