Week Fivestudy Guide: Opportunities for Strategic Change

Study Guide
LDR/531 Version 6 / 1

Week FiveStudy Guide: Opportunities for Strategic Change

Readings and Key Terms

Ch. 15 of Organizational Behavior

Organization structure
Bureaucracy
Matrix
Virtual
Boundaryless
Mechanistic
Organic
Behavioral implications

Ch. 16 of Organizational Behavior

Organizational culture
Factors
Transmission
Ethical
Positive
Spiritual
National

Ch. 18 of Organizational Behavior

Change
Planned
Unplanned
Resistance
Managing change
Culture
Stress

Ch. 4 of Leadership in Organizations

Change
Stages
Diagnosis
Resistance
Vision
Implementation

Ch. 3 of The Strategy Process

Formulating strategy
Choice
Opportunities
Evaluation

Ch. 4 of The Strategy Process

Strategy analysis
Decisions
SWOT
Rules
List
Positioning

Content Overview

Organizational structure – determines how the jobs are coordinated

Refer to Exhibit 15-1 in Ch. 15 of Organizational Behavior:

Work specialization
Departmentalization
Chain of command
Span of control
Centralization and decentralization
Formalization

Simple structure – flat organization with only very few levels in the hierarchy
Bureaucracy – uses formal rules and regulations, jobs are grouped by specialties, and the control comes from the top from one person or just a few
Matrix – employees report to more than one manager, one oversees their function,and one oversees their product
Virtual – outsources most of the work by using freelancers, contract workers, and so forth
Boundaryless – empowers teams instead of using traditional managers; employees from all levels of the company participate in decision making
Mechanistic and organic approaches to organizational structure – Review Exhibit15-8in Ch. 15 ofOrganizational Behavior
Difference in structures – organizational strategy, organizational size, technology, and environment
Preferences vary when it comes to organizational structure. Some thrive in bureaucracies, for example, while others prefer a matrix or boundaryless organization. What works for one organization may not work for another.

Organizational culture – what sets apart one organization from another can involve the way innovation, risk taking, attention to detail, and so forth are handled. This manifests itself through rituals, symbols, and language used.

Culture determines the norms for how people in the organization act, what they say and do, how they dress, and so forth.
Managers can create an ethical culture by letting everyone know what the expectations are when it comes to ethics, providing training, by punishing those who act unethically, and by being a role model.
Recognizing and encouraging employee strengths, praising, and fostering employee growth builds a positive organizational culture; however, positive culture is not as valued by other cultures as it is in the United States.
Spirituality – Organizations must realize employees have an inner-self and values thatbring them satisfaction as much as or more than their work does, and that work results in a connectedness between employees. Employees look for and expect a purpose to what they do and what their organization does.
Organizations must be culturally sensitive when doing business with or expanding to other parts of the globe. What works culturally within one organization may not translate well in an organization in another country.

Organizational change

The economy, the world political situation, technology, competition, and so forth,all cause organizations to change to adapt to the environment.
Some change is planned and other change just occurs naturally or accidentally without anyone planning ahead for it.
Change consists of several stages that must not be hurried. These include freezing, unfreezing, changing, and refreezing.
While there are many reasons people resist change within organizations, some reasons are they feel insecure or unsafe due to theunknowns, they are uncomfortable because old habits are easier than creating new ones,and they are afraid they may not have the ability or knowledge to do things differently.

Managing change

To solve a problem, a diagnosis is first necessary. Before implementing any change, leaders should systematically consider complex relationships, unintended consequences, how to overcome resistance, and so forth.
Leaders should have a strong vision of what they would like the organization’s future to look like and be sure that the end justifies the means.
For managers and organizations to successfully implement change, there must be a clear description and education about the change and it should be communicated clearly by trusted individuals.
Leaders should consider several actions, including using teams and coalitions, monitoring progress, and celebrating successes along the way.
If possible, to create buy-in, workers should participate in the decisions related to change.
Providing training, therapy, or leaves of absence can help workers adapt to change.
Lewin’s Three-Step Change Model – see Exhibit 18-3 in Ch. 18 ofOrganizational Behavior.
Kotter’s Eight-Step Plan for Implementing Change – see Exhibit 18-5 in Organizational Behavior.
Leaders should find ways to ensure the organization is innovative and involves learning. This can be achieved in many ways such as through research and joint ventures.
Managers can create a culture in their organizations that will not fear change or be surprised by it, but will take it on willingly and with pleasure. Organizations can create this kind of culture bydoing the following:

Being flexible.
Having long-term, trusted management share their expertise and experience.
Being lean – coming up with unique ideas for using the resources available.
Blurring the lines between departments—using cross-functional teams, committees, and so forth.

Stress in the workplace

Is inevitable
Can be a positive if associated with work that is perceived as a positive challenge and can energize employees to work better
Negative – too much stress causes productivity to decline
Managers may consider how to help alleviate worker stress such as job redesign, corporate wellness programs, sabbaticals, and so forth.

Strategy

Strategy is how an organization plans to meet its business, social, economic, shareholder, customer, and employee needs or expectations and make its vision and mission come to fruition. In a nutshell, it is the decisions that drive an organization to do all it does.
Strategy consists of a mix of decisions that connect to each other. Review Figure 1 in Ch. 3 of The Strategy Process.
Strategy comes from leaders using the SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats), weighing opportunities and risks associated with the environment, technology, economics, political climate, and so forth.
Once a choice is determined, leaders must consider the organization’s strengths and weaknesses to see if the organization is capable of carrying out the strategy.
Strategy evaluation – general principles:

Consistency
Consonance
Advantage
Feasibility

Matching opportunities to the organization’s competencies can help leaders evaluate which opportunities are viable and which are not, based on the money and people the organization has at its disposal.
Threats to strategies should be thoroughly evaluated before they are implemented and analysts must understand no two organizations are the same—focus can easily shift away from the goals and objectives, and conflict easily arises.
Leaders should consider the objectives, policies, plans, and results before moving forward with a strategy.
For a strategy to be considered sound, it must be consistent, adaptable to changes in the environment, should put the organization at a competitive advantage over competition, and be doable without causing undue financial or other hardship on the organization.
Managers should look beyond the SWOT analysis at value (involves resources and capabilities to safely reach its goals), rareness (competitors already doing the same thing with the same resources), imitability (cheaper and easier for others to do the same thing without the same work and the outlay), organization (everything is in place to easily andsuccessfully carry out the plan).
Organizations should be cooperative with the competition. However, they should not forget to make it known what they are capable of or what might happen if the competition does not cooperate (idle threat that would not be carried out, but the competition is not sure of that).
Rules for the strategist – reviewReading 4.4 in Ch. 4 ofThe Strategy Process.
Porter’s list of generic strategies – review Reading 4.5 in Ch. 4 of The Strategy Process.
There is a long list ofways leaders can position strategies so they achieve the organization’s desired outcomes –reviewReading 4.6 in Ch. 4 of The Strategy Process.