Organizational Design: Key Concepts and Techniques
Understanding Organizational Structures and Principles
1. Defining Organization
Answer: Organization is the process of grouping and ordering the activities necessary to achieve established goals, creating management units.
2. Stages of Organization
Answer: The stages of organization include:
- Division of Labor
- Hierarchy
- Departmentalization
- Job Descriptions
- Coordination
3. Organizational Techniques
Answer: Common organizational techniques include:
- Job Analysis
- Organizational Charts
- Administrative Manuals
4. Defining an Organizational Chart
Answer: An organizational chart is a graphical representation showing the main functions, the relationships between them, the channels of formal authority, and the lines of authority within an organization.
5. Defining an Administrative Manual
Answer: Administrative manuals are documents that serve as means of communication and coordination. They record and transmit information about an organization in an orderly and systematic way.
6. Defining Job Analysis
Answer: Job analysis is the process of obtaining information about jobs, focusing on the content, requirements, and conditions that surround them.
7. Types of Organization
Answer:
- Linear or Military: Decision-making is concentrated in a single person who makes all decisions and holds the primary responsibility for command.
- Functional or Taylor: Work is divided, and specialization is established so that each person, from the CEO to the worker, performs a minimum number of functions.
- Line-Functional: Combines aspects of linear and functional organization types, preserving the functional specialization of each activity and the linear authority and responsibility transmitted through a single chief for each function.
- Staff: This type does not have line authority or power to impose decisions; it provides advisory information.
- Committee: Various administrative matters are allocated to a group of people who meet to discuss and decide collectively.
- Matrix: Combines product and functional departmentalization. It differs from other types of organizations because it abandons the principle of unity of command (one boss) in favor of having two bosses.
8. Principles of Organization
Answer:
- Division of Labor: The separation and delimitation of activities to perform a function with greater precision, efficiency, and minimal effort, leading to specialization.
- Hierarchy: The arrangement of functions in an organization in order of rank, grade, or importance. It involves defining the structure of the company by establishing centers of authority.
- Departmentalization: The division or grouping of functions and activities into specific units based on their similarity.
9. Defining Reorganization
Answer: Reorganization involves the creation, modification, relocation, and merging of work units. These are normal stages in the evolution of an organization.
10. Defining Downsizing
Answer: Downsizing is the reduction of organizational structures. It involves reducing the number of employees in an organization, resulting from significant changes to streamline resources and achieve better performance.
11. Defining Upsizing
Answer: Upsizing is the increase in organizational size. It results in an increase in staff, usually after a downsizing has occurred.
12. Defining Rightsizing
Answer: Rightsizing refers to achieving the correct size for an organization. It seeks a middle ground or a structure consistent with the need to generate quality products and services.