Organization Structure, Development and Culture

Organizational theory refers to the study of organization design and function (Pugh, 1966)

Organizational theories deal with certain common issues

 How do existing organizations work?

 How should organization work?

 What are the key characteristics of organizations?

 The structure of organizations

 The interrelationships among people in organizations

 The interactions among people and technology in organization

Organizational Structure

Organizational structure refers to the arrangement of positions in an organization and the

Organizational structure is determined by the interrelationships among the responsibilities of

Organizational Structure Characteristics

Chain of command refers to the number of authority levels in an organization.

Span of control is the number of workers who must report to a single supervisor.

Centralization is the degree to which decision-making power rests at the upper levels of the
organizational hierarchy.

Traditional vs Nontraditional

Traditional organizations have formally defined roles for members and are rule-driven, stable,
and resistant to change.

Jobs and lines of authority are clearly defined, so that much work behavior is regulated and kept
within organizational standards.
Nontraditional organizations are characterized by less formalized work roles and procedures.

They are flexible and adaptable, without a rigid status hierarchy; they are often called “organic”.

Traditional Organizations

 Tend to be large, with greater coordination needed with larger numbers of workers.

 Examples include government agencies, universities, and large factories.

 Are often called “mechanistic” or bureaucratic”

Traditional Organizational Theory

 Bureaucracy by Max Weber

 Administrative Management by Fayol

 Scientific Management by Taylor

Nontraditional organizations

 Tend to be smaller

 May occur as a smaller organization within a larger, more traditionally structured

 Are often organized around a particular project or product line, and are responsible for all
aspects of the project.

 Team Organization

Four important characteristics

 High flexibility and adaptability

 Collaboration among workers

 Less emphasis on organizational status

 Group decision making

All organizations and individuals experience the need and pressure to change.

Either unplanned or planned

Like people, some organizations seem to cope with change better than others

Organizational Development (OD) is the process of assisting organizations in preparing for and
managing change.

Occurs in phases:

 Diagnosis of significant problems

 Development of appropriate interventions

 Intervention implementation

 Evaluation of intervention results

Uses a variety of orientations and methods

Changes in the Workplace

 Increasing diversity (gender and ethnicity)

 Dual-career families are becoming the norm

 Continued growth in the workforce

 Workforce is becoming better educated

 Workforce is becoming less unionized

 Changing values and expectations of the workforce

 Use of teams and groups

 Internal pressure come from people and technology within the org.

o (Values, needs, expectations)

 External pressures from outside the org.

Some External Pressures

 Growing governmental regulations (ADA)

 International interdependence (stock market, wars)

 Competition

 Technological explosion (Computers etc.)

 Societal values (healthcare, cultural diversity)

 Limited natural resources (oil)

Resistance - There is a natural tendency for people and organizations to resist change

 Frustrated need fulfillment (need for security)

 New learning requires effort (learning a new program)

 Vested interest and economic factors (fear of losing job, money)

 Comfortable with status quo (no felt need to change)

 Group norms (“This is the way we do things”)

 Resistance to Change Cont.

 Ideological objections (disagree with the type of change)

 Fear of the unknown

 Disruption of personal relationships

 Lack of resources

 Poor timing
How to combat Resistance

 People resist change more when it represents a threat

 Have not requested it or are not involved in the change process

 Magnitude of resistance is related to the magnitude of the change

 Planning and OD

Lewin’s Three-Step Change Process

1) Unfreezing:

 Reducing those forces maintaining the organization’s behavior at its present level

 Creating motivation and readiness to change through

 disconfirmation or lack of confirmation,

 creation of guilt or anxiety, and

 provision of psychological safety

2) Movement or Change

Shifts the organization’s behaviors to a new level

Changing through cognitive restructuring: Helping employees and others to see things, judge
things, feel things, and react to things differently based on a new point of view

3) Refreezing: Stabilizes the organization at a new state of equilibrium (“From now on..”)

Sacred Cow Hunt

Kriegel and Brandt (1996) suggest that maybe the first step toward organizational change is a
“sacred cow hunt”

Sacred Cow Hunt -Organizational practices that have been around for a long time and invisibly
reduce productivity.

Organization-wide attempt to get rid of practices that serve no useful purposes

 Why are we doing it?

 Does it add value, improve quality or productivity?

 What if it didn’t exist?

 How and when did we start doing it?

Common types of Sacred Cows

Paper Cow- The paper cows are unnecessary paperwork usually forms and reports that cost org.
money to prepare, distribute and read.

Meeting Cow -The meeting cow is the number and length of meetings

Speed Cow - Unnecessary deadlines are another source of potential change

Cause employees to work at a faster than optimal pace resulting in decrease quality, increased
stress and increased health problems

Additional Strategies

Kriegel and Brandt suggest:

 Think like a beginner: ask stupid questions like why things are being done a certain way

 Don’t be complacent with something that is working well. Keep looking to improve

 Don’t play by everyone else’s rules: make your own

 Rather than penalize mistakes, reward attempts to try something new

Denial Stage

 During the initial stage

 Employees deny that any change will take place

 Try to convince themselves that the old way is working

 Create reasons why the proposed change will never work

Defense Stage

After employees begin to believe that change will occur: They become defensive and try to
justify their positions and way of things

Discarding Stage - The employee begins to realize that the organization is going to change and
the employee will have to change

Adaptation Stage- The employees test the new system, learn how it functions and begins to
make adjustments in the way they perform the job.

Employees spend a lot of energy at this stage and can often become frustrated and angry.

Internalization Stage- The employees have become immersed in the new change or culture and
are comfortable with the new system

Important Factors in Accepting Change

The Reason behind the Change

 Legitimate

o financial reasons

o external mandates

o productivity improvement

 Whim

 Everybody else is doing it

 Popularity

 Degree of respect

 History of successful change

The person being changed

 Change agents - people who enjoy change and often make changes just for the sake
of change

 Change analysts - not afraid to change or make changes but want to make changes
only if the changes will improve the organization.

 Receptive changers - people who probably will not instigate change but are willing
to change

 Reluctant changers - will not instigate change or welcome change but will change if
necessary

 Change resisters - hate change, are scared by it, and will do anything they can to
keep change from occurring.

Organizational Development

 The effectiveness of OD programs is difficult to evaluate.

 Results of evaluations of OD programs are mixed.

 Positive effects may be greater in job satisfaction and organizational commitment than in
increased productivity (Bass, 1983).

 Successes of OD programs may be long-term changes that are difficult to trace back to
OD.