Chapter 9 – The Challenge of International Organizations: Structure and Culture

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, organizational forms, cultural theories, and managerial issues from Chapter 9 on structure and culture in international organizations.

Strategic Apex

Top-level managers who hold overall responsibility and use direct supervision as the main coordinating mechanism.

Technostructure

Specialists (e.g., accountants, engineers) who create rules and procedures to standardize work in the operating core.

Simple Structure

An entrepreneurial form dominated by the strategic apex, common in small import-export and start-up firms.

Born Global Firm

A venture that operates in multiple countries from inception, leveraging the founder’s international experience and network.

Machine Bureaucracy

Mintzberg design that relies on highly formalized rules and procedures; typical in banks, government agencies, and some global producers.

Middle Line

Managers who link the operating core with the strategic apex and vary in influence across organization types.

Divisional Structure

Organizational form of semi-autonomous units coordinated by headquarters, often organized by geography or product.

Support Staff

Internal consultants and service units that supply indirect support to the organization.

Adhocracy

Flexible structure of overlapping teams of experts that relies on mutual adjustment rather than formal rules.

Professional Bureaucracy

Structure in which highly trained professionals exercise individual autonomy within standardized skills.

Ecological Theories

Perspective that environments ‘select out’ poorly adapted firms; managers have limited ability to change structure.

Institutional Theory

View that organizations adopt similar structures due to shared norms, regulations, and imitation within an environment.

Isomorphism

Process that leads organizations in the same field to resemble one another structurally.

Coercive Isomorphism

Structural similarity produced by legal or regulatory pressures.

Normative Isomorphism

Convergence driven by professional standards and norms.

Mimetic Isomorphism

Copying of successful organizations when facing uncertainty.

Culture-Free Perspective

Contingency view that size, technology, and strategy—not culture—determine effective structure.

Contingency Factors

Key variables (size, technology, strategy) whose fit with structure influences effectiveness.

Formal Centralization

Where official authority to make decisions is located in the hierarchy.

Centralization in Practice

The actual degree of consultation and decision-making regardless of formal charts.

Culturally Manifested Pattern

Organizational arrangements shaped unconsciously by managers’ value orientations.

Culturally Legitimate Pattern

Structures society deems acceptable, enforced through external pressures.

Keiretsu

Japanese inter-firm network anchored by a bank and reciprocal ownership, functioning like an extended family.

Chaebol

Large, family-dominated Korean conglomerate supported by government financing and centralized control.

Putting-Out System

Italian knitwear production network of small family firms that subcontract stages of work from home workshops.

Informal Organization

Unwritten norms and relationships that guide behavior beyond the formal chart.

Organizational Culture

Shared values and assumptions within a firm that shape identity and behavior.

Global Work Culture

Emerging set of shared meanings in MNCs emphasizing competition, change, diversity, and social responsibility.

Multinational Organization (MNO)

Single firm coordinating operations across multiple national environments.

International Division Structure

All foreign activities grouped into one separate division, often an early stage of internationalization.

Product Division Structure

Worldwide operations organized around product lines; subsidiaries may report to different product heads.

Functional Division Structure

Expansion of domestic functions (e.g., Marketing, R&D) into geographic regions.

Geographic Division Structure

All functions grouped within regional units such as Europe or North America.

Matrix Structure

Dual-reporting design that overlays product, geographic, or functional lines to improve integration.

Multinational Model

Bartlett & Ghoshal type with decentralized, self-sufficient national units.

Global Model

Highly centralized organization with globally scaled operations and knowledge kept at the center.

International Model

Core competencies centralized; other activities decentralized, with knowledge flowing outward.

Transnational Model

Dispersed, interdependent, specialized units that jointly develop and share knowledge worldwide.

Collaborative Alliance

Cooperative arrangement between international firms to achieve shared objectives.

Informal Cooperative Alliance

Limited, non-contractual collaboration across borders.

Formal Cooperative Alliance

Contract-based international partnership with broader joint activity.

International Joint Venture

Separate legal entity jointly owned by partners from different countries.

Organizational Replication

Tendency of an MNC to duplicate home-country structures in new subsidiaries.

Imperative for Control

Headquarters’ need to standardize policies to manage complexity and uncertainty abroad.

Local Responsiveness

Adaptation of subsidiary practices to host-country norms and demands.

Global Integration

Consistency of structures and practices across all units of the MNC.

Boundary-Spanning Role

Managerial position linking the subsidiary to headquarters and to the local environment.

Role Conflict

Tension from incompatible expectations associated with a managerial role.

Role Ambiguity

Uncertainty about duties or expectations within a role.

Psychological Contract

Individual’s belief about mutual obligations between employee and organization.

Transactional Contract

Short-term, specific, monetary-focused psychological contract.

Relational Contract

Long-term, socioemotional psychological contract centered on loyalty and commitment.

Exchange Ideology

Culturally rooted belief about appropriate norms of reciprocity in employment relationships.

Double-Layered Acculturation

Need in cross-border M&As to align both organizational and national cultures.

Absorber Approach

U.S. tendency in M&As to integrate targets fully into the acquirer’s systems.

Imperialist Approach

French tendency in M&As for tight, centralized control from headquarters.

Preserver Approach

Japanese tendency in M&As to maintain much of the target firm’s existing practices.