Midterm 2

• A company's performance depends on the extent in which three factors: organizational culture, organizational structure, and HR practices work together
• Organizational culture/corporate cultrue


  the set of shared, taken for granted implicit assumptions hat a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks abut, and reacts to its various environments
• Organizational structure


  a formal system of task and reporting relationships that coordinates and motivates an organization's members so that they can work together to achieve the organization's results
• Human resource practices


  Consists of all of the activities an organization uses to manage its human capital
• Person organization(P-O) fit


  Outlandish questions that can be used to find out how well you will fit in with the organization
• Organizational culture is present at three levels

  1. Observable artifacts
  2. Espoused values
  3. Basic assumptions
• Observable artifacts


  physical manifestations such as manner of dress, awards, myths and stories, about the company, as well as visible behavior
• Espoused values


  the explicitly stated values and norms preferred by an organization
• Basic assumptions


  represent the unobservable yet core values of an organization's culture that are often taken for granted
• Symbol 


  an object or action that represents an idea or quality
• Story


  Narrative based on true events
• Organizational socialization


  defined as the process by which people learn the values, norms, and required behaviors that permit them to participate as members of an organization
• Organizational Socialization Phases

  1. Anticipatory socialization phase
  2. Encounter phase
  3. Change and acquisition phase
• Anticipatory socialization phase


  learn about the organizations needs and values and how your own values fit in
• Encounter phase


  learn what the organization is really like and to manage your expectations
• Change and acquisition phase


  begin to fine-tune necessary skills and tasks
• Competing values framework(CVF)


  a practical way for managers to understand, measure, and change organizational culture
• The competing values model has four quadrants: Clan Culture, Adhocracy Culture, Market Culture, Hierarchy Culture.
• The horizontal dimension


  Does the organization focus its attention on internal dynamics and employees or its external environment and customers
• The vertical dimension


  Does the organization prefer decentralized decision making(flexibility) or centralized decision making(Stability)
• Clan culture


  an internal focus and values flexibility
• Adhocracy culture


  an external focus and values flexibility
• Market culture


  a strong external focus and values stability and control
• Hierarchy culture


  an internal focus and values stability and control over flexibility
• All organizations can be described according to four features: common purpose, coordinated effort, division of labor, and hierarchy of authority
• Common purpose


  unifies employees or members and gives everyone an understanding of the organization's reason for being
• Coordinated effort


  the coordination of individual efforts into a group or organization wide effort
• Division of labor


  the arrangement of having discrete parts of a task done by different people
• Hierarchy of authority


  a control mechanism for making sure the right people do the right things at the right time
• Flat organization


  an organizational structure with few or no levels of middle management between top managers and those reporting to them
• Unity of command


  an employee should report to no more than one manager in order to avoid conflicting priorities and demands
• Span of control


  refers to the number of people reporting directly to a given manager
• Authority


  refers to the rights inherent in a managerial position to make decisions, give orders, and utilize resources
• Accountability


  Managers must report and justify work results to the managers above them
• Simple structure


  authority centralized in a single person, a flat hierarchy, few rules, and low work specialization
• Functional structure


  people with similar occupational specialties are put together in formal groups
• Divisional structure


  people with diverse occupational specialties are put together in formal groups by similar products
• Matrix structure


  an organization combines functional and division chains of command in a grid so that there are two command structures- horizontal and vertical
• Horizontal structure


  are used to improve collaboration and work on shared tasks breaking down internal boundaries
• Boundaryless organization


  a fluid highly adaptive organization whose members come together to collaborate on common tasks