MMM132 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Organizational Behavior, Centralisation, Job Satisfaction
12 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
MMM132 Management
Kieu Trang Nguyen
Study notes
Topic 7, Part Chapters 5, 6, 7
Foundations of Organising (pp 118-126)
*Six key elements in organisational design:
Work specialisation
Departmentalisation
Authority and responsibility (and accountability)
Span of control
Centralisation vs decentralisation
Formalisation
An organisation’s structure is its framework, or skeleton if you like. It is designed to
determine the best working relationships across all jobs in the organisation. The process of
designing an organisation’s structure involves determine the relationships between tasks
and jobs (job design), between jobs (departmentalisation) and the hierarchy of responsibility
and authority that best suit the organisation. An organisation’s structure can be a source of
competitive advantage. Managers must continually analyse the organisation’s structure to
ensure it is as efficient and effective as possible given its industry and environment.
*Types of Organisational Structures (p 131)
Mechanistic (bureaucratic)
High in formalisation, centralisation, work specialisation, with narrow spans of control
Organic
Low in formalisation, centralisation, work specialisation, with wide spans of control
Can you think of examples and advantages of each?
Mechanistic structure was initially proposed as an ‘ideal’ structure to coordinate and
integrate activities in a large organisation. Consider for example the Australian Army, which
likely has hundreds of thousands (if not more) ‘employees’. This structure has high
formalisation, centralisation, job and work specialisation, narrow spans of control, formal
chain of command and a hierarchy of authority and responsibility.
Organic structures are more ‘fluid’ (see text). Examples and advantages of each of these
structures is important for managers as they design their organisation’s structures
*Types of Departmentalisation
Departmentalisation: how jobs are grouped together
Types:
Functional
Product
Customer
Geographic
Process
Departmentalisation involves decisions about how to group jobs together for efficiency and
effectiveness.
Functional departmentalisation: jobs are grouped together according to their function
Product departmentalisation: jobs are grouped according to major product areas in an
organisation
Customer departmentalisation: jobs are grouped according to customers
Geographic departmentalisation: jobs are grouped on the basis of region or geographical
location
Process departmentalisation: jobs are grouped on the basis of work or customer flow.
Can you think of advantages of these different types of departmentalisation? See your text
*What drives Organisation Change? (pp 191 -195)
Change is ongoing in an organisation. Drivers include:
External factors
Internal factors
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
An organisation"s structure is its framework, or skeleton if you like. It is designed to determine the best working relationships across all jobs in the organisation. The process of designing an organisation"s structure involves determine the relationships between tasks and jobs (job design), between jobs (departmentalisation) and the hierarchy of responsibility and authority that best suit the organisation. An organisation"s structure can be a source of competitive advantage. Managers must continually analyse the organisation"s structure to ensure it is as efficient and effective as possible given its industry and environment. High in formalisation, centralisation, work specialisation, with narrow spans of control. Low in formalisation, centralisation, work specialisation, with wide spans of control. Mechanistic structure was initially proposed as an ideal" structure to coordinate and integrate activities in a large organisation. Consider for example the australian army, which likely has hundreds of thousands (if not more) employees".
