Organization Design
Staying Connected
The odds are good that at some point in your career, you’ll be offered the opportunity to telecommute work at home. (According to a recent survey,
37 percent of workers say their company offers that option.1) And working from home can be a good thing. (A recent study showed that an employee’s efficiency can improve by 13 percent.2) Although you might be efficient, not being physically at the workplace can make it seem like you’re totally disconnected from what’s going on. (Another recent study showed that telecommuters move up more slowly than their in-office peers.3) When working as a remote employee — or even if you, at some point, manage someone in that kind of work arrangement — it’s important to find ways to make the work relationship, well . . . . work. And work well! Here are some suggestions for staying in the organizational loop and making yourself a valuable employee:
1.Stay focused and productive. Time management is absolutely critical. Plan ahead using goal setting and to-do lists (see Chapter 8’s opener and end-of-chapter skill application). Control — or even better, eliminate — interruptions and distractions. When you have work appointments (online, phone, Skype, etc.), keep them; and make sure you’re prepared by having the materials you will need for the conversation. Respect the schedules
and time requirements of your colleagues.
2. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Communication is always important — regardless of where you do your work — but especially so when face-to-face exchanges are minimal or nonexistent. It’s critical to think before you communicate. Choose your communication approach carefully.
3. Choose appropriate technology. Know and choose the tools that are most appropriate for your situation. Will you need to collaborate with others or will your work be mainly solitary? What type of communication will be necessary — e-mail, instant messaging, video messaging, etc.? Choose your tech tools wisely.
4. Be aware of the “people” aspects of remote work arrangements. When a person is not physically at a workplace, it is hard to build closeness and camaraderie. But those things are still important.
Welcome to the fascinating world of organizational structure and design. In this chap- ter, we present the basics of organizing. We define the key organizing concepts and their components and how managers use these to create a structured environment in which organizational members can do their work efficiently and effectively.
SIX elements of organizational design
The Boeing Company is reducing the build time for a 787 model wide body jetliner from 30 days to 24 days. That may not sound like much, but it is. Boeing Vice President Larry Loftis stated: “All in all, this is considered quite a feat for an aircraft composed of 2.3 million parts.”4 Management must be doing something right. The reliability of 787 aircraft is 99 percent. Getting there requires careful planning and coordination. Loftis indicated: “So the timing is really good for us because it allows us to take the personnel off the temporary surge line, move a number of them over to the main line, get the training in place, get them used to the jobs they’re going to be working to really de-risk the ramp up on the main line.”5 Clearly, the work gets done efficiently and effectively here.
Work Specialization
What do Joël Robuchon and Aureole have in common? Both are Las Vegas gourmet restaurants. Also, both restaurants staff their kitchens with culinary experts. For instance, pas- try chefs prepare sumptuous desserts. The chef garde man- agers take responsibility for preparation of all cold food items, and multiple chefs de partie each take responsibility for preparing one type of food, such as fish, roasts, or fried foods. This is an example of work specialization, which is dividing work activities into separate job tasks. Individual employees “specialize” in doing part of an activity rather than the entire activity in order to increase work output and quality.
Departmentalization
Does your college have a department of student services or financial aid department? Are you taking this course through a management department? After deciding what job tasks will be done by whom, common work activities need to be grouped back together so work gets done in a coordinated and integrated way. How jobs are grouped together is called departmentalization. Five common forms of departmentalization are used, although an organization may develop its own unique classification. (For instance, a hotel might have departments such as front desk operations, sales and catering, housekeeping and laundry, and maintenance.) Exhibit 11–3 illustrates each type of departmentalization as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Chain of Command
Suppose you were at work and had a problem with an issue that came up. What would you do? Who would you ask to help you resolve that issue? People need to know who their boss is. That’s what the chain of command is all about. The chain of command is the line of authority extending from upper organizational levels to lower levels, which clarifies who reports to whom. Managers need to consider it when organizing work because it helps employees with questions such as “Who do I report to?” or “Who do I go to if I have a problem?” To understand the chain of command, you have to understand three other important concepts: authority, responsibility, and unity of command.
Span of Control
How many employees can a manager efficiently and effectively manage? That’s what span of control is all about. The traditional view was that managers could not and should not directly supervise more than five or six subordinates. Determining the span of control is important because, to a large degree, it determines the number of levels and managers in an organization an important consideration in how efficient an organization will be. All other things being equal, the wider or larger the span, the more efficient the organization
Centralization and Decentralization
One of the questions that needs to be answered when organizing is “At what organiza- tional level are decisions made?” Centralization is the degree to which decision making takes place at upper levels of the organization. If top managers make key decisions with little input from below, then the organization is more centralized. On the other hand, the more that lower-level employees provide input or actually make decisions, the more decentralization there is. Keep in mind that centralization decentralization is not an either-or concept. The decision is relative, not absolute that is, an organiza- tion is never completely centralized or decentralized.
Formalization
Formalization refers to how standardized an organization’s jobs are and the extent to which employee behavior is guided by rules and procedures. In highly formalized organizations, there are explicit job descriptions, numerous organizational rules, and clearly defined procedures covering work processes. Employees have little discretion over what’s done, when it’s done, and how it’s done. However, where there is less for malization, employees have more discretion in how they do their work.
