ORGANIZATIONAL THEORIES

Organizational theory: explains or predicts how groups and individuals

behave in varying organizational structures and circumstances; workers
were viewed as merely part of mix (interchangeable cogs in
organization-wide machine); organizations should work like machines,
with people and technology as components.
Classical organizational theory: process of measuring
psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed
to obtain sample of behavior
➢ Organizations exist for economic reasons and to accomplish
productivity goals.
➢ Scientific analysis will identify the one best way to organize for
production.
➢ Specialization and the division of labor maximize production.
➢ Both people and organizations act in accordance with rational
economic principles.
Bureaucracy: Max Weber
1. Each job is specialized position with its own set of responsibilities and
duties.
Division of labor: do only particular tasks and duties assigned to jobs;
take advantage of strength difficult to coordinate many task done by all
employees while ensuring particular outcome
2. Top-down pyramidal organization; at every level, employees are to
report to person one level up in chain of command; hierarchical system of
supervision is necessary if division of labor is to be beneficial
3. Rely on principle of delegation of authority and micro-managers
Delegation of authority: supervisors assign particular tasks to separate
employees and hold them responsible for completing these tasks.
Micro-managers: managers who try to take charge of all tasks.
Span of control: number of subordinates who report to given supervisor.
4. Characterized by span of control
Span of control: number of subordinates who report to given supervisor; if
too large, supervisors are unable to manage so many subordinates; if too
small, overabundance of supervisors managing too few employees
Organizational development: critical and science-based process that
Standardization of tasks: analogues to Taylorism’s “one best way” to get
helps organizations build their capacity to change and achieve greater
job done
effectiveness by developing, improving, and reinforcing strategies,
Centralized decision making: related to notion of chain of command; structures, and processes; increase organization’s competitiveness in
major decision made by one or more individuals who are centralized order to create business that win in marketplace; planned,
under one command organization-wide effort to increase organizational effectiveness
Humanistic/Neoclassical theory: explains organizational success in through behavioral science knowledge and technology.
terms of employee motivation and interpersonal relationships that MODELS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
emerge within organization. Change agent (interventionist): individual who initiates change process
Theory X: employees don't really want to work, lack ambition, only work to in organization
collect paycheck, and need constant supervision. Client: recipient of organizational change effort in organization.
Theory Y: employees want to work, want to take responsibility, and do not Intervention: program or initiative that is suggested or implemented by
need much supervision. change agent in organizational change effort.
Kurt Lewin’s change model: for planned change to occur in
organizations with least amount of tension and resistance, it is best to
try to modify forces that are maintaining status quo rather than
dramatically increasing forces for change.
Unfreezing: forces maintaining status quo are broken down, and system
is opened up for change.
Moving: real organizational change begins to happen, as reflected in
new attitudes, values, and behaviors that result from intervention.
Refreezing: changes that were implemented become stabilized, and
organization reaches new level of equilibrium.
Action research model: cyclical nature; social problems that needed to
be addressed from both a methodological and social perspective.
Sensemaking: employees exert effort to interpret and understand work-
related events.

Open-system theory: organizations develop and change over time as

result of both internal and external forces. Inputs are transformed during
throughputs stage into outputs,which in turn are brought back into
process as additional inputs—and thus process continues.
 creating product or serving client.
Organizational strategy: organization positions itself in its setting in
relation to its stakeholders, given the organization’s resources,
capabilities, and mission.
Employee training: system and education tools used by organization
to improve skills and performance of employees. It consists of
information and instructions to make existing skills sharp, introduce
new concepts and knowledge to improve employee performance;
enhance employees’ skills, behavior and expertise by putting them into
learning new techniques of doing work, prepare employees to meet the
varying and challenging needs of job and organization, and educate
employees in new and innovative ways and techniques of performing
jobs.

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTION

Team building: develop teams or to enhance effectiveness of existing
teams
Total quality management (TQM): initiative that focuses on employee
involvement in control of quality in organizations; continuous
improvement or quality management.
Gainsharing: involves paying employees bonus based on improvements in
productivity.
Reengineering: fundamental rethinking and redesign of business
processes to improve critical performance as measured by cost, quality,
service, and speed; also called business process redesign
Information technology: collecting, storing, processing, and transmitting
information
HRM VS HRD
Positive psychology: strengths and virtues of individuals and institutions.
Human resource development: cultivation of organization’s employees
Appreciative inquiry: using questions to help organization enhance its by providing workers with skills and relevant knowledge that may help
positive potential. them to grow in workplace; improve learning and performance on both
Organizational transformation: any intervention primarily directed toward individual and organizational levels, identify problems within these
creating new vision for organization and changing its beliefs, purpose, areas and help to develop systems to address them, and improve
and mission. manpower of organization
Culture change: alteration of pattern of beliefs, values, norms, and Human resource management: creation of systems that organize
expectations shared by organizational member people within organization such as staffing, compensation, benefits,
Knowledge management: organizations enhance their operations and defining or designing work; build, maintain and improve
through attempts to develop, disseminate, and use knowledge relationship between organization and its employees to retain and
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE foster their talent, build career paths for people and solve problems
Organizational structure: division of labor as well as patterns of that arise within organization, from compliance to leadership
coordination, communication, workflow, and formal power that direct
organizational activities.
Division of labor: subdivision of work into separate jobs assigned to Scientific management: Frederick Taylor; organization is (pragmatic)
different people machine whose focus is simply to run more effectively. Time and motion
Concurrent engineering: organization of employees from several studies, analyzed temperature, illumination, and other conditions of work
departments into temporary team for purpose of developing product or while looking at effects to productivity and efficiency (compensation
service. increase productivity); taylorism.
Span of control: number of people directly reporting to =next level in Gather date — Analyze — Rules and Laws — Procedure and explanations
hierarchy. 1. Management gathers data from workers, best position to understand
Centralization: degree to which formal decision authority is held by small job duties and tasks. Data are analyzed and reduced to laws and rules
group of people, typically those at ]top of organizational hierarchy which are applied to worker’s job through detailed procedures and how-to
Formalization: degree to which organizations standardize behavior explanations.
through rules, procedures, formal training, and related mechanisms. 2. Workers are selected carefully/scientifically and trained to be efficient
Mechanistic structure: narrow span of control and high degree of 3. Scientific selection, data collection, and training are combined to
formalization and centralization. enhance efficiency
Organic structure: wide span of control, little formalization, and 4. Work is redistributed with management taking over tasks previously
decentralized decision making. left to subordinates
Functional structure: employees are organized around specific knowledge ➢ Cooperation of genuine sharing of labor were important
or other resources. ➢ Management and labor cooperation is important for productivity
Divisional structure: employees are organized around geographic areas,
outputs (products or services), or clients.
Globally integrated enterprise: work processes and executive functions
are distributed around the world through global centers, rather than
developed in home country and replicated in satellite countries or regions.
Team-based structure: built around self-directed teams that complete
entire piece of work
Matrix structure: overlays two structures (such as a geographic divisional
and a functional structure) to leverage benefits of both.
Network structure: alliance of several organizations for purpose of