Pride/Hughes/Kapoor Business, 10th Edition
Audio Review Transcript
Chapter 7 Creating a Flexible Organization
8. Summarize the use of corporate culture, intrapreneurship, committees, coordination techniques, informal groups, and the gapevine
In addition to the nuts and bolts issues of infrastructure, organizations need to consider several other factors. One of those is corporate culture. Corporate culture is generally defined as the inner rites, rituals, heroes, and values of a firm. A firm’s culture influences both its employees as well as the perception of those outside the organization. The four distinct types of corporate cultures identified by researchers are networked, mercenary, fragmented, and communal. Trying to change a corporate culture—even when it desperately needs to be changed—can be a long-term, and not necessarily successful, process. Another factor that influences an organization is its attitude toward creativity and intrapreneurship. An intrapreneur is an employee who pushes an innovative idea, product, or process through the organization. An intrapreneur makes use of the skills and attributes of an organization to produce an innovation.
Organizations also have to set up committees to perform certain tasks. These too can affect a firm’s structure. An ad hoc committee is created for a specific short-term purpose, such as reviewing a firm’s benefits plan. When its job is done, the committee is disbanded. A standing committee, on the other hand, is a relatively permanent committee charged with performing some recurring task, such as budget review. The third and final type of committee is a task force, which is established to investigate a major problem or pending decision, such as a merger. In general, committees allow more information and knowledge to be brought to the table, but decisions generally take much longer.
To coordinate organizational resources and minimize duplication, an organization may make use of a managerial hierarchy, which is an arrangement that provides increasing authority at higher levels of management. This way, one manager can coordinate all activities related to particular resources and have the authority to make decisions in that domain. In complex situations, a liaison, or go-between, may be used to coordinate activities between two groups.
Within an organization exists a structure that has nothing to with the organization chart. This is called the informal organization and it includes the pattern of behavior and interaction that stems from personal rather than official relationships. Within the informal organization are informal groups and a phenomenon called the grapevine. Informal groups are created by the members themselves to accomplish goals that may or may not be relevant to the organization. Informal groups are often, but not always, social in nature and can be powerful forces in an organization. The grapevine is the informal communications network within an organization. Information passed through the grapevine is fast, can go in any direction, and can be very accurate or totally distorted. There is no way to eliminate it. (LO 8 ends)
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