15 Terms to Remember
ASA Model: Attraction-Selection-Attrition model describing how organizations and individuals undergo mutual assessment processes.
Bureaucracy: A highly formalized, hierarchical organizational structure characterized by clear rules, procedures, and a division of labor.
Centralization: The degree to which decision-making authority is concentrated at the top of the organizational hierarchy.
Classical Organizational Theory: Early theory emphasizing economic efficiency, scientific analysis, and mechanistic approaches to organizing work.
Contingency Theories: Theories proposing that optimal organizational structure depends on situational factors rather than universal principles.
Division of Labor: The specialization of tasks and responsibilities among different individuals or groups within an organization.
Functional Organizational Structure: Organizational design structured according to the various functions of the employees.
Human Relations Approach: Emphasizes the importance of social factors, employee morale, and informal groups in organizational effectiveness.
Input-Transformation-Output Model: Basic framework of systems theory showing how organizations convert inputs into outputs.
Matrix Organizational Structure: Organizational design that combines elements of both functional and product structures.
Mechanistic Organizations: Structures characterized by high formalization, centralization, and specialization, suitable for stable environments.
Open Systems: Organizational theories that view organizations as constantly interacting with their external environment.
Organic Organizations: Flexible structures characterized by larger spans of control, less formalization, and decentralized decision-making.
Organizational Change: The necessary and inevitable adaptation to internal and external forces affecting organizations.
Organizational Climate: The shared perceptions of employees about their work environment and psychological atmosphere.
Organizational Culture: The shared values, beliefs, assumptions, and practices that characterize an organization.
Organizational Development (OD): Planned, organization-wide efforts to increase effectiveness through behavioral science knowledge.
Organizational Theory: Provides frameworks for understanding how groups and individuals behave within different organizational structures and circumstances.
Person-Job Fit: The compatibility between individual skills, abilities, and interests and job demands and requirements.
Person-Organization Fit: The compatibility between individuals’ values and personalities and the organization’s culture.
Product-Based Organizational Structure: Organizational design structured by the different products the company makes.
Scientific Management: An early management theory emphasizing efficiency, standardization, and optimization of work processes.
Socialization: The process by which a new employee becomes aware of the values and procedures (culture) of the organization.
Span of Control: The number of subordinates who report to a given supervisor.
Systems Theory: View of organizations as complex entities that develop and change through internal and external forces.
Theory X: McGregor’s theory assuming employees are lazy, self-serving, and require directive supervision.
Theory Y: McGregor’s theory emphasizing employee potential, capabilities, and need for participative management.
Total Quality Management (TQM): Focus on employee involvement in continuous quality improvement and customer satisfaction.
Virtual Organizations: Flexible and adaptive structures that leverage technology to connect geographically dispersed individuals or units.
Woodward’s Technology-Based Framework: Identified three types of organizations based on production technology.