Objective [1]

Describe the four characteristics common to all organizations. They are coordination of effort (achieved through policies and rules), a common goal (a collective purpose), division of labor (people performing different but related tasks), and a hierarchy of authority (the chain of command).

Objective [2]

Explain the difference between closed and open systems, and contrast the military/mechanical, biological, and cognitive systems metaphors for organizations. Closed systems, such as a battery-powered clock, are relatively self-sufficient. Open systems, such as the human body, are highly dependent on the environment for survival. In the past, the military/ mechanical metaphor characterized organizations as selfsufficient closed systems. Newer biological and cognitive metaphors view the organization as an open system. The biological metaphor views the organization as a living organism striving to survive in an uncertain environment. In terms of the cognitive metaphor, an organization is like the human mind, capable of interpreting and learning from uncertain and ambiguous situations.

Objective [3]

Describe the four generic organizational effectiveness criteria. They are goal accomplishment (satisfying stated objectives), resource acquisition (gathering the necessary productive inputs), internal processes (building and maintaining healthy organizational systems), and strategic constituencies satisfaction (achieving at least minimal satisfaction for all key stakeholders).

Objective [4]

Explain what the contingency approach to organization design involves. The contingency approach to organization design calls for fitting the organization to the demands of the situation.

Objective [5]

Discuss Burns and Stalker’s findings regarding mechanistic and organic organizations. British researchers Burns and Stalker found that mechanistic (bureaucratic, centralized) organizations tended to be effective in stable situations. In unstable situations, organic (flexible, decentralized) organizations were more effective. These findings underscored the need for a contingency approach to organization design.

Objective [6]

Describe new-style and old-style organizations, and list three keys to managing geographically dispersed employees in virtual organizations. New-style organizations are characterized as dynamic and learning, information rich, global, small and large, product/customer oriented, skills oriented, team oriented, involvement oriented, lateral/networked, and customer oriented. Old-style organizations are characterized as stable, information is scarce, local, large, functional, job oriented, individual oriented, command/control oriented, hierarchical, and job requirements oriented. The three keys to effectively managing people geographically dispersed throughout a virtual organization are sharing knowledge, building trust, and maintaining connectedness.