Management, 11th Edition

Chapter 10. Organization Structures and Design

Chapter 10 Study Questions

1. What is organizing as a management function?

2. What are the traditional organization structures?

3. What are the types of horizontal organization structures?

4. How are organizational designs changing the workplace?

Learning From Others, It's All About How You Put The Pieces Together

The next time you're in the mall check out what's happening in the Build-A-Bear store. You'll see lots of activity, excitement, and fun as kids and parents work together building memories. Started by Maxine Clark in 1996, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc., grew rapidly, attracted venture capital, and now operates more than 150 stores in up-scale shopping malls in the United States and Canada.

The Build-A-Bear concept is simple but elegant: Pick out a bear or bunny or turtle shell that you like, add stuffing, and then outfit your pet with clothing, shoes, and accessories. Each pet is unique—soccer player, girl scout ... you name it, personalized to the user's tastes and interests. Kids and accompanying adults love it.

Each Build-A-Bear store is carefully organized. Guest Bear Builders move along the Bear Pathway from the Choose Me computer workstation on to Stuff Me and finally to Name Me as their personal creation takes shape. Sounds a lot like organizations, doesn't it? Until you get to the "making it personal" part. That's where organizations often struggle—how to bring together hundreds, thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people in arrangements ...