Organizational Structure

Case Assignment
In this case assignment you are asked to read the three articles from the required reading list for this module and then to write a critique in which you will try to answer the two questions below:

1) An organization structure can have significant effects on its members. What might those effects be? Analyze the behavioral implications of different organizational designs and use at least three examples.

2) Is it possible to generalize and say that a certain structure is better than others? That is, is there a structure that is superior in terms of its effects on its members?

Start by reading the interview with Rosabeth Moss Kanter, who is a renowned Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and an influential business advisor. Among other things, in this interview she talks about the evolution of changes in organizational structure in the past decades, and the link to employees’ well-being and functioning. Then, read the articles below:

1) Anand, N. & Daft, R. L. (2007). What is the right organizational design? Organizational dynamics, 36, 329-344.

http://library.tuiu.edu/

You can access this and other articles from the library ( http://library.tuiu.edu/) by clicking on JSTORE and then by entering Web-Feat and search for the material there.

2) Ambrose, M. L. & Schminke, M. (2003). Organizational structure as a moderator of the relationship between procedural justice, interactional justice, perceived organizational support, and supervisory trust. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 295-305.

http://library.tuiu.edu/

You can access this and other articles from the library ( http://library.tuiu.edu/) by clicking on JSTORE and then by entering Web-Feat and search for the material there.

The purpose of the first article is to present key developments in organization structure and design that have occurred in the past 3 decades and describe when each can be used for greatest effect. The authors of this paper review the important structural designs from 30 years ago and then describe key developments since that time. The concepts are organized into three eras, which reflect substantive changes in management thinking from vertical organization to horizontal organizing to open boundaries via outsourcing and partnering. The second article focuses on the role that organizational structure plays in justice perceptions. The authors suggest that under different structural conditions, procedural and interactional justice will play differentially important roles in determining the quality of organizational social exchange (as evidenced by perceived organizational support [POS]) and supervisory social exchange (as evidenced by supervisory trust).

Based on this reading material write a short paper that addresses the two questions above. If you wish to base your assignment on additional readings from the supplementary reading list or even on other outside reading you may find useful, please do.

Case Assignment Expectations

Your paper should be short , not including cover sheet and references) and to the point. You are expected to deal with these issues in an integrated fashion, rather than treating them as a series of individual questions to be answered one by one and left