Management A

May 9, 2024 (Week 3)

Prof. Tatsuo KUROGI
Business in Action: Thriving in the Digital
Enterprise
Tenth Edition, Global Edition

Chapter 8

Organization and
Teamwork

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Exhibit 8.1 Simplified Organization
Chart REVIEW

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 REVIEW
Centralization Versus Decentralization
• Centralization
– Concentration of decision-making authority at the top
of an organization
• Decentralization
– Delegation of decision-making authority to employees
in lower-level positions

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 REVIEW

Exhibit 8.3 Flattening an Organization

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 REVIEW
Exhibit 8.4 Customer Division Structure

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 REVIEW
Exhibit 8.5 Matrix Structure

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 REVIEW
Network Structures
• Network structure
– A structure in which individual companies are
connected electronically to perform selected tasks for
a small headquarters organization
– Also called virtual organization

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Organizing in Teams
• Team
– A unit of two or more people who share a mission
and collective responsibility as they work together to
achieve a goal
• How a team differs from a work group
– Members of a team work toward a shared goal,
whereas members of a work group strive toward
individual goals.

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Types of Teams (1 of 3)
• Problem-solving team
– A team that meets to find ways of improving quality,
efficiency, and the work environment
• Self-managed team
– A team in which members are responsible for an
entire process or operation

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Types of Teams (2 of 3)
• Functional team
– A team whose members come from a single
functional department which is based on the
organization’s vertical structure
• Cross-functional team
– A team that draws together employees from different
functional areas

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Cross-Functional Teams
• Task force
– A team of people from several departments who are
temporarily brought together to address a specific
issue
• Committee
– A team that may become a permanent part of the
organization and is designed to deal with regularly
recurring tasks

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Types of Teams (3 of 3)
• Virtual team
– A team that uses communication technology to bring
together geographically distant employees to achieve
goals
– Advantages of Virtual Teams
Can pull together the best people for a task, even if they work
in different offices or different countries
– Disadvantages of Virtual Teams
Long-distance team members can develop a sense of
emotional isolation and the feeling of being “out of the loop”

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Which of the following is a defining characteristic of a
cross-functional team?
A) It manages its own activities and requires minimal
supervision.
B) It is organized along the lines of the organization’s
vertical structure.
C) It is composed of members at two or more
geographic locations.
D) It is typically composed of managers and employees
within a single functional department.
E) It includes people from a variety of departments
with different areas of expertise and responsibility.

Question 1 14
A cross-functional team that deals with recurring tasks
and has the opportunity to become a permanent part of
the organization's structure is known as a ________.
A) task force
B) vertical team
C) community of practice
D) committee
E) self-managed team

Question 2 15
Would you function well in a virtual team
setting that offered little or no chance for
face-to-face contact with your colleagues?
Why or why not?

Group Discussion 1 16
Advantages of Working on Teams
• Higher quality decisions
• Increased diversity of views
• Increased commitment to solutions and changes
• Lower levels of stress and destructive internal
competition
• Improved flexibility and responsiveness

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Disadvantages of Working on Teams

Cost and inefficiency

Groupthink

Diminished individual motivation

Hidden agenda

Excessive workloads
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Ensuring Team Productivity
• Groupthink
– Uniformity of thought that occurs when peer
pressures cause individual team members to withhold
contrary or unpopular opinions.
• Hidden agenda
– Private, counterproductive motives in a team setting,
such as a desire to take control of the group, to
undermine someone else on the team, or to pursue
an incompatible goal.

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Characteristics of Effective Teams
• Clear sense of purpose
• Open and honest communication
• Creative thinking
• Accountability
• Focus
• Decision by consensus

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Exhibit 8.6 Characteristics of Effective
Teams (1 of 2)
Make Effective Teamwork A Top Management Priority
• Recognize and reward group performance where appropriate
• Provide ample training opportunities for employees to develop team skills
Select Team Members Wisely
• Involve key stakeholders and decision makers
• Limit team size to the minimum number of people needed to achieve team goals
• Select members with a diversity of views and experiences
• Select creative thinkers
Build a Sense of Fairness in Decision Making
• Encourage debate and disagreement without fear of reprisal
• Allow members to communicate openly and honestly
• Consider all proposals
• Build consensus by allowing team members to examine, compare, and reconcile
differences
• Keep everyone informed
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Exhibit 8.6 Characteristics of Effective
Teams (2 of 2)
Manage Conflict Constructively
• Share leadership
• Encourage equal participation
• Discuss disagreements openly and calmly
• Focus on the issues, not the people
• Don’t let minor disagreements boil over into major conflicts

Stay on Track
• Make sure everyone understands the team’s purpose
• Communicate what is expected of team members
• Stay focused on the core assignment
• Develop and adhere to a schedule
• Develop rules and follow norms

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Exhibit 8.7 Team Member Roles

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Which of the following is an advantage of working in a
team?

A) Teams limit groupthink.

B) Teams improve flexibility and responsiveness.
C) Teams can lead to less time being spent on
decisions.
D) Teams can compete with the formal chain of
command.
E) Teams limit the diversity of views.

Question 3 24
Which of the following is a characteristic of effective
teams?

A) Groupthink is encouraged among team

members.
B) Decision making is done through quick votes.
C) Decision making is done by the team leader.
D) Conflict is managed by focusing on the people,
not the issues.
E) Disagreements are discussed in the interest of
task accomplishment.

Question 4 25
An employee who focuses on the needs of the team
members over the task needs in order to strengthen
team unity assumes the ________ role.

A) nonparticipator
B) socioemotional
C) dual
D) task specialist
E) norming

Question 5 26
Is supporting a group decision you don’t
completely agree with always a case of
groupthink?
Explain your answer.

