Summary organizational theory - H 3-13, 15
Organizational Structure (EBP670C05)
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
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SV Organisational Structure 18-Oct-13 12:52:00 PM
POWER-CONTROL
- arguments in support of strategic choice for managers
- distinguish between power and authority
- how an individual or group gains power
- define politics
- power-control model of how structures emerge
- power-control interpretation of technology and environment's role in structure
- power-control view of structural change
- how power and politics interact within organisations
- at what levels the five contingencies have the strongest influence
power control an organisation's structure, at any given time, is to a large extent the result of those in power selecting a structure that will, to the maximum degree possible, maintain and enhance their control
- Strategic choice and the early challenge to contingency
strategic choice although managers' discretion is curtailed to some extent, there is still considerable scope for them to make choices favourable to themselves (John Child)
The contingencies limit the choices that managers have. 4 argumental points:
- Decision makers have more autonomy than that implied by those arguing for the dominance of environmental, technological or other forces.
- Organisational effectiveness should be construed as a range instead of a point.
- Organisations often have the power to manipulate and control their environments.
- Perceptions and evaluations of events are an important intervening link between environments and the actions of organisations.
- The role of rational choice in organisations
rationality the belief that decisions are goal-directed and consistent
politicking and defensive behaviour. It should stress the importance of the organisation's goals and values over individual and departmental interests. This must be fostered by top management. The emphasis should be on the organisation rather than the individual departments.
Implementation of appropriate reward systems This is often achieved through company-wide rewards. Where departmental or divisional rewards are given, it removes the incentive to cooperate with others. In that case it is seen as a win-lose transaction. Companies often operate share-incentive or profit-sharing schemes which tend to reduce the tendency for parts of the organisation to look after their own narrow interests.
Tolerance of ideas which are not implemented The way mangers handle failure sends a powerful message to the organisation. It is still possible to recognise effort and to thank those who tried, if the project fails. If suggestions that are not implemented will be ignored or those who propose them receive a negative reaction, others will be discouraged.
Creation of boundary-spanning positions Communication that flows horizontally through the organisation is important for innovation, to help that boundary-spanning roles are created. They have the responsibility of gathering and consolidating cross-disciplinary information promoting communication, sharing ideas and coordinating effort. The advantage of formal mechanisms is that top management signals through the appointment that the area of responsibility is important.
- Knowledge management
The first importance to organisational knowledge is that complex organisations need to draw upon and coordinate the knowledge of many persons with specialised knowledge. The core is to draw upon individual knowledge and turn it into collective knowledge. The intangible nature of knowledge makes it difficult to quantify and manage. And it's perishable, so it must be continuously updated and replaced.
The growth of IT industry has meant that vast amounts of data are now held in computer memory and are available at little effort and cost. The raw data is of limited use in assisting the decision-makers, so someone needs to identify which data is important, collate the data into a useful package and then interpret it, turning data into knowledge. Capturing and turning the capability of bringing widely dispersed staff together into a competitive advantage to an organisation is an emerging challenge for managers. The challenge draws on organisation's structure, culture and management style.
Tacit and explicit knowledge o tacit knowledge, personal knowledge, specific to a particular context, difficult to formalise and, as a consequence, not easy to communicate to others o explicit knowledge, codified knowledge, which may be transmitted in formal systematic language, the core of knowledge management
Facilitating knowledge management Knowledge has to take a tangible form and be expressed in a way which managers can identify with and understand. Effective knowledge management runs counter to traditional command and control techniques. It involves facilitating open communication and finding appropriate places to store it and subsequently access it. There are three parts in facilitating knowledge management:
Establishing a supportive culture Features of such a culture include a balance between individual and group rewareds, emoval of incentives to hoard knowledge, and the promotion of good interpersonal communications.
Introducing an appropriate structure The structure should remove barriers to communication and facilitating information sharing. The creation of the position of knowledge manager is important for many organisations, particularly professional practises.
Making appropriate use of technology
management in creating the conditions for organisational learning. Managers can overcome the tendency to revert to lower level incremental learning, by creating the conditions necessary for higher level learning (five disciplines). One problem is its tendency to promote a 'one size fits all' solution. It's a normative approach; it promotes the idea tha tapplication of the techniques will provide a certain outcome. Large organisations break their learning needs into manageable components by focusing on communities of practice. The managerial school examines how managerial actions may increase an organisation's capacity to learn.
Process school This school concentrates upon the centrality of information processing to learning. The capacity of the individual to learn must be improved, by attending to the constructs of learning. Communication between individuals and departments should be improved, exposure of individuals to new stimuli and experiences, and the quality of interpersonal interaction. The school neglects the importance of higher order learning. The process school closely links learning to supportive technologies such as information technology.
Coexistence of the organisational learning schools Managers attempting to promote organisational learning in their organisations will use all four approaches, but with different emphases depending on the circumstances.
Measurement of organisational learning There are some indicators which point to learning taking place, i. a proportion of revenue from new products and speed and appropriateness of decision making. Experienced managers are able to infer learning from the speed and manner in which the organisation responds to crises and shocks.
The organisational learning cycle Even though people come and go, the memory is reflected in the organisation. It's also able to modify this memory. March and Olsen have described a cycle of organisational learning which integrates individual and organisational learning. The beliefs of individuals affect their behaviour, which transforms itself into organisational actions which
produce environmental responses. These responses affect the beliefs of individuals. They describe what may happen when this learning cycle is incomplete. The links between the parts of the cycle are broken
Role-constrained learning (individual beliefs - individual action) an individual is constrained by bheir role or their job description
Audience learning (individual action - organisational action) the individual fails to see a link between their own actions and the organisation's actions
Superstitious learning (organisational actions - environmental responses) the individual perceives the link is still in place and modifies their beliefs accordingly
Learning under ambiguity (environmental responses - individual beliefs) an individual fails to grasp the significance of what is happening in the environment and what it means for their job
Promotion of organisational learning
- Fear must be driven from the system so that staff feel less constrained to make suggestions and take risks.
- Improving flows of information is important. There has to be a downside in hoarding knowledge. Informal meeting improve this.
- An organisation needs a trigger to stimulate the organisational learning cycle, from problems the organisation is facing, new oppertunities or new people (top managers) who are thinkers and innovators.
organisational unlearning is a process by which a person, or an organisation, comes to the realisation that existing knowledge, ways of doing things or procedures are no longer relevant and that new ones must be developed and applied.
18-Oct-13 12:52:00 PM
18-Oct-13 12:52:00 PM
18-Oct-13 12:52:00 PM
18-Oct-13 12:52:00 PM
Summary organizational theory - H 3-13, 15
Vak: Organizational Structure (EBP670C05)
Universiteit: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
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