Why do the elements of structure, such as work specialization, formalization, span of control, chain of command, and centralization, have a tendency to change together? Which of the five do you feel is the most important?
All of these five elements of organizational structure should be taken into account before making any organizational change as each element is to some extent dependent on the other (O’Fallon & Rutherford, 2011). Thus, even slight change in one element of organizational structure requires, in response, some changes in other elements. For instance, the more workers are involved in separate, specialized tasks, the greater need for grouping certain jobs occurs. The activities of the employees of every group should be governed by rules and procedures. In turn, the more groups or departments exist, the greater need for defining the number of subordinates reporting to a single supervisor occurs. The mentioned changes are usually related with the growth of business. Often, the more subdivided the duties are, the more important becomes to coordinate the activities of individuals and groups toward common goal. Depending on the chosen way of coordination of activities, it is significantly important to decide how much decision-making authority to grant individual workers, managers, and departments.
All of the elements are important enough. However, depending on the size of business, one element may seem more important than the other. Probably, most problems arise when organizations do not coordinate their activities properly. It is especially critical in complex organizations.
Most teams go through five different stages of development. But how fast a team moves through each stage will depend on the team members, their skills, the work they are expected to do, and the type of leadership available to the team. Write a summary of the five-stage progression model.
The five-stage progression model of group development has been proposed by Tuckman and includes the following stages: forming (orientation), storming (conflict), norming (structure development), performing (work), and adjourning (dissolution) (Forsyth, 2006). On the stage of forming, group members usually rely on the guidance of group leader. They become familiar with each other and gather impressions and data concerning similarities and differences in preferences necessary for forming subgroups in the future. The second stage is known as storming because group members start to compete with each other concerning functions performed which leads to certain tensions. Usually, on this stage, antagonism toward leader occurs. Through disagreements over procedures, group members compete for their roles in the group. On the third stage of group development, members achieve agreement on procedures. The roles, relationships, and standards become established. At this stage, every member actually starts feeling oneself as a part of a team. The stage of performing can be characterized by mutual cooperation aimed at goal achievement. Team becomes highly task-oriented. The decision making and problem solving processes become well organized. When the group accomplishes its tasks or exhausts its time and resources, it appears on the last stage of development which is characterized by increased independence and emotionality. The members …