Organizational Design and Structure
What you'll learn
- Understand the main concepts and theories of organization and management
- Understand the different perspectives on organizations and their part in larger system
- Become familiar with some of the main theoretical concepts and analytic frameworks used to explain and analyze organization structure, politics and decision mak
- Become familiar with the current trends, issues and research questions in organization studies.
- Appreciate the role of relationships in economic organization
Requirements
- There are no specific requirements for taking this course, as it is designed to benefit different levels of management and leadership roles.
Description
Organizational Structure & Design.
Course Description: This class is a study of the design and organization of organizations. We will be looking at how firms are designed, organized and managed in an effort to better understand why there are such large differences in organizational success.
This course serves as an introduction to the field of Organizational Theory. We will be focussing on understanding and explaining the design and functioning of organizations in modern society. This course is designed to provide a foundation for more advanced work in organizational studies, public administration, community development and other fields.
Topics discussed include:
The nature of work – employment relationship – employment contract – agency theory – transaction cost economics.
Introduction to organizations – organizational environment.
Theories of organization:
Max Weber - role theory (role, status & party) Max Weber - ideal type concept (rational/legal authority/traditional authority) Max Weber - bureaucracy (bureaucratization process, rationality and disenchantment) Herbert Simon - bounded rationality; Roles, rules & rationality Durkheim - division of labour.
Charles Perrow – norm deviance.
What is an organization? A firm, society or bureaucracy?
Social theory of the firm
Sociological theories: Max Weber (bureaucracy), Talcott Parsons (functionalism) and Karl Marx (capitalism) – bureaucracy. sociologists: Emil Durkheim and Max Weber – division of labour.
Organizational ecology – evolutionary perspective (Richard Nelson & Sidney Winter)
David Ricardo - division of labour (value adding process as a function of number of workers).
Types of organization
Market/profit-seeking organizations; Non-profit organizations; Public sector/government units; Bureaucracies (Jurisdictional, authority and control); Community development corporations.
Authority
Authority in for-profit organizations: Internal forms of authority - position power & personal power; External forms of authority – socialization, legitimation and expertise.
Organizational Structure
Structure and decision making - formalization; Structure and strategy; Organizational structure: pyramids, cells & networks; Bottlenecks; Decision making: authority gradient (hierarchy); Divisionalization (vertical, horizontal, functional).
Organizational design
Design process. Design essentials: size, product/service scope, geographical coverage, technology and organizational culture. Three levels of design: functional, divisional and plant; Product scope and geographical coverage - market selection.
Organizational size
Organizational size: small firms (cottage industry); Large firms (one dominant firm vs one large number small plants).
Small business development
Making the business case for small business development; Financial and economic considerations; Social and environmental contributions; Creating a business case: market selection; Business flexibility; The role of government.
Organizational design for community development
Business models (for-profit, non-profit, public sector). Networking organizations – supply chains & social networks. Collaborative networks – formalized vs informal relationships.
Organizational culture
Culture - shared assumptions, values and norms; Organizational culture: levels (national vs local), impact on performance; Cultural change.
Control systems
Approaches to control; Management by exceptions; Centralized vs decentralized control; Monitoring performance.
Leadership & Politics in Organizations
Politics - internal and external; Leadership; Political behaviour: individual & group; Personal & political power.
Who this course is for:
- The course can be taken from scratch from those with a basic knowledge of business and management. It will also be useful as a reference book for those who already have some experience in the field.
- Entrepreneurship managers, would-be entrepreneurs, consultants, politicians and NGO staff.
- Students of business, administration and related fields of study.
- People interested in the processes by which organizations are planned, set up and run.
Instructor
- 4.3 Instructor Rating
- 2,651 Reviews
- 10,696 Students
- 28 Courses
AJK Consulting provides online training & development programs in the areas of personal & professional development and soft skills.
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