Reflection and Discussion Forum Week 7 4 Reflection and Discussion Forum Week 7 Jada Walden Organizational Behavior – BUOL 532-02 Professor: Dr. Ronald Spicer October 9, 2019 Introduction Within organizational structure, the mention of boredom by continuously repeating the same tasks was interesting to me as I have had this experience. It was of particular interest to me that depending on the culture of the office, the ability to either increase or decrease innovation depends on the dynamics of all involved. Chapter 15 – Foundations of Organizational Structure To become specialized in an area I believe is something we all desire as we continue in our working career. The old saying, “practice makes perfect” is true, the longer we work at a task, the better we become. The problem that management don’t understand sometimes is when you are kept in one position too long, you feel as if they don’t believe you are qualified to do anything else. In my previous job, I did the same exact task for 18 years. Although I had a few additional duties assigned, the day to day job was the same, increasing in size as we acquired more companies. When I would ask about the opportunity to do other things I was always told, “no one ever leaves, so there is no chance of advancement”. Not only was this discouraging in itself, the same processes every day became extremely boring. Although I was an expert at my job and based on evaluations performed very well, it was difficult to be satisfied. As a result after 18 years, I chose to leave. It was a very difficult decision, as I viewed, and still do, my co-workers as family. Chapter 16 – Organizational Culture This chapter for me goes back to the topic of politics and how hierarchy can be determined by office size. In my former job, an outsider could have strolled through the building without knowing anyone and quickly realize who was in charge. The executives were located on one side, all with massive offices and the best of furniture. Even looking through the parking lot at the vehicles driven could determine those that were CEO level and slightly below, all driving expensive company SUV’s. Within different cultures, it can become easy to be conformed to “this is the way it’s always been done”. Organizations can become so focused on policies and procedures that the ability to be open to new and improved is non-existent. My dad used to say, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. This can be true, but within the world we live in now not being willing to change and learn can result in being left behind. It’s easy to become set in your ways, and even feel a sense of insult when suggestions are made to improve procedures. I’m ashamed to say I have been guilty of that in the past. There have been times when my own insecurities have led me to assume a situation that in reality wasn’t true. I have become short with people who were only trying to help, not take my place or mak ...

1. Reflection and Discussion Forum Week 7 4
Reflection and Discussion Forum Week 7
Jada Walden
Organizational Behavior – BUOL 532-02
Professor: Dr. Ronald Spicer
October 9, 2019
Introduction
Within organizational structure, the mention of boredom
by continuously repeating the same tasks was interesting to me
as I have had this experience. It was of particular interest to me
that depending on the culture of the office, the ability to either
increase or decrease innovation depends on the dynamics of all
involved.
Chapter 15 – Foundations of Organizational Structure
To become specialized in an area I believe is something we

2. all desire as we continue in our working career. The old saying,
“practice makes perfect” is true, the longer we work at a task,
the better we become. The problem that management don’t
understand sometimes is when you are kept in one position too
long, you feel as if they don’t believe you are qualified to do
anything else. In my previous job, I did the same exact task for
18 years. Although I had a few additional duties assigned, the
day to day job was the same, increasing in size as we acquired
more companies. When I would ask about the opportunity to do
other things I was always told, “no one ever leaves, so there is
no chance of advancement”. Not only was this discouraging in
itself, the same processes every day became extremely boring.
Although I was an expert at my job and based on evaluations
performed very well, it was difficult to be satisfied. As a result
after 18 years, I chose to leave. It was a very difficult decision,
as I viewed, and still do, my co-workers as family.
Chapter 16 – Organizational Culture
This chapter for me goes back to the topic of politics and
how hierarchy can be determined by office size. In my former
job, an outsider could have strolled through the building
without knowing anyone and quickly realize who was in charge.
The executives were located on one side, all with massive
offices and the best of furniture. Even looking through the
parking lot at the vehicles driven could determine those that
were CEO level and slightly below, all driving expensive
company SUV’s.
Within different cultures, it can become easy to be
conformed to “this is the way it’s always been done”.
Organizations can become so focused on policies and
procedures that the ability to be open to new and improved is
non-existent. My dad used to say, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix
it”. This can be true, but within the world we live in now not
being willing to change and learn can result in being left
behind. It’s easy to become set in your ways, and even feel a
sense of insult when suggestions are made to improve
procedures. I’m ashamed to say I have been guilty of that in the

