Z94.15 - Organization Planning and Theory

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DECENTRALIZATION, AUTHORITY. Placing the authority and decision-making power as close as possible to the organizational level at which the work is done.

DECENTRALIZATION, PHYSICAL. The geographical dispersing of facilities and activities. The management control can either be centralized or decentralized.

DECISION MAKING. The response to a need or stimulus by means of acquiring and organizing information, processing this information to define the major problem and to yield alternative courses of action, and selecting one course of action from among the alternatives. It requires the preparation of a detailed implementation plan and the identification of any "new problems" which may arise.

DECISION RULE. A predetermined criterion which may be used by a decision-maker to select from alternative courses of action.

DECODING. To operate on a signal in order to extract the message and present it in usable form at its destination.

DELEGATION. To grant or confer responsibility and commensurate authority from one executive or organizational unit to another in order to accomplish a particular assignment; often used in the sense of a superior in the organization delegating to subordinates.

DELPHI TECHNIQUE. A group decision method in which individual members, acting separately, pool their judgement in a systematic and independent fashion.

DEPARTMENT. An organizational unit established to operate in, and be responsible for, a specified activity or a physical or functional area.

DEPARTMENTALIZATION (DEPARTMENTATION). The division of an organization into formal groups according to criteria such as function, process, equipment, products, territory, or customer.

DISJUNCTIVE SOCIALIZATION. A socialization process whereby a new recruit does not have a guide on which to model organizational behavior.

DIVISION. One of the groupings into which activities are separated; organizational structure which includes more than two departments within its jurisdiction. Also, a corporate unit which is generally responsible for producing, marketing, and servicing a closely related line of products.

DIVISION OF WORK. The separation of labor tasks into less complex subtasks. This may be to use simpler skills or to make use of special skills. (See SPECIALIZATION.)

DUAL-CAREER COUPLES. A situation where both the husband and the wife have distinct careers outside the home.

DYSFUNCTIONAL CONFLICT. Conflict situations, usually between groups in the same organization, that hinder the achievement of group and organizational goals.

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