Group Discussion 2 27
Team Development (1 of 2)
Dr. Bruce Tuckman identifies five phases a new team
goes through as it evolves.
• Forming
• Storming
• Norming
• Performing
• Adjourning

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Team Development (2 of 2)
• Cohesiveness
– A measure of how committed team members are to
their team’s goals
• Norms
– Informal standards of conduct that guide team
behavior

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Team Development

Forming

Adjourning Storming

Performing Norming

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Team Conflict
• Constructive conflict
– Brings important issues into the open, increases the
involvement of team members, and generates
creative ideas for solving a problem
• Destructive conflict
– Diverts energy from more important issues, destroys
the morale of teams or individual team members, or
polarizes or divides the team

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Exhibit 8.8 Sources of Team and
Workplace Conflict
Type Examples
Structural: a permanent aspect of Competition for opportunities, such as promotions
doing business into management positions
Competition for resources, such as project budgets,
equipment, or staff
Disagreements over fundamental values, such as
the company’s responsibilities to society or its
Workers
Situational: based on temporary Disagreements over project goals
forces Conflict between individual goals and team goals
Workload and work–life imbalances
Resistance to change
Interpersonal: stemming from Poor communication
personal choices, behaviors, and Personality clashes
personality differences Unprofessional behavior
Cultural differences
Cultural biases

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Solutions to Team Conflict
• Proactive attention
• Communication
• Openness
• Research
• Flexibility
• Fair play
• Alliance

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According to Bruce Tuckman's model of team
development, in the ________ stage, conflicts are
resolved, and team harmony develops.

A) forming
B) storming
C) norming
D) performing
E) adjourning

Question 6 34
One way to resolve conflict is to insist on fair
outcomes and not letting team members hide behind
rules, leading to ________.

A) openness
B) proactive attention
C) alliances
D) communication
E) fair play

Question 7 35
How can a team leader know when to step in
when conflict arises and when to step back
and let the issue work itself out?

Group Discussion 3 36
Managing an Unstructured Organization

• Unstructured organization
– An organization that doesn’t have a conventional
structure but instead assembles talent as needed
from the open market; the virtual and networked
organizational concepts taken to the extreme

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Exhibit 8.9 Benefits and Challenges of
Unstructured Organizations (1 of 3)
Potential Benefits
For Companies For Workers
• Increased agility: Companies can respond • Performance-based evaluation: The only thing
to or create opportunities faster and then that matters is getting the job done.
reorganize and move on when needed.
• Lower fixed costs: Fewer employees • Freedom and flexibility: Workers have more
means fewer bills to pay every month. leeway in choosing which projects they want and
how much they want to work.
• More flexible capacity management: • Access to more interesting and more fulfilling
Firms can ramp capacity up and down more work: Workers can connect with opportunities
quickly and with less disruption. that might be unreachable otherwise.
• Access to start talent: Managers can • Control over their careers: Many independent
“rent” top talent that is too expensive to hire workers feel more secure forging their own way,
full time or unwilling to work full time. rather than counting on an employer
Blank

• Benefits of competition: Firms can stage

competitions in talent markets to see who
can devise the best solutions to problems.

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Potential Challenges of Unstructured
Organizations

• Complexity and control issues

• Uncertainty
• Loss of meaning and connection
• Diminished loyalty
• Career development
• Management succession
• Accountability and liability

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Exhibit 8.9 Benefits and Challenges of
Unstructured Organizations (2 of 3)
Potential Challenges
For Companies For Workers
• Complexity and control issues: Workers • Uncertainty: Workers can’t be sure they’ll
often have competing demands on their time have work from one project to the next.
and attention, and managers lack many of the
organizational control and incentive “levers”
that a regular company has.
• Uncertainty: Without staff at the ready, • Loss of meaning and connection:
companies won’t always know if they’ll be able Independent workers don’t get the same sense
to get the talent they need. of working together for a larger, shared
purpose that employees get.
• Diminished loyalty: Workers who are • Diminished loyalty: Workers don’t have the
involved only on isolated projects won’t have same sense employees often do that an
the same sense of loyalty to the organization organization is looking out for them and will
that many full-time employees do. reward sacrifices and effort above and beyond
contractual obligations.

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Exhibit 8.9 Benefits and Challenges of
Unstructured Organizations (3 of 3)
Potential Challenges
For Companies For Workers
•Management succession: Companies •Career development: Without full-time employers to
with fewer employees will find it harder to guide, support, and train them, workers are left to
develop replacement managers and fend for themselves and to keep their skills current at
executives. their own expense.
•Accountability and liability: Unstructured
organizations lack the built-in accountability
of management hierarchies, and the
distribution of work among multiple
independent parties could create liability
concerns.

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From the perspective of the company, which of the
following is a potential drawback of using an
unstructured organization?

A) Less flexible capacity management

B) Higher fixed costs
C) Reduced agility
D) Lack of built-in accountability
E) Decreased loyalty for all employee groups

Question 8 42
From the perspective of workers, which of the following
is a potential benefit of working for an unstructured
organization?
A) Increased job security
B) Increased loyalty toward employers
C) Increased freedom and flexibility
D) Increased sense of working together for a larger,
shared purpose
E) Availability of full-time trainers to guide,
support, and teach new skills

Question 9 43
How do you think Gojek and similar app-based
companies benefit from a structure like the one
described in the case?

Behind the Scenes 44

Duration: 20 minutes
Scope: Chapters 7 and 8
Format: Multiple-choice (15Qs)
True-false (5Qs)
Closed book
*If academic dishonesty is found, students will receive
failed grade (X) for all courses being registered during
the same term. [page 30, Learning Guide 2024]

Quiz 1
 Chapter 9
Production Systems
<pp. 271-294>

Next session (May 16)