3. Organizational structure
Organizational structure refers to
the arrangement of positions in an
organization and the authority and
responsibility relationships among
them (as every organization is
made up of persons holding
particular positions or playing
certain roles).
4. An example of a structure
Director of
Operations
Marketing
specialist
Shipping
clerk
5. Dimensions of organizational
structure
Traditional vs nontraditional
organizational structure
Functional vs divisional structure
Centralized vs decentralized structure
6. Traditional vs Nontraditional
Traditional organization
structure(TOS) has formally defined
roles for their members, very rule
driven and stable & resistance to
change.
Jobs and lines of status /authority
tend to be clearly defined in traditional
structures (kept within organizational
guidelines and standards).
7. Traditional vs Nontraditional
Nontraditional organizational
structures (NOS), are characterized by
less formalized work roles and
procedures.
Flexible and adaptable, without rigid
hierarchical characteristics.
NOS generally have fewer employees
than the TOS.
NOS and TOS may occur in the same
organization, but different
8. Traditional vs Nontraditional
NOS are often organized around a
particular project or product line and
are responsible for all aspects of the
job.
Examples of NOS:
◦ NASA
◦ Film crews
◦ Financial institutions etc
9. Characteristics of NOS
High flexibility and adaptability
Collaboration among workers
Less emphasis on organizational
status
Group decision making
10. Change of command
The chain of command is the
number of authority levels in a
particular organization.
The chain of command follows the
line of authority and status vertically
through the organization.
11. Span of control
The span of control is the number of
worker who must report to a single
supervisor.
An organization with a wide span of
control has many workers reporting to
each supervisor.
An organization with a narrow span of
control has workers reporting to each
supervisor.
12. Span of control
Based on the dimension of span of
control, an organization can be
described as either “tall” or “flat”.
A “tall” organizational structure has a
long chain of command and a narrow
span of control
A “flat ” organizational structure has a
short chain of command and a wide
span of control.
13. Organizational Change
First step towards organizational
change is called the sacred cow
hunt (Kriegel & Bradnt, 1996) :
◦ The paper cow
◦ The meeting cow
◦ The speed cow
14. Employees acceptance of
change
Carnall (1990, in Aamodt, 2007)
suggests that employees typically
go through five stages of
organizational change: denial,
defense, discarding, adaptation
and internalization.
15. Stage 1: Denial
Denies that any changes will take
place
Try to convince that old ways is
working
Find reasons why the proposed
change will never work
16. Stage 2 : Defense
When employees begin to believe
that change will actually occur,
they become defensive and try to
justify their positions and ways of
doing things.
17. Stage 3 : Discarding
At some point employees began to
realize that not only that the
organization is going to change , but
the employees are going to have to
change as well .
Change is inevitable; thus old ways
have to be discarded and start
accepting the change as the new
reality.
18. Stage 4 : Adaptation
Employees test the new system,
learn how it functions, began to
make adjustments in the way they
perform.
Tremendous energy is spent and
employees can often become
frustrated and angry.
19. Stage 5 : Internalization
Employees become immersed in
the new culture, become
comfortable with the new system
and accepted their new coworkers
and the new work environment.
20. Important factors
The extent to which the
employees readily accept and
handle the change is dependent
on :
◦ The reason behind the change
◦ The person making the change
◦ The personality being changed
21. Organizational culture
Also often referred to as corporate
culture, or corporate climate.
Organizational culture comprises of
the shared values, beliefs and the
traditions that exist among the
individuals in the organization.
It is the culture that establish the
workplace norms of appropriate
behaviors etc
22. What is culture?
Culture is the comprehensive term
that includes the various
understandings, traditions and
guidance which we all belong
(Gestwicki, 2007)
“Culture forms the prism which
members of a group see the world
and create shared meaning” (
Bowman and Burgess, 1993, in
Gestwicki, 2007)
23. Changing culture
Assessing the new culture:
◦ Needs assessment
◦ Determining executive direction
◦ Implementing consideration
◦ Training
◦ Evaluation of the new culture
24. Other steps…
Creating dissatisfaction with the
existing culture
Maintaining the new culture
Selection of employees
26. What does empowerment mean?
More accurate to describe
empowerment as a process as an end
state ( Gargiulo and Kilgo, 2005)
27. Making decisions to empower
Factors in making decision to
empower:
◦ Importance of decision quality
◦ Leader knowledge of the problem area
◦ Structure of the problem
◦ Importance of decision acceptance
◦ Probability of decision acceptance
◦ Subordinate trust and motivation
◦ Probability of subordinate conflict
28. The Different Meanings of
Empowerment
When employer empowers
employees, what they mean is
giving more say in the day-to-
day activities.
Empowerment may mean
differently to employer and to
employees.
29. Levels of employee input
Following
Ownership of own product
Advisory
Shared /participative /team
absolute
31. References
Aamodt, M.G (2007). Industrial
/organizational psychology. An applied
approach. Belmont, CA: Thomson
Riggio, R. E. (1996). Introduction to
Industrial/ Organizational Psychology
(2nd. Ed). New York: Harper Collins
Gargiulo, R & Kilgo, J ( 2005). Young
children with special needs ( 2nd ed.).
New York: Thomson
