COMMUNICATION AND ORGANIZATIONS

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COMMUNICATION AND ORGANIZATIONS

• THE PARADOXES OF ORGANIZING STRUCTURING LATERAL
  COMMUNICATION

Lecture 9b
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FUNDAMENTAL PARADOX OF ORGANIZING

• Machine Bureaucracies divide work
• First by function then by job type
• They take work apart to get control over it and
  over the workers
• Many simplified, specialized jobs
• Each easy to learn to do quickly
• All tied together by Vertical Coordination
• By management decision-making, rules and direct
  supervision
• Why?

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FUNDAMENTAL PARADOX OF ORGANIZING
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FUNDAMENTAL PARADOX OF ORGANIZING - AT UNIT LEVEL

• The more divided the work becomes, the more
  controllable it is
• The more each department focuses on doing its
  work its own way to achieve efficiency
• But, the harder it becomes to coordinate flow
  (throughput) between units
• More struggling between departments about whose
  causing delays, higher costs
• Cost of management efforts to control struggle
  begins to rise reducing profits from unit
  efficiencies

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FUNDAMENTAL PARADOX OF ORGANIZING - AT INDIVIDUAL
LEVEL

• The more divided the work becomes, the more
  controllable it is, the easier and faster it is
  to do
• But, the more each worker becomes bored,
  disconnected from the work
• The more repetitious, the less they care
• Alienation
• Symptoms mistakes, carelessness, sabotage,
  absenteeism, work actions, strikes

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FUNDAMENTAL PARADOX OF ORGANIZING

• THE OVERALL RESULT IS

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FUNDAMENTAL PARADOX OF ORGANIZING
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FUNDAMENTAL PARADOX OF ORGANIZING

• CONTROL THE WORK TO GET INCREASED EFFICIENCY AND
  IN THE END GET DECREASED EFFICIENCY
• ITS CALLED SUB-OPTIMIZATION
• EACH UNIT OPTIMIZES ITS OWN EFFICIENCY BUT AT A
  COST TO OTHERS AND THE LARGER EFFICIENCY GOALS OF
  THE ORGANIZATION

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MANAGING THE PARADOX OF ORGANIZING - AT THE UNIT
LEVEL

• SO PUT WORK BACK TOGETHER TO REGAIN OVERALL
  EFFICIENCY
• CROSS FUNCTIONAL COORDINATION MUST HAPPEN TO
  ACHIEVE ORG.S OUTPUT GOALS
• HOW?

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MANAGING THE PARADOX OF ORGANIZING - AT THE UNIT
LEVEL

• LATERAL COORDINATION
• USE STRUCTURE TO ENCOURAGE MUTUAL ADJUSTMENT
  BETWEEN UNITS
• TASK FORCES (ADHOCRACIES)
• MATRIX STRUCTURES EACH INDIVIDUAL HAS TWO
  BOSSES
• ON-GOING PROJECT TEAM LEADER AND FUNCTIONAL
  MANAGER
• LIAISON (INTEGRATIVE) ROLES
• BRAND ACCOUNT MANAGERS
• INTEGRATOR - MANAGERS

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ADMINISTRATIVE ADHOCRACY
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MANAGING THE PARADOX OF ORGANIZING - AT THE UNIT
LEVEL

• SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF USING MUTUAL ADJUSTMENT FOR
  INTERDEPARTMENTAL COORDINATION
• IMPROVING THE MANAGEMENT FUNCTION

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3 HIGH PERFORMING ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR
ENVIRONMENTS

• CONTAINER ORGANIZATION
• SIMPLE / STABLE ENVIRONMENT
• FOOD PROCESSING ORGANIZATION
• MORE COMPLEX / DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT
• PLASTICS ORGANIZATION
• COMPLEX / DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT

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LAWRENCE AND LORSCH COMPARISON OF INTEGRATIVE
DEVICES
PLASTICS FOOD CONTAINER
DEGREE OF DIFFERENTIATION
LOW
MAJOR INTEGRATIVE DEVICES
1. DIRECT MANAGERIAL
CONTACT
2. MANAGERIAL HIERARCHY
3. PAPER SYSTEM
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LAWRENCE AND LORSCH COMPARISON OF INTEGRATIVE
DEVICES
PLASTICS FOOD CONTAINER
DEGREE OF DIFFERENTIATION
MEDIUM LOW
MAJOR INTEGRATIVE DEVICES
1. INDIVIDUAL 1. DIRECT
INTEGRATORS MANAGERIAL
CONTACT
2. MANAGERIAL 2. MANAGERIAL
FUNCT TEAMS HIERARCHY
3. DIRECT MGT 3. PAPER
SYSTEM CONTACT
4. MGT HIERARCHY
5. PAPER SYSTEM
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LAWRENCE AND LORSCH COMPARISON OF INTEGRATIVE
DEVICES
PLASTICS FOOD CONTAINER
DEGREE OF DIFFERENTIATION
HIGH MEDIUM LOW
MAJOR INTEGRATIVE DEVICES
1. INTEGRATIVE 1. INDIVIDUAL 1. DIRECT
DEPARTMENT INTEGRATORS MANAGERIAL
CONTACT
2. PERMANENT 2. TEMP. CROSS 2.
MANAGERIAL CROSS-FUNCT FUNCT
TEAMS HIERARCHY TEAMS
3. DIRECT MGT 3. DIRECT MGT 3.
PAPER SYSTEM CONTACT
CONTACT
4. MGT HIERARCHY 4. MGT HIERARCHY
5. PAPER SYSTEM 5. PAPER SYSTEM
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MANAGING THE PARADOX OF ORGANIZING - AT THE
INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

• NEXT STEP
• USE MUTUAL ADJUSTMENT IN THE OPERATING CORE TO
  ACTUALLY DO WORK
• IMPROVE THE PRODUCTION FUNCTION
• BUILD ON THE NATURAL TENDENCY OF PEOPLE IN THE
  CORE TO TALK WITH EACH OTHER

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INFORMAL COMMUNICATION

• COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
• SOMETIMES CHALLENGES FORMAL STRUCTURE
• GRAPEVINE, GOSSIP
• SOMETIMES SUPPORTS FORMAL STRUCTURE
• BETTER INFO FLOW
• TOOK 100 YEARS TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO REORGANIZE
  WORK IN WAYS TO USE INFORMAL COMMUNICAITON
  EFFECTIVELY
• SHIFT FROM INDIVIDUAL TO TEAM-CENTERED
  ORGANIZATION OF WORK
• LET WORKERS LEARN MORE THAN ONE JOB
• TALK TO EACH OTHER ABOUT THE WORK TO INCREASE
  EFFICIENCY
• RE-CONNECT WITH THE WORK ITSELF
• REDUCE ALIENATION

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