Management

Organisations

Useful vocabulary

• Team structure• Matrix structure• Project structure• Boundaryless

organisation• Virtual organisation• Network organisation• Learning organisation• Cross-functional team• Task force (or ad hoc

committee)

• Communities of practice

• Open innovation• Strategic partnerships• Telecommuting• Compressed workweek• Flextime (or flexible

work hours)• Job sharing• Contingent workers

Today’s lecture

We will:•Describe contemporary organisational designs•Discuss how organisations organise for collaboration•Explain flexible work arrangements used by organisations•Discuss organising issues associated with a contingent workforce•Describe today’s organisational design challenges

Activity – what’s changed?

• How have organisations changed over the past 20 years?

• What environmental factors have influenced organisations?

• How have people changed?

Contemporary organisation designs

The environment in which organisations exist has changed rapidly in the past 20 years. New organisation structures include:•Team•Matrix•Project•Boundaryless•Virtual•Network•Learning

Contemporary organisation designs (1)

• Team Structure - an organisational structure in which the entire organisation is made up of work teams

• Matrix Structure - an organisational structure that assigns specialists from different functional departments to work on one or more projects

Contemporary organisation designs (2)

• Project Structure - an organisational structure in which employees continuously work on projects

• Boundaryless organisation - an organisation whose design is not defined by, or limited to, the horizontal, vertical, or external boundaries imposed by a predefined structure

Contemporary organisation designs (3)

• Virtual organisation - an organisation that consists of a small core of full-time employees and outside specialists temporarily hired as needed to work on projects.

• Network organisation - an organisation that uses its own employees to do some work activities and networks of outside suppliers to provide other needed product components or work processes.

Contemporary organisation designs (4)

• Learning organisation - an organisation that has developed the capacity to continuously learn, adapt, and change

COD – Team design

COD - Matrix

COD - Boundaryless

COD – Learning organisation

Example of a matrix organisation

Collaboration

Internal collaboration

• Cross-functional team - a work team composed of individuals from various functional specialties.

• Task force (or ad hoc committee) - a temporary committee or team formed to tackle a specific short-term problem affecting several departments.

Advantages and disadvantages of collaborative working

Internal collaboration

• Communities of practice - groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in that area by interacting on an ongoing basis.

Communities of practice tips

External collaboration

• Open innovation - opening up the search for new ideas beyond the organisation’s boundaries and allowing innovations to easily transfer inward and outward.

• Strategic partnerships - collaborative relationships between two or more organisations in which they combine their resources and capabilities for some business purpose.

Advantages and disadvantages of open innovation

Flexible working

Flexible working

• As the structures of organisations change, the need for traditional full-time, permanent roles has changed.

• Types of flexible working include:– Telecommuting– Compressed workweek– Flexi-time– Flexi hours– Job sharing

Flexible working (1)

• Telecommuting - a work arrangement in which employees work at home and are linked to the workplace by computer.

• Compressed workweek - a workweek where employees work longer hours per day but fewer days per week

Flexible working (2)

• Flextime (or flexible work hours) - a scheduling system in which employees are required to work a specific number of hours a week but are free to vary those hours within certain limits.

• Job sharing - the practice of having two or more people split a full-time job.

Contingent workforce

Contingent workers are workers whose employment is contingent upon demand for their services:

•temporary

•freelance

•contract

Contingent workers

1. What impact do you think contingent workers will have on an organisation?– Think about the four functions and

the design of an organisation.

2. What are the challenges a manager might face with contingent workers?

Business set up

Imagine you are setting up a business which provides Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) for Chinese students who will be starting at university in the UK in September.You are based in China but providing support to students in the UK.•In groups, describe your business:

– mission statement– organisational design– collaborations– flexible working

Summary

Today:

•Contemporary organisation designs

•Collaboration

•Flexible working

Tomorrow:

•Groups and teams in organisations

Reading

• Please read Chapter 13 before tomorrow’s lecture.