The Structure for the Marketing Operations - Report Example

Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Organizational Structure 5 Key Elements of an organizational Structure 5 Determination of an Organizational Structure 8 The correlation between elements and determinants 9 Corporate Culture 10 The 3 Level model of organizational Culture 11 The 3 key components of organizational Culture 12 Learning Organizations 13 The 5 Dicipline Model of Learning Organizations 15 The explanation of the disciplines 16 Works Cited 18 Bibliography 20 Introduction Analyzing an organization in terms of its structure and culture is extremely vital so as to ensure is stability. The structure of any firm ultimately decides its future path and success ratio. The structure of any organization is very complicated to understand, because it always varies amongst organizations, therefore there are no “specialized” structure analysts, only the (experienced) top level management of the company can identify the flaws in any structure and the culture of the habitat. Understanding the structure can be made easy if the company’s analysts work step by step and collectively. In lay man’s terms, understanding a structure basically means to understand the path or flow of data and information. Let us consider an example of a textile selling company, here we would create the structure for their marketing operations (Please note: that this is just a sample and a sub – structure, that is, its just a structure for a particular department of a whole company, the sales department, the whole organizational structure will be explained in detail in the further section of this report) Figure 1 This is a sample of a structure of an organization’s sales team for a particular state, now just suppose that the Sales Executive team under Distributor no. 2, i.e., 2.1 & 2.2 are not performing well, whereas sales executives 1.1 & 1.2 are doing a great job, that will directly point our fingers at Distributor no. 2 for not being able to pass the information correctly (Exception: Although if other factors such as geographical or demographic are affecting Distributor no. 2, he is off the hook) Organizational Structure An organizational structure of any company is it’s foundation, and the top level management only decides upon changing the structure whenever they face a severe crisis within the organization (Salaman, 2001). Key Elements of an organizational Structure The following are the key elements of an organizational structure: Specialization of work: Work specialization basically means to split the work amongst all the capable and selected employees for any particular project. “Organizations and society would gain from the division of labor, from the breakdown of jobs into narrow and repetitive task.” (Smith, 1894) (Tejeda, 2004) Departmentalization: Departmentalization, in lay man’s terms basically means to segregate a big task into various groups and those groups are to be divided amongst various segments of an organization, like suppose a job that includes the work for finance as well as HRM department, so the work will first be divided amongst two parts and then submitted amongst both the finance and the HRM departments. The following are the various kinds of departmentalization. (Alvarez, 2004) Functional Departmentalization: The functional departmentalization basically determines the job - work which is to be divided based on the functions of groups, just as in our example. (Alvarez, 2004) Product Departmentalization: The product departmentalization determines the departmentalization where various different products of a company are divided amongst various product managers in a single organization. (Alvarez, 2004) Geographical Departmentalization: Whenever the company needs to divide a particular job - work in terms of various geographical locations, it is known as geographical departmentalization. (Alvarez, 2004) Process Departmentalization: As the name suggests, process departmentalization means that the job work is to be divided on the basis of the process of the job – work. (Alvarez, 2004) Customer Departmentalization: This theme of the departmentalization theory is based on the belief that the customers in most organization work based on a similar pattern and in groups, like suppose the organization has 15 customers and based on the previous data they are able to determine that the needs of customers 1-7 are similar and the needs and pattern of requirement of customers 8-15 are similar, so they will appoint one group for customers 1-7 and a second group of employees for 8-15. (Alvarez, 2004) Sequence of command: The sequence of command or as it’s usually known the chain of command of an organization denotes the power of command and authority with each and every level of an organizational structure. Please look at Figure 1 for further clarification: In this figure the State marketing manager has the highest authority to make decisions and following the state marketing manager, we have the 2 distributors and the final chain of command is the team of sales executives. (Li, 2004) Copy of Figure 1 Duration of control: Another important element of the organizational structure is the power of control. This element denoted the responsibilities of president, vice president, manager, tem leader, etc. Each of these factors plays an important role in