FOM EXAM Notes PDF

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Job simplification Scientific management emphasized work simplification through job specialisation.! Work simplification is the standardisation and the narrow, explicit specification of task activities for workers. The scientific management approach emphasized efficiency but, as we know, it also dehumanized labor. It undervalues the human capacity for thought and ingenuity, resulting in boring, monotonous work and lack of involvement. Job Enlargement/Job Rotation Job enlargement is a method of job design that increases the number of tasks in a job in an attempt to overcome the boredom of overspecialization. Job rotation is the systematic shifting of workers from one task to another over time. These approaches did not change the nature of the tasks performed, but did improve work with regard to repetition and the mechanical work pace. Job Enrichment Job enrichment designs jobs by incorporating motivational factors into them. Job enrichment increases the amount of responsibility in a job through vertical loading. Employees are given more tasks, and more freedom and control in carrying out those tasks. Job enrichment is based on an oversimplified motivational theory and does not consider individual differences among employees. Job Characteristics Theory The Hackman and Oldham model of job characteristics is a framework for understanding person-job fit through the interaction of core job dimensions with critical psychological states within a person. The Job Characteristics Model includes five core job characteristics: skill variety; task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback from the job itself. The model also includes three critical psychological states: experienced meaningfulness of the work, experienced responsibility for work outcomes; and knowledge of results. Unless all of the characteristics are present, the outcome proposed may only result in short-term success. The easiest aspects to enhance are skill variety and task identity. —————————————————————————————————A good organizational structure will allow people and groups to work effectively together while developing hard work ethics and attitudes. The four general types of organizational structure are functional, divisional, matrix and team-based. Functional Structure Where you have a group of employees who complete similar tasks or have similar skills or jobs in an organisation, they are often grouped together.! So, production line workers will be grouped in one department, administrative

staff in another department and marketing and sales employees in another department.! This type of structure is called a functional structure. There are many advantages to this type of structure – but there are also some distinct problems.! Divisional Structure As organisations grow, in terms of employee numbers, sales and product lines, firms tend to adopt a divisionalised structure. A divisional organizational structure allows the larger organisation to divide into smaller semiautonomous groups. These groups are mostly self-managed and focused upon a narrow aspect of the company's products or services. Some organisations divide themselves into product divisions – others break their operations up by geographic region and others tailor their divisions to suit the needs of the customer.! Whilst this allows the new divisions to focus on their specific products or customers or geographic region, the divisional structure is expensive to operate.! Very often, core functions, such as accounting and administration are replicated under each division.! Matrix Structure Imagine that you work at a University.! The university is structured into two divisions (perhaps two Colleges).! Each division is functionally structured.! The Vice Chancellor wants to create a team of academics to examine the effectiveness of the ASK LaTrobe initiative.! The Vice Chancellor convenes a Committee, consisting of academics of all levels from both Colleges.! The Committee is to conduct a full evaluation of ASK LaTrobe, collecting data from all stakeholders (including current and prospective students, academic staff, administrative staff and other stakeholders).! The Committee is scheduled to meet for one day per week over an eighteen month period.! The Vice Chancellor has spoken to Heads of School and Heads of administrative areas, asking that staff be released from some of their duties to participate in this Committee.! This is an example of a matrix structure.! The divisional and functional structure of the University exists.! However, when a multi-disciplinary, multifunctional team is needed to perform a complex task (such as evaluating ASK LaTrobe), some staff leave their original post to be a member of the Committee.! When the work of the Committee is over, the staff return to their original position within their School or Department.! Matrix structures are becoming increasingly popular, because they simultaneously provide the efficiency of a divisional/functional structure, but the flexibility of a team-based (or Committee-based) structure.! However, there is one problem - the matrix structure violates the principle of a scalar or singular chain of command.! This is the idea that a worker should only ever have one immediate supervisor.! Why is this a problem?! Well, for the time that the staff member is a member of the Committee, they have two managers – their boss in the functional

structure, and the boss of the Committee.! What happens if these two bosses give the staff member conflicting orders?! Which boss should the staff member obey?! Team-based structures A team-based approach to solving business problems and organising work units is also a very popular approach to structuring businesses.! A teambased organisational structure groups employees who perform specific duties into project teams that perform specific functions. This type of organizational structure allows you to ensure the best coverage for activities such as product development, customer support and process-improvement initiatives. With low-overhead and minimal management, this allows you to maximize successful opportunities and avoid threats.! You can group your workers into teams according to the function the worker performs, or you can ‘mix up’ the employees by creating cross-functional teams. There are many advantages to allowing employees to self-manage in these flexible work teams. What are they?! And what are the potential disadvantages? Structural considerations Irrespective of which organisational structure is utilised by an organisation, there are some important issues that have to be carefully considered.! The first relates to how authority is distributed throughout the organisational hierarchy.! Will it be concentrated in certain positions?! Or will workers be more autonomous, and allowed to make their own decisions?! How many workers will line managers be required to supervise?! How many is too many?! How few is too few?! Another important consideration is the appropriate number of levels of management within the organisation.! Some hierarchies are tall, consisting of many layers of management.! Other organisations adopt flatter structures, with only two or three levels of management.! This discussion needs to be linked back to the earlier discussion about the impact that the nature of the business environment.! Organisations operating in volatile environments often employ flatter structures, to enable them to be more responsive.! These organisations typically allow their workers to make decisions (ie: decentralised decision-making) to increase their flexibility and adaptability. Some organisations have tried to improve integration and coordination between organisational units, by using liaisons, tasks forces and crossfunctional teams to break down silos within the organisation.! Other organisations have made the decision to outsource non-core activities to other organisations (for example, using an Accounting firm to take care of their finances).! As always, whilst there are many benefits to this approach, there are some disadvantages that have to be carefully considered.! In the text, this is referred to as ‘business to business’, or B2B initiatives....