Chapter 7: Creating a Flexible Organization

1. Chapter 7: Creating a Flexible Organization

2. Learning Objectives • Understand what an organization is and identify its characteristics. • Explain why job specialization is important. • Identify the various bases for departmentalization. • Explain how decentralization follows from delegation. • Understand how the span of management describes an organization. • Describe the four basic forms of organizational structure. • Describe the effects of corporate culture. • Understand how committees and task forces are used. • Explain the functions of the informal organization and the grapevine in a business.

3. What Is an Organization? • Developing Organization Charts • Major Considerations for Organizing a Business

4. Job Design • Job Specialization • The Rationale for Specialization • Alternatives to Job Specialization

5. Departmentalization • By Function • By Product • By Location • By Customer • Combinations of Bases

6. Delegation, Decentralization, and Centralization • Delegation of Authority • Steps in Delegation • Barriers to Delegation • Decentralization of Authority

7. The Span of Management • Wide and Narrow Spans of Management • Organizational Height

8. Forms of Organizational Structure • The Line Structure • The Line-and-Staff Structure • The Matrix Structure • The Network Structure

9. Corporate Culture • Types of Corporate Culture • Networked • Communal • Fragmented • Mercenary

10. Committees and Task Forces • Ad hoc committee • Standing committee • Task force

11. The Informal Organization and the Grapevine • Informal organization • Informal group • Grapevine