Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
List the five types of organizations in the workplace today
Summarize the main characteristics of each type of organization
Determine the types of organization for which you would most enjoy working and which
ones you should most likely avoid
Assess how each type of organization uses communication
Compare and contrast the three different ways organizations coordinate people
I. Opening Thoughts
A. Current employees face rapid changes because of technology, globalization,
outsourcing, financial downturns, and even fraud.
B. Most people will change jobs often and work for many different organizations.
II. Organizations: Before You Commit to a Job, What Should You Know?
A. There are five major types of workplace organizations, each with a different focus.
1. The traditional organization focuses on structure and control.
flexible when change occurs.
B. You should know which types of organization best fit your skills and personality and
which types to avoid.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
III. Types of Organizations
A. Managers in different types of organizations approach problems, relate to employees,
and use communication quite differently.
1. The traditional manager motivates employees with control, structure, and money.
2. The human relations manager motivates employees by meeting their social and
new technologies.
B. The traditional (or classical) organization was developed in the early 1900s.
1. Large organizations were a new phenomenon with no models except the military.
2. Companies were managed by hunch; employee motivation techniques were
a. Henri Fayol and Max Weber popularized this approach.
b. This approach emphasizes organizational structure: clear division of labor, clear
pyramid
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
6. Traditional organizations still domin
agencies, educational institutions, and many firms, such as UPS).
a. Taylor introduced automation, merit pay, time-motion studies, and reward
industry procedures.
C. The human relations organization focuses on social and psychological employee needs.
1. Around the time of the Great Depression, traditional organizations were challenged.
a. Workers and labor unions rejected traditional organizations.
b. Engineering and business school graduates became valuable employees
Container Store).
D. The human resources model gradually evolved from the human relations model.
1. It became a model in its own right in the late 1960s.
a. Douglas McGregor and Rensis Likert compared traditional management to the
feedback; and sufficient downward message flow.
d.
encompassing only two levels of needs and Theory Y all five needs.
3.
making by using quality circles, total quality management, and cross-functional
employees working with each other, managers listening and responding rapidly
to employees, companies open to change, and management-union cooperation.
E. The systems/contingency organization recognizes that no organizational model is the
single best way.
1. Any model can work in some situations and industries, depending on internal and
external factors, so systems thinking and contingency thinking are needed.
2.
organizations with a strong culture.
a. Successful companies adapt management style to the existing employee culture.
b. Culture is the pattern of beliefs and expectations shared by organization
members that produce norms and shape behavior.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
F. The transformational (or postbureaucratic or technological) organization results from
1. Tools that made traditional organizations effective (direct supervision, large size,
standardization) have created many problems that impede global competitiveness.
a. Employees act like owners.
b. Profitability results when each stakeholder is responsible and accountable for
decisions.
IV. How Each Type Organization Uses Communication
A. Traditional organization communication is mainly task oriented, formal (usually
written), downward, and used by managers to clarify orders.
1. The social side of communication is relatively unimportant.
2.
decisions.
internal and external factors.
2. Communication flexibility is a must and is highly valued.
3. Employees at all levels must be able to communicate well.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
E. Transformational organization communication relies on horizontal communication
although upward, downward, and informal communication are readily used.
1. Multiunit and virtual organization team members must be skilled communicators
V. How Organizations Coordinate People and Groups
Organizations
VI. Summary
A. Choosing the best organization type for your career requires knowledge about the
organization models of specific companies.
B. Communication, feedback, and company expectations vary significantly across models.
2.5 Use as an in-class assignment.
Assign each team an organizational theory. Have them fill in their section of the chart
discuss their model to the class and why they feel it is the best model (if there is a model
not discussed, cover as a class and fill in the chart). Then open up discussion/questions
for the team for 5 minutes. Repeat with each team. At the end of this assignment,
discuss how you may have liked a different theory than the one you had to defend. How
did the students feel to represent a model they did not agree with wholeheartedly?
MindTap support materials for Chapter 2 include the following:
Warm-up question activity that introduces chapter topics and concepts
Notetaking capability that enables students to read the chapter, highlight text, and take
A number of useful webpages can be employed in conjunction with Chapter 2:
The managerial theories chart from Activity 2.4 can also be assigned to online students.
In order for students to fill out the chart as you have it on the webpage, first instruct them
to click Select All for the webpage the chart is on, and then click Copy. Open Word, and
In addition, online sites provide useful videos that support Chapter 2 topics:
All Together: Organization Behavior, 2005, 30 minutes. This program explains that
each organization has its own culture; this program looks at organizational behavior. It
introduces the ideas of Frederick Taylor and discusses scientific management, corporate
culture, and the pitfalls of bureaucracy. Insight Media.
program focuses on communication, focusing on vertical, horizontal, and lateral forms;
communication networks; informal and formal channels of communication; barriers to
effective communication. Insight Media.
Human Resources Management, 1995, Discusses Southwest Airlines success because of
its excellent human resources management. RMI Media Productions, Inc.
Collateral websites also offer supplemental support for Chapter 2 topics:
http://www.accel-team.com/index.html
http://www.eskimo.com/~mighetto/lsstyle.htm, the Mighetto & Associates website,
which deals with a variety of concepts, including power, leadership styles, McGregor
Theory X, Theory Y, and scientific method
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
1.
managers may say, there is no single best way to manage any model could be
2.
know who is boss.
3. Horizontal communication is not an important concept in the traditional model.
4. Theory X does not apply to physiological and safety needs of the hierarchy.
5. A virtual organization is generally a temporary venture among several companies, each
with a special expertise or process specialty.
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
1. Three of the following statements are true about scientific management approach. Which
one is not true?
a. Employees will be more productive if
they are given rewards for
productivity.
c. Managers should determine the
shortest and easiest way to perform
tasks.
b. Organizations should determine what
employee characteristics are needed
for each job and then hire only workers
with these characteristics.
d. Managers can improve organizations
by first improving management skills.
2. A tall organizations is an organization that has:
a. Better complex decisions c. Less efficient communication
b. Better employee morale d. Shorter problem-solving time frames
3. The central principle of this theory rests on the idea that the whole is more than the sum of
its parts.
a. Transformational model c. Theory Z
b. Theory Y d. Systems theory
4. This organizational model believes in motivating employees with awards, money and
working with people they like.
a. Traditional/classical c. Human resources
b. Human relations d. Systems/contingency
Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business and the Professions (Cheryl Hamilton)
1. Which type of organization discussed in the text would you most enjoy working for and
why? Which ones should you most likely avoid and why?
ANS:
While answers may vary, the following topics might be addressed in this answer:
If you like being told what to do, a traditional organization might be a good fit.
2. List and discuss several advantages and disadvantages of communicating within the
transformational organizational model.
ANS:
Advantages include:
Task oriented
Disadvantages include:
3. In traditional organizations, two approaches emerged to solve the problems of inefficient
organizations: the bureaucratic approach and the scientific approach. Compare these
approaches.
ANS:
The scientific management approach focuses on handling employee problems first through four
4. Assess the impact that multiunit and virtual organizations has on communication in the
transformational model.
ANS:
Multiunit and virtual organization team members must be skilled communicators who recognize
5. Compare and contrast the Theory X and Theory Y model of communication. What are the
benefits of managers who adopt the Theory Y model of communication?
ANS:
The traditional model (Theory X) has specific communication behaviors (e.g., most messages