Organizational Theory and Design

Chapter-1
Quantity over quality-GDP
Five basic parts of an organization:
1. Technical Core- This core consists of people (workers) who do the basic jobs in
the company2. Primary production- primary transformation of raw materials to finished goods.
3. Technical support- Eg- employees like researchers, engineers Technical
support is responsible for creating innovation in the company.
4. Administrative support- Administrative support function that supports and
facilitates stability in the firm.
5. Management- top and middle- management is the function that is responsible
for directing and coordinating business activities.
Dimensions of organizational design
Structural dimensions (inside organization)- formalization, centralization,
command, training specialization
Contextual dimensions- Environment, culture

Performance and Effectiveness

Principles of fayol- the principles and views of the modern business organizations
are changing.
Contemporary views/principles.
Chaos Theory:
Organizations are complex. Networks, relations, tasks, specializations etc.

Chapter 2
Every organization is created for a purpose and a CEO is the one who decides it.
The purpose and direction of an organization shapes its design and structure.
(Things that give an organization its) Strategic direction:
Mission the purpose if the organization, its vision, shared values and beliefs and
its reason for being.
Official goals- Usually a part of mission statement. Formally stated definition of
business scope and outcomes the business is trying to achieve.
Learning organization- an organization that learns about its external environment
and internal environment, experiments with ideas and create innovations in the

market before other companies can catch on hence, creating a mark of your own in
business.
Strategy is a plan for interacting with the competitive environment to achieve
organizational goals.

Porters competitive Strategies:

Differentiation
Low-cost leadership
Focus
Key demands of innovation strategy:

to develop firm-specific knowledge & capacity to exploit it;

to cope with environmental complexity & uncertainty;
to create organizational structures & processes to manage trade-offs between
specialized & broad knowledge.

Lesson-5
21-4
Dimensions of globalization
-

international trade (measured as volume of import and export)

direct capital investment flows (multi-national corporations)
international migration

Strategic alliance- ways to collaborate

Various models to do business
Transnational models- Characteristics
A commercial enterprise that operates substantial facilities, does business in more
than one country and does not consider any particular country its national home.
One of the significant advantages of a transnational company is that they are able
to maintain a greater degree of responsiveness to the local markets where they
maintain facilities.

Flexible centralization.

Dragon multinationals

Quality of services are difficult to measure.

Chapter 10
Organizational culture is the set of values, norms and beliefs that is shared by
the members of an organization.
Two levels of organizational culture:
Observable symbols, ceremonies, physical settings and stories.
Underlying values, assumptions and beliefs.

Purpose of organizational culture- It provides the members with a sense of

belonging and organizational identity. The essence, the feel of being part of one
particular organization.
Chapter 12
Decision making:
Organizational decision making- decisions made in the organization by 1.
Indentifying problem and 2. Finding a solution.
Programmed- repetitive and well defined.
Non-programmed- Novel and poorly defined. Higher uncertainity.

Individual decision making

Rational approach- ideal method for how managers should make decisions:
systematic analysis of a problem followed by choice and implementation in a
logical, step-by-step sequence.
Bounded rationality- how decisions are made under severe time and resource
constraints

Identify the problem, Define the problem, analyze rationally, diagnose the problem,
implement alternatives.
Politics is needed in an organization, to some extent, as it will greatly help the
organization to achieve its goals.
Politics is the use of power to influence decisions toward goals
Organizational Politics - activities to acquire, develop, and use power to influence
goals

Domains of political activity:

Structural Change- changes
Management Succession- appointing known ppl rather than qualified ones
Resource Allocation- determining who gets what. Bad politics- uneven
distribution.000000000000000000000

Organizations try not ti be dependent on other organizations for Resources.

It also depends on Importance of resources to organization
Two dimensions of organization- technical and institutional
Customer relationships through internet
Social media directors- blending marketing, promotions and services to social media
websites like facebook, twitter and linkedin.
IT helps connect different parts of the organization together.

Organizational life cycle

Entrepreneurial Stage
Collectively Stage
Formalization Stage
Elaboration Stage

Bureaucracy (a formal, predetermined way of doing things in an

organization) includes:
Rules and standard procedures
Clear tasks and specialization
Hierarchy of authority
Technical competence
Bureaucracy is the most efficient system for organizing
The control introduced by Weber was rational and a significant idea

Coercive forces- external forces that demands or forces the organization to change
its environment or the way it does things in the organization.