3. past. There have been times when my own insecurities have led
me to assume a situation that in reality wasn’t true. I have
become short with people who were only trying to help, not take
my place or make me feel incapable. After having some time to
reflect, I was able to apologize and thankfully they accepted.
When we are mixed with a variety of ages, sex and
backgrounds, arrogance and insecurity can arise, depending on
your personality. We as human beings all have our own ways to
cope with change. I have come to realize most people are
resistant to change simply because they fear the inability to
learn a new way.
Conclusion
Reading these chapters have helped me to understand the
importance of constantly moving forward. We join the work
force to not become stagnant. In able to accomplish this we
must be willing to not become hung up on fear of any kind. No
matter where we are in the workforce, just starting out or
approaching retirement, we can always learn from each other.
References
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2018). Essentials of organizational
behavior (14th Ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education.
Running head: UNIT SEVEN REFLECTION 1
Unit Seven: Foundations of Organizational Structure and
Culture
Sutton M. Jacobs
University of the Cumberlands

4. UNIT SEVEN REFLECTION 2
Unit Seven: Foundations of Organizational Structure and
Culture
According to Robbins & Judge (2018), organizational structure
defines the formal
division and coordination of efforts to achieve job tasks. This
can be further broken down into
seven components: work specialization, departmentalization,
chain of command, span of control,
(de)centralization, formalization, and boundary spanning. One
of the most important factors in
organizational structure is work specialization. Work
specialization is how tasks are divided into
specific tasks, usually to increase efficiency and productivity.
This effects how educated or
specialized a worker's skills must be to perform their required
duties, and usually to be hired in
the first place to meet the anticipated organizational structure.
Chain of command is also
necessary to consider in organizational structure; this
determines the communication and power

5. chain in the workplace, defining who reports and/or manages
who. Along these lines, span of
control determines how many individuals should work under a
manager within the chain of
command. Where decision rights lie within this chain of
command represents how centralized or
decentralized the structure is.
The framework of organizational structures can vary widely to
include simple,
bureaucratic, functional, divisional, team, virtual, circular and
matrix structures. Each structure
differs in how much emphasis they have in each of the seven
components that define them. A
structure outlining an organization varies for several reasons,
including but not limited to their
strategies pursuing, organizational size, technology available,
cultural factors, and
industry/market environment.
From an employee perspective, many structures appear simple
and linear. There can be a
clear path designated in a chain of command from top to
bottom, everyone fulfills their set
duties, and little deviation. However, more complex structures
can appear at first as simple, but

6. UNIT SEVEN REFLECTION 3
have actually evolved into models such as team structures. For
example, I have a clear supervisor
who reports to the athletic director who reports to the university
president. Instead of working
linearly though, work teams are strategically created within
higher education institutions to
effectively run. The members of my team dynamically work
together to fulfill our duties, but
also have to work directly with another team, such as IT for
example, to get permission to get
particular equipment – part of the decision rights process.
According to Robbins & Judge (2018), organizational culture is
a how employees equally
establish meaning to their work environment and distinguish
themselves as unique from other
organizational cultures. In time, this allows for new stories,
traditions, rituals, symbols, etc. to be
associated within the organization to make them unique from
others. In addition, norms and
moral behaviors are established within the identified culture.
Organizational culture is comprised

7. of and defined by seven characteristics: innovation and risk
taking, attention to detail, outcome
orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness
or internal competitiveness, and
workplace stability. Outcome orientation is determined by
management’s focus either being on
the end results or the process getting there. Management
influences people orientation depending
on their consideration of the effect decision making has on their
employees. Team orientation is
how the company performs at the team level compared to
individual success. Because the degree
of each previously mentioned characteristic exhibited by the
organization, there can be a variety
of cultures created within the organization, but the core values
of the organization prevail as the
dominant culture exhibited.
Organizational culture has an ethical dimension; organizational
members often share
beliefs of moral workplace behavior, as well as wrong and right
decisions to make. The culture
of the organization can also drive innovation, if the norms and
vision of the organization provoke

8. UNIT SEVEN REFLECTION 4
them to move in said direction through their team orientation,
risks taken, etc. This is important
because if the organizational culture allows for unnecessary
behavior by the organizational
members, the work environment may become negative. Potential
new hires should strategically
fit the current organizational structure, climate and culture.
UNIT SEVEN REFLECTION 5
References
Robbins, S. & Judge T. (2018). Essentials of Organizational
Behavior. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Unit Seven: Foundations of Organizational Structure and
CultureReferences