controlling the day to day functions of any organization. The chief motive of this element is that the manager takes control of all the daily chores to make sure that the actual outcomes of the work are parallel to the planned outcomes. (Alnajdi, 2004) Decentralization and Centralization: The ‘old school’ methods of running an organization have been deemed outdated by far and newer and better techniques of management have come up, this is where the managers have realized the importance of a centralized and decentralized organization. (Cosep, 2004) Centralized Organization: Within a centralized organization, the power to make and destroy decisions lies only in the hands of a selected few top level managers, where as all the lower level of employees have almost nil or nil power to make decisions, their only role is to follow the decisions made by the top level management. (Cosep, 2004) Decentralized Organization: Within a decentralized organization, the power to make decisions is laid down to different groups of employees, although the intensity of authority is limited to each level, but still, there is a part of decisive authority that is submitted to the lower level class of employees. (Cosep, 2004) Basically, the concept of the Organizational structure revolves around various criteria such as the break - up of the total work, selecting and creating a team to tackle the particular project, and to harmonize along with the team for the successful completion of the project. Determination of an Organizational Structure Many factors determine what kind of an organizational structure should be used for any particular task. Basically the factors that determine an organizational structure are directly correlated with the elements of an organizational structure. The following questions help determine the perfect organizational structure for any organization: (Donaldson, 2001) Till what extent will a job be divided? How many levels of management will a particular job consume? What mode of the departmentalization should be used, for ex: functional, product based, etc.? What is the sequence of command in the organizational hierarchy? What no. of staff can a particular team leader hold under him? Till what extent should the lower level of staff be given an authority to make decisions, or shall they not be given any decisive authority at all! (Donaldson, 2001) The correlation between elements and determinants Determinant Element Correlated Till what extent will a job be divided? How many levels of management will a particular job consume? Specialization of work What mode of the departmentalization should be used, for ex: functional, product based, etc.? Departmentalization What is the sequence of command in the organizational hierarchy? Sequence of command What no. of staff can a particular team leader hold under him? Duration of control Till what extent should the lower level of staff be given an authority to make decisions, or shall they not be given any decisive authority at all! Centralization & Decentralization Table 1 Structure Correlation (Donaldson, 2001) Corporate Culture The corporate culture or more formally known as the organizational culture is a blend of the ethics, principles, morals, and virtues of an organization. It involves the organizational behavior towards each and every entity related to the organization, whether it’s the organization’s clients, stake holders, suppliers, employees, and just about every body that deals with the particular organization. The foundation of corporate culture completely relies solely on the top level management of the organization, it is they who develop, process, and deliver these values and behavioral standards. The organizational culture also plays an important role in the prime motives of any organization. Although, mostly the prime motive is always to generate profits and achieve the targets, but the corporate culture determines or intervenes in the methods to achieve the primary aim of the organization, it maintains ethics and values of the organization. Corporate culture is the most important factor if the organization wants to stand in the market for the long run. If the organization mismanages its organizational cultures, it ruins its own reputation thus making it very hard for the employees and clients to generate a valuable trust in the company and the business eventually fails due to competition. (Schein, 1985) Mr. Edward Schein was amongst the first to research on the topic of organizational culture and he labels organizational culture as “the residue of success" (Schein, 1985). He also states that culture of an organization is extremely difficult to revolutionize if once it has been messed up. The 3 Level model of organizational Culture According to the adage of Mr. Schein the organizational culture is based on three levels of description and analysis, to be able to clarify Mr. Edward’s statements, we have drawn a chart to describe his 3 levels: Table 2 LEVELs of Culture (Total Words – 118, excluded from MS word’s word limit) (Schein, 1985) The 3 key components of organizational Culture According to Avimanyu Datta of the Washington State university, the organizational culture basically consists of three chief components: Figure 2 COMPONENTS OF CULTURE (8 WORDS) (Datta & Chaudhuri, 2008) These are the three basic components of an organizational culture as discussed by Datta and Chaudhuri of the Washington university, in their recently launched report. Learning Organizations According to Mr. Peter Senge, the author of the book: The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, learning organization is: (Senge, 1990) “Real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human. Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we repercieve the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life. There is within each of us a deep hunger for this type of learning.” (Senge, 1990) Mr. Peter Senge also developed the 60 tools of learning organizations, Image courtesy: (Senge P. C., 1998) Compiled By Shiela in 1998 The 5 Dicipline Model of Learning Organizations Figure 3 THE 5th ELEMENT (15 WORDS) (Senge P. M., 1990) The explanation of the disciplines Building Shared Vision: This is the process when the organization plans for constituency and directive towards the primary motive of the organization. This is also termed as strategic planning. Mental Models: A mental model means to try to clarify the thoughts that are in a person’s mind, that is, to explain what ever it is that’s in your mind to other people. Team Learning: Team learning is a process that denoted the learning process in the form of a team. That is, various executives with different expertise will come together to deal with a specific problem in the organization. Personal Mastery: To overcome one’s problems. System’s thinking: The final and the fifth disciple, without which the process is deemed empty. Although a late introduced discipline, it is still the most important to be followed if the company wants to run along with the technological advancements. Within this discipline, the problems that are to be faced during a certain phase of any project are treated as a part of the project. (Senge P. M., 1990) In lay man’s terms a Learning organization is an organization that detects and corrects its own errors. There are two types of learning organization’s strategies that may be followed: Single loop learning organization: If in the case this kind of an organization faces any difficulties, they detect the error and then correct it without modifying their primary organizational structure or culture. Double Loop organization; If in any case this kind of an organization faces some sort of trouble, they detect the error and try to find out that what pat of the organizational culture is responsible for the fault and change their existing policies as well as correct the fault. Good organizational culture is strongly correlated to a Learning organization. A learning organization will always try to rasp the newer concepts in the market, as a matter of fact, learning organizations are organizations with good corporate culture. Works Cited Alnajdi, A. (2004, February 1). Span of Control. Retrieved April 27, 2008, from Organizational Structures and design: http://www23.brinkster.com/amitshahcorp/proj/span_of_control.asp Alvarez, O. (2004, February 01). Organizational Structures and Design: Departmentalization. Retrieved April 27, 2008, from Work Specialization: http://www23.brinkster.com/amitshahcorp/proj/departmentalization1.asp Cosep, M. A. (2004, February 1). Centralization and Decentralization. Retrieved April 27, 2008, from Organizational Structures and Design: http://www23.brinkster.com/amitshahcorp/proj/centralization_and_decentralization.asp Datta, A., & Chaudhuri, S. R. (2008, April 1). ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND CULTURE IN INTRODUCING AN EFFECTIVE KNOWLEDGE SETUP. Retrieved April 27, 2008, from SSRN - Social Science Research Network: ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND CULTURE IN INTRODUCING AN EFFECTIVE KNOWLEDGE SETUP: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1114100 Donaldson, L. (2001). The Contingency Theory of Organizations. CA: SAGE. Li, Y. (2004, February 01). Organizational Structures and Designs: Chain of Command. Retrieved April 27, 2008, from Chain of Command: http://www23.brinkster.com/amitshahcorp/proj/chain_of_command.asp Salaman, G. (2001). Understanding Business: Organisations. New York: Routledge. Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational Culture and Leadership . New Jersey: Jossey-Bass (Wiley). Senge, P. C. (1998, January 14). THE SIXTY TOOLS OF LEARNING ORGANISATION ... WELL ALMOST 60! Retrieved April 27, 2008, from Lopn.net: http://www.lopn.net/60_Tools.html Senge, P. M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization . New York: Doubleday Books. Smith, A. (1894). Select Chapters and Passages from the Wealth of Nations of Adam Smith, 1776. Harvard: Harvard University Press. Tejeda, R. (2004, February 01). Work Specialization. Retrieved April 26, 2008, from Organizational structures and Design: http://www23.brinkster.com/amitshahcorp/proj/work_specialization.asp Bibliography Donaldson, L. (2001). The Contingency Theory of Organizations. CA: SAGE. Salaman, G. (2001). Understanding Business: Organisations. New York: Routledge. Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational Culture and Leadership . New Jersey: Jossey-Bass (Wiley). Senge, P. M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization . New York: Doubleday Books. Smith, A. (1894). Select Chapters and Passages from the Wealth of Nations of Adam Smith, 1776. Harvard: Harvard University Press. Read More