China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Planning for a Project
Published in David Shirley, Project Management for Healthcare, 2020
There are several “new” ways of slicing up the “organizational pie.” One of these new structures is the “flat” structure. In a nutshell, a flat organization has no intervening organization structure between the worker level and upper-management level. Some organizations will designate “lead” workers on projects, but all workers are basically on a peer level. A slight modification to this structure may be that, instead of reporting to the CEO, for instance, there may be an executive council to which all other employees report. It can be an effective way for smaller healthcare facilities to organize. Most private, single physicians' offices are organized that way. In a dentist's office with one principal dentist, there is probably office help, dental hygienists, and dental assistants. All report to the dentist, and the dentist will make all the decisions. In some cases, the dentist may delegate some of the office projects, such as the purchase of new equipment, for example, but generally the dentist is the project manager. You can see that while this might work for a small office, no matter how much larger organizations would like to say they are flat, it is almost impossible not to have some management structure in place.
Planning for a Project
Published in David Shirley, Project Management for Healthcare, 2016
There are several “new” ways of slicing up the “organizational pie.” One of these new structures is the “flat” structure. In a nutshell, a flat organization has no intervening organization structure between the worker level and upper-management level. Some organizations will designate “lead” workers on projects, but all workers are basically on a peer level. A slight modification to this structure may be that, instead of reporting to the CEO, for instance, there may be an executive council to which all other employees report. It can be an effective way for smaller healthcare facilities to organize. Most private, single physicians’ offices are organized that way. In a dentist’s office with one principal dentist, there is probably office help, dental hygienists, and dental assistants. All report to the dentist and the dentist will make all of the decisions. In some cases the dentist may delegate some of the office projects, such as the purchase of new equipment, for example, but generally the dentist is the project manager. You can see that while this might work for a small office, no matter how much larger organizations would like to say they are flat, it is almost impossible not to have some management structure in place.
Environmental Compliance and the Corporate Structure
Published in Frances Alston, Brian K. Perkins, Strategic Environmental Performance, 2020
Frances Alston, Brian K. Perkins
A flat organizational structure is an organization system that does not have layers of management between the company’s grassroots staff members and senior managers. In these structures, employees usually report to the president, the CEO or the highest level of leadership instead of reporting to a lower level of management that then reports to the senior executive. Flat organization structures are not common for medium- to large-size organizations. This type of structure is typically effectively utilized in small or start-up companies. An example of a flat organization structure is shown in Figure 1.4.
What do the different ergonomic interventions accomplish in the workplace? A systematic review
Published in International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2022
Rashid Heidarimoghadam, Iraj Mohammadfam, Mohammad Babamiri, Ali Reza Soltanian, Hassan Khotanlou, Mohammad Sadegh Sohrabi
According to the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) definition, ergonomics (or human factors) is ‘the scientific discipline concerned with the fundamental understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the application of appropriate methods, theory and data to improve human well-being and overall system performance’ [1]. Enhancing well-being and overall system performance are the ultimate goals of ergonomics, which are achieved through ergonomic interventions. To give a primitive definition of intervention, it merely means a purposeful action by a human agent in order to create a change. These interventions can be implemented at microergonomic and macroergonomic levels in organizations, industries, workplaces, field or laboratory research studies, etc. Most occupational ergonomic interventions in the workplace are accomplished using top-down, middle-out or bottom-up strategies [2]. Most often, a true macroergonomic intervention involves all three strategies. The macroergonomic design process tends to be non-linear, stochastic and iterative, and usually involves extensive employee participation at all organizational levels. The organizational interventions include more than the individual level in the designing phase [3]. Several work organizational interventions and strategies have been proposed to improve the quality of work-life (QWL), health and productivity, and prevent or reduce work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) [4]. In summary, these interventions included time management (alternative rest break schedules, compressed working week, flextime, self-scheduling, job sharing, alternative work schedules, telework), increased job variety (job rotation, job enlargement, cross-functional training), increased job content and responsibility (vertical job loading and control over workplace), teamwork (semi-autonomous workgroups, autonomous work groups, project teams, self-managing teams, participatory ergonomics, suggestion programs, quality circles), organizational design (flat organization, decentralization, design of electronic performance monitoring systems, total quality management, healthy organizations), management (supervisory training, increased communication, feedback, information exchange, just-in-time scheduling) and ergonomic trainings [4].