Chapter 10
What is the challenge all companies face?
The challenge all companies are facing is to design a culture and structure that (1) motivate managers and employees to work hard, and (2) coordinate the actions of employees, groups, functions, and divisions to ensure that they work together efficiently and effectively.
What is controlling?
Controlling is the process whereby managers monitor and regulate how efficiently and effectively an organization and its members are performing the activities necessary to achieve organizational goals.
Tell us two different Strategies from the Strategy Course.
differentiation strategy, cost-leadership strategy, blue ocean strategy....
What other way than having a flat organization is there to keep the organizational hierarchy flat?
By decentralizing authority– giving lower-level managers and nonmanagerial employees the right to make important decisions about how to use organizational resources.
What could be a problem with output controls?
When designing an output control system, managers must be careful to avoid some pitfalls.
Explain: Adaptive cultures and inert cultures.
Adaptive cultures are those whose values and norms help an organization to build momentum and to grow and change as needed to achieve its goals and be effective.
By contrast, inert cultures are those whose values and norms fail to motivate or inspireemployees; they lead to stagnation and, often, failure over time.
Explain the matrix structure and the Product Team Design.
A matrix structure is an organizational structure that simultaneously groups people and resources by function and by product.
A product team structure is an organizational structure in which employees are permanently assigned to a cross-functional team and report only to the product team manager or to one of his or her subordinates.
Explain Lewin's theory.
The force-field theory says that a wide variety of forces arise from the way an organization operates – from its structure, culture, and control systems – that make organizations resistant to change.
An organization at performance level P1 is in balance: Forces for change and resistance to change are equal. Management, however, decides that the organization should strive to achieve performance level P2. To do so, managers must increase the forces for change and/or reduce the resistance to change.
To increase communication and coordination, top managers incorporate various integrating mechanisms.
Explain those!
Liaison roles: Marketing manager and research and development manager meet to brainstorm new product ideas.
Task forces: Representatives from marketing, research and development, and manufacturing meet to discuss launch of new product.
Cross-functional teams: A cross-functional team composed of all functions is formed to manage product to its launch in the market.
Integrating roles and departments: Senior managers provide members of cross-functional team with relevant information from other teams and from other divisions.
What are tall organizations and flat organizations? What would you prefer and why?
A tall organization has many levels of authority relative to company size. A flat organization has fewer levels relative to company size.
What kind of methods are there to motivate employees? Explain further.
Output control, Behavior control and Organizational culture/clan control.
What are the four steps in Organizing Control?
Figure in Presentation.
Explain the different divisional Structures and give an example for one of your choosing with a company.
Product structure, market structure, geographic structure : Global geographic structures and global product structure.
Go through the 3 Types of control.
Figure in Presentation
Jackpot, you get 500 points just like that ;)
Good job!