Organizational Structure, Job Design, and Management Concepts

Job Design

The process by which managers decide how to divide tasks into specific jobs.

Job Simplification

The process of reducing the number of tasks that each worker performs.

Job Enlargement

Increasing the number of different tasks in a given job by changing the division of labor.

Job Enrichment

Increasing the degree of responsibility a worker has over a job.

Functional Structure

An organizational structure composed of all the departments that an organization requires to produce its goods or services.

Advantages of Functional Structure

Encourages learning from others doing similar jobs; easy for managers to monitor and evaluate workers.

Disadvantages of Functional Structure

Difficult for departments to communicate with others; preoccupation with own department and losing sight of organizational goals.

Divisional Structure

An organizational structure composed of separate business units within which are the functions that work together to produce a specific product for a specific customer.

Product Structure

Each product line or business is handled by a self-contained division.

Advantages of Product Structure

Allows functional managers to specialize in one product area; division managers become experts in their area.

Geographic Structure

Each region of a country or area of the world is served by a self-contained division.

Global Geographic Structure

Managers locate different divisions in each of the world regions where the organization operates.

Global Product Structure

Each product division, not the country or regional managers, takes responsibility for deciding where to manufacture its products and how to market them in foreign countries.

Market Structure

Each kind of customer served by a self-contained division; also called customer structure.

Matrix Structure

An organizational structure that simultaneously groups people and resources by function and product.

Product Team Structure

Employees are permanently assigned to a cross-functional team and report only to the product team manager or to one of his direct subordinates.

Cross-Functional Team

Group of managers brought together from different departments to perform organizational tasks.

Authority

The power to hold people accountable for their actions and to make decisions concerning the use of organizational resources.

Hierarchy of Authority

An organization's chain of command, specifying the relative authority of each manager.

Span of Control

The number of subordinates who report directly to a manager.

Line Manager

Someone in the direct line or chain of command who has formal authority over people and resources.

Staff Manager

Someone responsible for managing a specialist function, such as finance or marketing.

Tall Organization

Many levels of authority relative to company size.

Flat Organization

Fewer levels of authority relative to company size.

Decentralizing Authority

Giving lower-level managers and nonmanagerial employees the right to make important decisions about how to use organizational resources.

Integrating Mechanisms

Organizing tools that managers can use to increase communication and coordination among functions and divisions.

Strategic Alliances

Formal agreements that commit two or more companies to exchange or share their resources to produce and market a product.