Ch. 7 Organization Structures

Legitimate power, granted by the organization and acknowledged by employees, that allows an individual to request action and expect compliance.

• centralization

• authority

• decentralization

• departmentalization

The degree to which formal authority is concentrated in one area or level of an organization. Top management makes most of the decisions.

• organization

• line organization

• centralization

• organic organization

The line of authority that extends from one level of an organization’s hierarchy to the next, from top to bottom, and makes clear who reports to whom.

• customer departmentalization

• committee structure

• delegation of authority

• chain of command

The process of pushing decision-making authority down the organizational hierarchy.

• decentralization

• centralization

• authority

• formal organization

The process of grouping jobs together so that similar or associated tasks and activities can be coordinated.

• group cohesiveness

• departmentalization

• informal organization

• customer departmentalization

The process of dividing work into separate jobs and assigning tasks to workers

• line positions

• line-and-staff organization

• division of labor

• geographic departmentalization

The levels of management within an organization; typically includes top, middle, and supervisory management.

• mechanistic organization

• organic organization

• group cohesiveness

• managerial hierarchy

A visual representation of the structured relationships among tasks and the people given the authority to do those tasks

• organization chart

• reengineering

• specialization

• staff positions

The complete redesign of business structures and processes in order to improve operations.

• organic organization

• reengineering

• work teams

• span of control

The number of employees a manager directly supervises; also called span of management.

• problem-solving teams

• process departmentalization

• span of control

• staff positions