Organizational Culture, Structure, & Design

Practice flashcards covering key vocabulary related to organizational culture, structure, and design, derived from lecture notes.

Organizational Structure, Design, & Culture

Key elements of an organization driven by strategy, power, and politics, shaping its overall operation and environment.

Tall Organization

A centralized organizational structure where decisions are primarily made at the top, characterized by consistency but often slow decision-making.

Flat Organization

An organizational structure where decisions are made at lower levels, making it nimble but potentially leading to a lack of consistency and difficulty in replicating success.

Divisional Structure

An organizational structure where people with diverse occupational specialties are grouped into formal units based on similar products, customers, or geographic regions.

Common Purpose

A common element of organizations that provides everyone with an understanding of the organization’s fundamental reason for being.

Coordinated Effort

A common element of organizations that involves the integration of individual efforts into a unified, group-wide endeavor.

Division of Labor

A common element of organizations involving the allocation of discrete parts of a task to different individuals.

Hierarchy of Authority

A common element of organizations that ensures the right people are performing the right tasks at the right time, often supported by the principle of unity of command.

Organizational Culture

The set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds, determining how it perceives, thinks about, and reacts to its various environments; it encompasses values, norms, and beliefs.

Drivers of Organizational Culture

Factors that influence an organization's culture, including the founder’s values, industry and business environment, national culture, the organization’s vision and strategy, and the behavior of leaders.

Strong Corporate Culture

An organizational culture based on a foundation of shared values that leads to significantly higher performance in terms of revenue growth, job creation, stock price appreciation, and profit.

Acquisition Failure (Cultural Reason)

The most common reason for the failure of organizational acquisitions (accounting for 50% of failures), often stemming from a misalignment of the merging companies' cultures.

Person-Organization Fit

The extent to which an individual's personality and values align with the prevailing climate and culture within an organization.

Symbols (Culture Learning)

Objects, acts, qualities, or events that convey meaning to others, used as a means for employees to learn and understand an organization's culture.

Stories (Culture Learning)

Narratives based on true events, often repeated and sometimes embellished, that emphasize and transmit particular values within an organizational culture.

Heroes (Culture Learning)

Individuals whose accomplishments embody and exemplify the core values of an organization, serving as role models for employees.

Rites and Rituals (Culture Learning)

Activities and ceremonies that celebrate important occasions and accomplishments, serving to reinforce and transmit organizational culture to employees.

Organizational Socialization

The process by which new individuals learn the values, norms, and required behaviors necessary to function effectively within an organization.