. My topic is DYNAMIC PROCESSES IN THE ORGANIZATION AND POWER DYNAMICS. And my two OD tools are Decentralized and Centralized structures. and The Institutional View and Organization Design.
This week, choose one of the two OD tools that you identified and outlined in Week 3 and expand on it, providing more depth and support. Write a 1-2 page resource for the chosen tool that includes more than 1 reference (at least 3). You could also consider interviewing someone who has experience with the tool for advice!
Provide detailed descriptions of the selected tool, including:
Purpose: Explain the purpose of the tool and what it aims to achieve.
Application Guidelines: Provide step-by-step guidelines on how to use the tool in an organizational context. You could even write about a real or hypothetical scenario.
OD Practitioner Overview: Write a generic overview of how an OD practitioner would approach helping a client with an issue on your topic, and how/if the tool would be beneficial.
Next, it's time to bring everything together. Write a 1-2 page conclusion that ties together the insights from your exploration. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you craft a clear and engaging conclusion:
Summarize Your Key Findings: Begin by highlighting the most important points you discovered during your research. What were the central themes or key takeaways?
Compare and Contrast Sources: Discuss how the scholarly articles in your literature review compare with the "pop" or scholarly sources in your toolbox. Do they align, or are there discrepancies? Provide specific examples to illustrate this.
Effectiveness of the Tool: Evaluate the evidence (or lack thereof) supporting the effectiveness of the tool you reviewed. What did your sources say about its utility and impact?
Practical Application: Reflect on how a practitioner might use the tool in real-world scenarios. How could their experiences with the tool further inform or advance research on the topic?
Running head: DYNAMIC PROCESSES IN THE ORGANIZATION AND POWER DYNAMICS
DYNAMIC PROCESSES IN THE ORGANIZATION AND POWER DYNAMICS
Sabrina Stokes
Saint Louis University
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Tool: Decentralized and Centralized structures. Decentralized and Centralized structures. Centralization means decision authority is near the top of the organization. With decentralization, decision authority is pushed downward to lower organization levels Daft (97). To be precise, we call an organizational structure “decentralized” when decision making has been disaggregated into several subunits, or divisions, each making its own decisions. In contrast, an organizational structure is called “centralized” when decisions are made only at the level of the firm as a whole.
Focus: This theory is needed to analyze the need to measure engagement and success. At times we analyze positions in the workp
lace to see if they are necessary. If the decisions that a firm must make concerning its activity choices can be grouped such that all interactions are captured within separate divisions, and no cross-division interdependencies exist, the overall decision problem the firm faces is called “decomposable” (Simon 1962). The decomposability of decision problems has recently attracted renewed attention in the literature on modularity (Schilling 2000). Firms have been exhorted to decompose decision problems, i.e., to “modularize” them, in the context of product design (e.g., Sanchez 1995). Modularization of design problems has been seen, for instance, to speed up product improvement (Baldwin and Clark 2000) because decision problems that have been divided into independent subproblems reduce the amount of required coordination.
How to Use: I would use this to conduct confidential surveys within the organization, reports, metrics, and evaluations.
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When to Use: This tool should be used quarterly to determine if any changes have occurred or if they need to be adjusted.
Recommendation:
Tool: The Institutional View and Organization Design. The Institutional View and Organization Design creates a dynamic of ensuring that regulations are being followed and the ability to have power is not being misused as a control factor.
Focus: My focus is the pros and cons of power and institutionalism. Are major companies successful because of their CEOs and Executives are do they represent a brand of good intentions, treat their employee's fairness by creating
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a positive culture. How many companies have leaders that initiate misconduct due to status quos?
How to Use: I would use this tool by conducting review of skills sets. Does this individual of power have good listening skills? Do they have a history of motivating others for success? Do they see failure as opportunity, or do they reprimand instead?
When to Use: I would use this tool when I notice frequent indicators of write-ups, demotions, pay cuts, layoffs, and terminations to evaluate the cause.
Recommendation:
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Next, it's time to bring everything together. Write a 1-2 page conclusion that ties together the insights from your exploration. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you craft a clear and engaging conclusion:
• Summarize Your Key Findings: Begin by highlighting the most important points you discovered during your research. What were the central themes or key takeaways?
• Compare and Contrast Sources: Discuss how the scholarly articles in your literature review compare with the “pop” or scholarly sources in your toolbox. Do they align, or are there discrepancies? Provide specific examples to illustrate this.
• Effectiveness of the Tool: Evaluate the evidence (or lack thereof) supporting the effectiveness of the tool you reviewed. What did your sources say about its utility and impact?
• Practical Application: Reflect on how a practitioner might use the tool in real-world scenarios. How could their experiences with the tool further inform or advance research on the topic?
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References
Siggelkow, N., & Levinthal, D. A. (2003). Temporarily Divide to Conquer: Centralized, Decentralized, and
Reintegrated Organizational Approaches to Exploration and Adaptation. Organization Science, 14(6),
650–669. https://doi-org.ezp.slu.edu/10.1287/orsc.14.6.650.24870
