Organisational Structure &

Teamwork

BMAN 10011: Fundamentals of Management

Dr. Masakatsu (Bob) Ono

[email protected]
AMBS 7.012
TODAY’S LECTURE
- Job Design
- Teamwork
- Organisational Structure
 What is Organising?
• The process of determining who will perform that
tasks needed to achieve organisational
objectives, the resources to be used, and the
way that tasks will be managed and co-
ordinated.

• Job Design: deciding what people are required

to do as part of their job
 Specialisation & Division of Labour
• Each worker only does part of what is needed to
make a product, deliver a service or complete a
task
− Develop specialised skills quickly
− People selected to match their aptitudes
− No time wasted changing different tasks
− Simplified jobs

Too little or too much can harm productivity.

 Motivating Job Design
• Job Characteristics Model (Hackman & Oldham, 1980)

Critical
Core job
psychological Outcomes
characteristics
states

Skill variety
Experienced
Task identity Motivation
meaningfulness of the work
Task significance
Satisfaction
Experienced responsibility for
Autonomy
the work outcomes
Performance
Knowledge of the work
Job feedback
results
 Authority & Responsibility
• Authority
− The formal power to make decisions, marshal
resources, and instruct others
• Empowerment
− Pushing authority down the organisational hierarchy
• (area of) Responsibility
− The domain of resources over which one has authority
• Span of Control
− The number of employees directly supervised
− Optimal numbers depend of many factors (e.g.,
environmental stability)
 Ergonomics & Job Design
• Aim: to ensure that jobs (e.g., work spaces,
equipment, etc.) are suitably designed for
humans to perform –achieving safety & efficiency
 Designing Work Schedules
• Flexitime
• Compressed working week (10 hrs for 4 days)
• Homeworking & teleworking
− “digital nomad”
• Job sharing
• Contingent workers
• Office sharing & hoteling
− “coworking” spaces
 Teamwork
• Team: collection of people who invest
coordinated effort towards shared common task
goals by fulfilling their specified roles
• Advantages? • Disadvantages?
− facilitates greater − Time
achievements − Energy
− allows learning of new − Social loafing: “free-
skills from others riders”
− satisfies
affiliation/belongingness
needs
 Belbin Team Roles (2004)

PEOPLE THINKING

ACTION
 Team Roles: Exercise
• Dunker’s Candle Problem
− INSTRUCTIONS: Pin the candle to the wall in such a
way that when it is lit, no wax drips on the floor

a candle a box of tacks a box of matches

 Team Roles: Exercise
• Dunker’s Candle Problem
− INSTRUCTIONS: Pin the candle to the wall in such a
way that when it is lit, no wax drips on the floor

solution
vs. vs.

Team A Team B Team A Team B

 Team Development

Performing
TEAM EFFECTIVENESS

Adjourning

Forming

Norming

Storming

TIME
Project Aristotle
• Who is on a team matters
less than how the team
members interact, structure
their work, and view their
contributions.
 Organisational Structure
• The relationships among the parts of an
organised whole

− designation of formal reporting relationships – “who

should be told about what”
− grouping of individuals into department
− design of systems to ensure effective communication,
coordination, & integration across departments
 Functional vs. Divisional Structures
• Organise jobs according to their function
Chairman

Production Director Sales Director HR Director Finance Director

Manufacturing Purchasing Retail Sales Wholesale Sales Recruitment Training Finance

Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager

Supervisor Supervisor Asst Purchaser North South Wholesale Operative Management Cashier
1 2 Rep Rep Rep Trainer Development

• Organise jobs according to their regional

divisions Corporate HQ
Other divisions:
Product
Client
Europe Asia North America

UK Germany Netherlands Japan China Singapore Canada East Coast West Coast Mid West
 Functional Structures
• Advantages: • Disadvantages:
− High operational − Lack of loyalties to the
efficiency organisation
− Similar jobs are grouped − “Functional chimneys” &
− Clear career structure silos
− Economies of scale − Empire building by
managers
Chairman

Production Director Sales Director HR Director Finance Director

Manufacturing Purchasing Retail Sales Wholesale Sales Recruitment Training Finance

Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager Manager

Supervisor Supervisor Asst Purchaser North South Wholesale Operative Management Cashier
1 2 Rep Rep Rep Trainer Development
 Divisional Structures
• Advantages: • Disadvantages:
− Clear identification of − Duplicated facilities
costs, profits, and − Excessive autonomy
products’ contribution − “Divisional chimneys”
− Dedicated facilities − Empire building by
− Easy coordination managers
− Managerial training
ground
Corporate HQ

Europe Asia North America

UK Germany Netherlands Japan China Singapore Canada East Coast West Coast Mid West
 Matrix Structures
• Function × Division
President

Director of Design: HR: Marketing:

Procurement
Product Vice Vice Vice Controller
Manager
Operation President President President

Product
Manager A

Product
Manager B

Product
Manager C

Product
Manager D
 Matrix Structures
• Advantages: • Disadvantages:
− Increased coordination − Confusions with multiple
without duplication bosses
− Varied work allowing − Time to plan &
wide experiences coordinate
− Cohesive organisation − Feelings of isolation
− Adaptability & flexibility
due to rich contacts
 Network Structures
• “boundaryless organisation”
• Features:
− A small core responsible for main business functions
− Other functions are subcontracted (suppliers)
− Coordination between the core and outside suppliers
− Rapid changes of the network – i.e., components can
be removed or added according to demand (modular
organisation)
• Common industries:
− clothing, computer, & publishing
 Network Structures
Suppliers of raw
materials
Supplier of
manufacturing
Financial &
services invoicing
services

Central
office
coordination Inf
centre orm
ati
s on
nes Flo
i
s e ws
Bu Cor
Packaging &
distribution
centre
Customers

Sales & o ws
marketing o d u ct Fl
P r
agent
 Network Structures
• Advantages: • Disadvantages:
− Enable global − Loss of control due to
manufacturing & the involvement of
marketing subcontractors
− Enable efficiency − Employee loyalty may
through low cost and decrease
flexibility
 Learning Structure
• Structuring an organisation to maximize its ability
to increase the capital of knowledge (knowledge
management)
• 5 features:
− Sharing the same organisational vision
− Understanding how the organisation operates
− Willing to discard the old ways
− Feeling confident of one’s position
− Wide distribution of information
 Reading & Self-Test
• Smith (2011)
− Chapter 5: Organisational Structure &
Teamwork

• Self-test 4 posted on BlackBoard

− Answers are also available