4. Organizations. Organizational climate

1. Define an organization and explain its main elements. (open, dynamic, purposeful social system of cooperation designed to enhance individual effort aimed at goal accomplishment; consist of the human element, the physical element, the work element, and the coordination element; transforms the resources into outputs for users)

2. Why do people try to organize themselves? (it is easier to accomplish the designed objectives)

3. What formal and informal organizations do you know? Which is more important: formal or informal structure? (university and hobby class of group mates, informal leaders, informal channels of communication, informal structure might hamper the performance and efficient functioning of an organization)

4. «Informal groups develop in order to meet a variety of individual needs which are not met by the formal organization». Do you share this opinion?

5. Can you give any example of an ad hoc organization? (organizations created or done for a particular purpose: election committee, entities created to deal with hurricane consequences)

6. What organizations do you belong to? Do the have any impact on your life?

7. What are the components of organization theory? (goals, work, power and authority, delegation, structure)

8. What is the starting point for the design of an organization? (definition of goals)

9. Why does «consumer» play a crucial role in an organization? (the last judge of its success)

10. Differentiate between the primary and secondary work. (primary=line work, the work organization was created for (production and distribution of goods and services); secondary – staff work, activities that support and extend the operations of primary works)

11. What role do power and authority play in building every organization? (power is the ability to influence others successfully, authority is the power which was given officially; the most successful combination for a manger is possessing both power and authority)

12. What is delegation and why is it necessary in today’s organization?(the process of transferring responsibility and authority from top to the bottom which enables an organization to grow due to the division of labour)

13. Describe the common organizational structure. (hierarchical – the authority and responsibility are strictly defined, there are lots of mangers (top, middle, line) and finally workers at the bottom of it, thus it is very slow to adapt to the changing environment; linear or flatter – usually a position of authority is at the same time the position of certain task fulfillment (board of directors consists of heads of departments) there are no line mangers, but a number of project managers, who can change depending on the project, it results in greater flexibility)

14. Who was the first to introduce the idea of hierarchy? Why, do you think? (church, army, necessity to manger a great number of people)

15. What is meant by «organizational climate»? Why is it important? (the overall favorability of member attitudes and perceptions with reference to specific activities and features of an organization; makes sure that the right workers are hired and that they will most certainly stay for a long time)

16. How does an organization (do top managers) decide what climate should be created? (depending on activities and tasks of an organization; climate in the army and advertising agency)

17. What specific cultural values do you find the most important and why? Would you consider them in creating culture of your own business?