Text a organizing process Part 1.Organizational structure

A key issue in accomplishing the goals identified in the planning process is structuring the work of the organization. Organizations are groups of people, with ideas and resources, working toward common goals. The purpose of the organizing function is to make the best use of the organization's resources to achieve organizational goals. Organizational structure is the formal decision-making framework by which job tasks are divided, grouped, and coordinated.

Formalization is an important aspect of structure. It is the extent to which the units of the organization are explicitly defined and its policies, procedures, and goals are clearly stated. It is the official organizational structure conceived and built by top management.

One widely used classification of an organization is the twofold system (mechanistic versus organic forms of organizational structure). The mechanistic structure is the traditional or classical design, common in many medium- and large-size organizations. The primary form of mechanistic structures is a bureaucratic organization, with its emphasis on the formal chain of command for control and a well-defined hierarchical structure. Bureaucratic organizations are tall consisting of hierarchies with many levels of management. In a tall structure, people become relatively confined to their own area of specialization

On the other hand, the organic structure is more flexible, more adaptable to a participative form of management, and less concerned with a clearly defined structure. The organic organization is open to the environment in order to capitalize upon new opportunities.

Organic organizations have a flat structure with only one or two levels of management. Flat organizations emphasize a decentralized approach to management that encourage high employee involvement in decisions. The purpose of this structure is to create independent small businesses or enterprises that can rapidly respond to customers' needs or changes in the business environment. The supervisor tends to have a more personal relationship with his or her employees.

The informal organization is the network, unrelated to the firm's formal authority structure, of social interactions among its employees. It is the personal and social relationships that arise spontaneously as people associate with one another in the work environment. The supervisor must realize that the informal organization affects the formal organization.

The informal organization can pressure group members to conform to the expectations of the informal group that conflict with those of the formal organization. This can result in the generation of false information or rumors and resistance to change desired by management. The supervisor should recognize the existence of information groups, identify the roles member play within these groups, and use knowledge of the groups to work effectively with them.

Part 2.Organizing Function

The organizing function deals with all those activities that result in the formal assignment of tasks and authority and a coordination of effort. The manager staffs the work unit, trains employees, secures resources, and empowers the work group into a productive team. The steps in the organizing process include reviewing plans, listing all tasks to be accomplished, dividing tasks into groups one person can accomplish - a job, grouping related jobs together in a logical and efficient manner, assigning work to individuals and delegating authority to establish relationships between jobs and groups of jobs.

After reviewing the plans, usually the first step in the organizing process is departmentalization. Once jobs have been classified through work specialization, they are grouped so those common tasks can be coordinated. Departmentalization is the basis on which work or individuals are grouped into manageable units

It is impractical for the supervisor to handle all of the work of the department directly. In order to meet the organization's goals, focus on objectives, and ensure that all work is accomplished, managers must delegate authority. Authority is the legitimate power of a supervisor to direct subordinates to take action within the scope of the manager's position. By extension, this power, or a part thereof, is delegated and used in the name of a supervisor.

Delegation is the downward transfer of formal authority from superior to subordinate. The employee is empowered to act for the manager, while the manager remains accountable for the outcome. Delegation of authority is a person-to-person relationship requiring trust, commitment, and contracting between the manager and the employee.

The manager assists in developing employees in order to strengthen the organization. He or she gives up the authority to make decisions that are best made by subordinates. This means that the manager allows subordinates the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. He or she does not supervise subordinates' decision-making, but allows them the opportunity to develop their own skills. The manager lets subordinates know that he or she is willing to help, but not willing to do their jobs for them. The manager is not convinced that the best way for employees to learn is by telling them how to solve a problem. This results in those subordinates becoming dependent on the manager. The manager allows employees the opportunity to achieve and be credited for it.

An organization's most valuable resource is its people. By empowering employees who perform delegated jobs with the authority to manage those jobs, managers free themselves to manage more effectively. Successfully training future managers means delegating authority. This gives employees the concrete skills, experience, and the resulting confidence to develop themselves for higher positions.

Delegation provides better managers and a higher degree of efficiency. Thus, collective effort, resulting in the organization's growth, is dependent on delegation of authority.

Exercise 5. Comprehension. Answer the questions.

1. What is the purpose of the organizing function?

2. What is formalization?

3. What organizational structures do you know?

4. What is the difference between flat and tall organizations?

5. What is the purpose of a flat structure?

6. What do you understand by the informal organization? What is the difference between the formal and informal organizations?

7. How can the informal organization affect the formal one?

8. What steps does the organizing process include?

9. What traditional methods for grouping work activities do you know?

10. What is authority?

11. Can you explain the process of delegating authority?

12. Why is delegating authority important for an organization? Why?

Exercise 6. Find the synonyms to the words from list A in list B.

A: achieve; common; clearly; structure; emphasize; traditional; confine; area; flexible; encourage; respond; delegate; ensure; empowered;

____________________________________________________________________________

B: countenance; limit; hand over the administration; general; changeable; vouch; classical; authorized; reach; explicitly; accent; pattern; meet; field;

Exercise 7. Match the words to get word partners from the text.

