Chapter 2 Seminar activities: overview

Chapter 2: Seminar activities descriptors

Activity 1
Duration: 20 minutes, plus preparation time.
Relevant textbook section: Section 2.3 Bureaucratic structure and hierarchy
Resources: Student worksheet 1; Online extension material and web links for chapter 2
Description: This 20-minute activity encourages students to research, describe, and analyse organization charts. The student worksheet asks students to prepare by researching and printing some organization charts from the Internet. There are also some web links on the student Online Resource Centre material that they may use. The activity encourages students to compare different types of organizational design and different organization charts and structures. It encourages students to think about terminology such as span of control, delegation, horizontal and vertical differentiation.

Activity 2
Duration: 50 minutes, plus preparation time.
Relevant textbook section: Section 2.3 Bureaucratic structure and hierarchy
Resources: Student worksheet 2, Activity 2 PowerPoint slides
Description: This activity is based on, and uses elements of, the running case in the book. This is a practical session, where students are encouraged to use flip-chart paper to draw out current and recommended structures for Junction Hotel. Students are encouraged to act in the role of consultants, mapping the current structure at Junction Hotel, identifying problems with that structure, and proposing a new structure. Diagrams from the book are provided as separate slides which can be used in class or as handouts.

Activity 3
Duration: 10 minutes
Relevant textbook section: Section 2.2 The emergence of large-scale organizations
Resources: PowerPoint slides for Chapter 2
Description: This is a short activity which works better in a large lecture situation, and involves audience participation. The aim is to show how bureaucratic features develop in an organization as it grows in size, with students being called to the front to demonstrate visibly how a hierarchy develops as a result of this growth. It highlights issues such as delegation and maintaining a manageable span of control.

Activity 4
Duration: Variable
Relevant textbook section: Section 2.8 Dysfunctions of bureaucracy (see also section 2.1 Introduction to organizational structure, design, and bureaucracy)
Resources: Various, all linked to in tutor notes, and further links to news articles about red tape in the extension material for chapter 2
Description: This set of tutor notes outlines a set of activities which examine some of the dysfunctions of bureaucracy, such as the bureaucratic personality, red tape, and the exercise of discretion. The activities are of variable length, from short video clips which can be used in lectures and seminars, to longer seminar activities based on suggested readings. They can be used in isolation or as parts of an overall seminar session.

Activity 5
Duration: Variable
Relevant textbook section: Section 2.7 Weber’s critique of bureaucracy and Section 2.8 Dysfunctions of bureaucracy, including real-life case 2.6
Resources: Various, all linked to in tutor notes, including PowerPoint slides
Description: This seminar activity follows on from the Accenture case study in Section 2.6 of the textbook. It suggests some video, newspaper, and academic sources which can be used to look more deeply into the case of Accenture removing annual performance reviews. The resources, and suggested areas for discussion, can be used for activities of varying lengths – from short video items in a lecture to a full-length seminar activity. The resources can be used to examine some of the problems with bureaucracy as identified by Weber (e.g. disenchantment and the iron cage), and also some of the dysfunctions of bureaucracy such as red tape and the bureaucratic personality.

Activity 6
Duration: 15 minutes
Relevant textbook section: Section 2.9 From bureaucracy to post-bureaucracy
Resources: Student worksheet 6
Description: This seminar activity invites students to apply
the PEST model to the features of the environment which affect a
real-life organization. Students can prepare by researching an
organization, or a shorter activity can be designed where students
create the diagram from their own general knowledge. Another alternative is to state one organization that all students should research. Students should feedback their diagrams to the class or to a group.