Organizational Structure of Ford Company - Term Paper Example

Organizational Structure Contents Contents 1 Organization Structure of Ford 2 Analysis of Ford’s Organization Structure 2 Influence of Organizational Functions in Influencing and Determining the Organization Structure 3 Marketing Functions in Ford 3 Financial Functions in Ford 4 Human Resources Functions in Ford 4 Operational Functions in Ford 4 Effect of Organizational Design in Determining the Organization Structure 5 Referencing 6 Organization Structure of Ford The American car manufacturing company is found to operate previously based on a decentralized mode. Operating based on a decentralization mode the company tends to expand its operations around many regions round the globe. Decentralization helped the company in optimizing the strength of the different units to help produce suitable vehicles for the local markets based in regions like Europe, Asia and Australia. However of late during the 1990s the company went for a restructuring of its organization structure. The organization structures of the current era thus operates based on matrix networks which are governed by functional and product heads like Vice Presidents. The management team of the company felt that increased dependence on a decentralized organizational structure failed to make optimal utilization of the existing resource base. Thus the company again shifted back to a centralized mode in which specific posts were created for different functions which would be headed by functional heads. These functional heads would manage the global operations of the company through the effective collaboration of regional heads. The company management found that shifting back to the centralized organizational management structure helped in solving many issues pertaining to authority and delegation of responsibilities. However the company management also worked in the encouragement of extensive teamwork in the concern. Through effective teamwork the human resources within the company collaborated with each other in a cross-functional manner. This cross-functional relationship helped the people to develop on their skills and productive capacities (Hill and Jones, 2009, p.454). Analysis of Ford’s Organization Structure The analysis of the organization structure of Ford can be conducted based on comparison and contrasting such with other two types of organization structures. Another such structure with which the organization structure of Ford can be compared is the Line or Bureaucratic Structure. Organizations operating based on bureaucratic or line structures operate based on an authoritative relationship in which orders tend to flow from top to bottom. In such structures there is very little scope for flexibility. The human resources in such organization are required to only implement the decisions taken by the upper authority with little chances of innovating on such processes or methods. This fact tends to create large amount of morbidity in the enterprise and thereby disturbs productivity of the concern. In regards to the above discussion it is found that the organization structure of Ford is more dynamic and flexible. With the creation of separate functional teams the company has helped in optimizing the use of the resource base in producing products which would meet the enhanced needs of the market. Again some organizations operate based on Ad Hoc structures which are an extension of the bureaucratic or line structures. These structures however depict little flexibility in comparison to the bureaucratic structures. However these structures are mainly created by the company in regards to needs for completion of some specific projects and hence gets dissolved on completion of the same. Thus again it is found that the organization structure of Ford suits the best for it makes permanent arrangements for two way flow of communications making the structure flexible to adapt to changing needs (Marquis and Houston, 2008, p.274). Influence of Organizational Functions in Influencing and Determining the Organization Structure Marketing Functions in Ford Marketing function in Ford is rendered strategic importance for which it is decisions related to such are held by the centralized authority. The marketing functions in Ford act in a centralized fashion where through the matrix structure the global marketing and sales head in the company strategizes the marketing and promotional activities of the company in relation to the different local markets (Pride and Ferrell, 2010, p.42). Financial Functions in Ford The financial function in Ford is also based on a centralized mode in which the decisions percolated from the central authority downwards. This system was created to help in the optimal utilization of the financial resource base of the concern and keep a track of the financial flows. However the financial functions of the company is conducted in collaboration with other cross functional teams in the organization like production, marketing and sales to help in the effective disbursement of the same (Jones and Mathew, 2009, p.158). Human Resources Functions in Ford The human resources functioning of Ford earned a specialist domain through its functioning based on a decentralized mode. Through the decentralized mode the company tends to recruit human resources from local regions which would help the concern in producing effective automobiles for different markets. Thus the company operating along global markets would easily stand the test of times based on such functions (Sparrow, Brewster and Harris, 2004, p.73). Operational Functions in Ford The operational functions in Ford are based on a systematic process which would incorporate the functions of designing, purchase, and other such teams to help in the production of effective automobiles for the different local regions. Thus this systematic collaboration signifies the functioning of cross functional teams for the designing of the right product (Hill and Jones, 2009, p.454). Effect of Organizational Design in Determining the Organization Structure The organizational design in Ford rests on mainly two tiers. Firstly the organizational design in the company works on a rotational basis wherein the executives are designated different roles on a periodical basis. This type of organizational design hampered the essence of teamwork for which in current times the need for collaboration became greatly emphasized. In the second phase the business organization acted on designs which would tend to produce newer designs for each of the different cars. This type of organizational design is found to escalate the cost of production and manufacturing to a great extent for which again effective collaboration was needed across the different units spread along the global base. Thus the current organizational designs based on matrix structures and effective collaboration with different teams comes to surface from the above discussion. Centralization of chief roles would help in enhancing the authoritative relationship in the concern and thus synchronize the fulfillment of organizational objectives (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2009, p.486). Referencing Hellriegel, D., and Slocum, W. (2009). Organizational Behavior. Cengage Learning. Hill, C., and Jones, G. (2009). Strategic Management Theory: An Integrated Approach. Cengage Learning. Sparrow, P., Brewster, C., Harris, H. (2004). Globalizing human resource management. Routledge. Marquis, B., and Huston, C. (2008). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing: theory and application. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Jones, G., and Mathew, M. (2008). Organizational Theory, Design, And Change, 5/E. Pearson Education India. Pride, w., and Ferrell, O. (2010). Foundations of Marketing. Cengage Learning. Read More