Chapter 1 Discussion Questions

If requested by your instructor, select or key-in your answers as appropriate and email them:

1. What is the definition of organization? Briefly explain each part of the definition.

2. What is the difference between an open system and a closed system? Can you give an example of a closed system? How is the stakeholder approach related to this concept?

3. Explain how Mintzberg's five basic parts of the organization perform the subsystem functions shown at the bottom of Exhibit 1.2. If an organization had to give up one of these five parts, which one could it survive the longest without? Discuss.

4. Why might human organizations be considered more complex than machine-type systems? What is the implication of this complexity for managers?

5. What is the difference between formalization and specialization? Do you think an organization high on one dimension would also be high on the other? Discuss.

6. What does contingency mean? What are the implications of contingency theories for managers?

7. What are the primary differences between an organization designed for efficient performance and one designed for learning and change? Which type of organization do you think would be easier to manage? Discuss.

8. Why is shared information so important in a learning organization as compared to an efficient performance organization? Discuss how an organization's approach to information-sharing might be related to other elements of organization design, such as structure, tasks, strategy, and culture?

9. What are some differences one might expect among stakeholder expectations for a nonprofit organization versus a for-profit business? Do you think nonprofit managers have to pay more attention to stakeholders than do business managers? Discuss.

10. Early management theorists believed that organizations should strive to be logical and rational, with a place for everything and everything in its place. Discuss the pros and cons of this approach for today's organizations.

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