Management and Team Development
1 The organization of work
1.1 Organisation
The term ‘organisation’ can be used in two ways.
- It can refer to a group or institution arranged for efficient work. To organize implies that there is an arrangement of parts or elements that produces more than a random collection.
- Organisation can also refer to a process. i.e. structuring and arranging the activities of the enterprise or institution to achieve the stated objectives. The very word organization implies that there is order or structure.
1.1 What makes an organization
Organisations:
- Are made up of PEOPLE
- Exist to achieve give PURPOSES or objectives- Have some form of STRUCTURE that defines and regulates the * of the members.
An organization is a ‘social arrangement for controlled performance of collective goals’.
1.1 The need for organizations
There are many reasons why organizations exist:
- They satisfy social needs. People join organizations because they consider that they will be more secure, more successful, have more needs and wants satisfied and be better off.
- Organisations exist primarily because they are more efficient at fulfilling needs than individuals. The main reason for this is the ability to employ the techniques of specilisation and the division of labour.
Specialisation occurs when organizations or individual workers concentrate on a limited type of activity. This allows them to build up a greater level of skill and knowledge than they would if they attempted to be good at everything.
Division of labour is where each worker specializes in only one small aspect of the total process. This benefits the employer in three ways:
-[post] The simple tasks encourage the use of highly specific equipment- Semi-skilled labour can be employed rather than highly skilled operatives- Workers are only responsible for one process and so are able to develop a high level of expertise and increase their output per period.
Organizations can achieve results which individuals cannot achieve by themselves. Organisations:
Overcome people’s individual limitations Enable people to specialize Save timeAccumulate and share knowledgePool the expertise
Enable synergy: by bringing together two individuals their combined output will exceed their output if they continued working separatelyIn brief, organizations enable people to be more productive.
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1.1 Classifications of organizations
Classification highlight similarities and differences among organizations. It can be based on:
- Size e.g. number of employees, volume of sales, profits earned- Profit motive e.g. commercial or charitable- Legal form e.g. sole trader, partnership and limited company- Control e.g. directors, trustees, shareholders- Ownership e.g. public (government owned) or privateQuestion 1Requireda) Briefly explain what is meant by the term organization . (7 marks)b) Give the main reasons why organization exist. (8 marks)(15 marks)Answer Plan1.1 Organisation and Structure
Organisation structure is the specific pattern of relationship that managers create. It is a framework in which organizational activities are divided, organized and co-ordinated.
There are four building blocks of organization work are:
- Division of labour
- Departmentalisation: the grouping of tasks and employees into a department- Hierarchy: the linking of departments with specification of reporting lines- Co-ordination: the mechanism for integrating departmental activities into a coherent whole for effectiveness and efficiency.
Henry Mintzberg
He suggested that organizational structures of building blocks and co-ordinating mechanisms which make up the detailed configuration of the organization. His five building blocks are shown in the diagram below.
The importance and relative size of these blocks will very across organizations:
- The operating core represents the basic productive work of the organization. E.g. shop-floor staff in a manufacturing organization. They are directly involved in the process of obtaining inputs, and converting them into outputs.
- The strategic apex refers to the higher levels of management who ensures the organization follows its mission. They manage the organization’s relationship with the environment.
- The middle line is the intermediate levels of management. They convert the desires of the strategic apex into the work done by the operating core.
- The technostructure refers to staff who provide a technical input without being directly engaged in core activities. This category might include the following:
Analysers determine the best way of doing a job Planners determine outputs (TQM) Personnel analysts standardize skills and training Accountants provide management reports for budget control- The support staff provide services ancillary to the core operations of the organization. e.g. public relations, legal counsel. They do not plan or standardize production.