1. structuring 2. key 3. intentional 4. human 5. workflow 6. productivity 7. personal 8. customer 9. hard 10. legitimate 11.productive 12.performance

a. performance b. power c. analysis d. issue e. relationships f. work g. the work h. improvement i. demand j. structure k. reviews l. team

Exercise 8. Match the terms and their definitions.

1. cross-functional team	a) the personal and social relationships that arise spontaneously as people associate in the work environment
2. decision making	b) examining how work moves from the customer through the organization to the point at which the work leaves the organization as a product or service to meet customer demand
3.business process reengineering (BPR)	c) a group chosen from different functions to work together across various departments to interdependently create new products or services
4. formalization	d) the formal decision-making framework by which job tasks are divided, grouped, and coordinated
5.organizational structure	e) redesigning business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in costs, quality, service, and speed
6. division of labor	f) is the basis on which jobs are grouped
7. departmentalization	g) the process of selecting an alternative course of action that will solve a problem
8.informal organization	h) the degree to which tasks in an organization are divided into separate jobs
9, workflow analysis	i) the extent to which the units of the organization are explicitly defined and its policies, procedures and goals are clearly stated

Exercise 9. Crossword puzzle. All the terms are taken from the text.

ACROSS

3. Fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business

process (abbreviation).

4. Organizations with many layers of management.

10. Groups jobs.

11. Obligation to do assigned tasks.

DOWN

1. Official organizational structure which defines policies,

procedures, and goals.

2. Groups of people working toward common goals.

5. To transfer the formal authority downward.

6. Answering for your actions.

7. Organizations of only one or two levels of management.

8. A rational, goal-directed hierarchy, with formal controls.

9. Spontaneous social relationships.

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11

Exercise 10. Insert the following words into the text below.

management decline is concentrated	responsive source authority	the extent employees customers
freedom	efficient	broadening

Centralization versus Decentralization

Centralization is the degree to which decision-making ….. in top management's hands. Decentralization is ….. to which decision-making ….. is pushed down the organization structure and shared with many lower-level …... .

Centralized organizations have more levels of ….. with narrow spans of control. Employees are not free to make decisions. Decentralized organizations have fewer levels of management with wide spans of control giving employees more ….. of action. All other things being equal, a wide span of control is more ….. because it requires fewer managers. However, it is important to recognize that, at some point, effectiveness will …...

The current trend is toward ….. decentralization. As competition intensifies, the need for organizations to be ….. increases. This has made employees, usually those at the lower levels, who are closest to ….. extremely important. They are an excellent ….. of knowledge and implement changes that directly impact performance.

Exercise 11. Say it in English.

1. Чтобы работники хорошо выполняли свои обязанности, нужно создать такую атмосферу, которая способствовала бы выполнению ими задач.

2. Служащие должны знать, каким образом их работа вписывается в усилия всего коллектива.

3. Цель любой организации – создать внутреннюю атмосферу, способствующую эффективному исполнению всеми сотрудниками своих служебных обязанностей.

4. Одна из основных функций руководителя – это принятие решений. Он ставит цель, распределяет обязанности, осуществляет общее руководство, координирует работу, нанимает и увольняет людей.

5. Руководители низшего звена должны предоставлять анализ производственного процесса для того, чтобы изучить, как производственный процесс способствует созданию или увеличению ценностей для организации.

6. Требования, предъявляемые к рабочему процессу, и уровень квалификации работника определяют степень рабочей специализации.

7. Следующей после рассмотрения плана ступенью в организационном процессе является подразделение на отделы.

8. Организационная функция менеджера касается всех тех видов деятельности, результатом которых становятся формальная оценка задач и координация необходимых для их достижения мер и усилий.

9. Чтобы достичь поставленной цели, сконцентрироваться на непосредственном выполнении задач и обеспечить выполнения всего объема работ, руководитель низшего звена должен передавать часть полномочий своим подчиненным.

Exercise 12. Discussion.

You want a promotion. You want your boss to delegate more work to you so that you can learn new aspects of the business. You realize that accepting all assignments that the boss decides to delegate to you can be beneficial.

But, you realize that there are pitfalls involved in accepting all delegated assignments. You have heard of the Peter Principle. The Peter Principle states that employees who do a good job will be continually promoted until they have risen to a level of management at which their skills are no longer suitable for the new kinds of tasks required. Thus, all employees rise to their level of incompetence, where they are of no further use to the organization and need to be bypassed.

• When you are handed a key assignment, what critical questions are you to ask yourself to determine if you can do it? Formulate your questions in a written form .What actions will you undertake?

• Is it sometimes necessary to say “no” to the boss?

• If you are not able to do the assignment well, will your bass respect your judgment to refuse the assignment?

In the back of the book you will find a discussion of the possible solutions. See “Commentary on the Exercises”.

Exercise 13. Read and translate text B making use of the vocabulary.

temper v смягчать, регулировать empowerment n полномочие, власть superior a высший (по должности или званию) committed преданный staff member retribution заслуженное наказание authority n полномочие power v власть

draw upon v вовлекать, брать exert v оказывать (действие, влияние) coercive a принудительный emulate v соревноваться, соперничать cross-functional a взаимозаменяемый prompt a незамедлительный, быстрый