Contingency Factors to Be Considered by the Senior Managers - Coursework Example

Managing people and Organization Name Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 2 Discussion 3 Contingency factors to be considered by the senior managers 3 Strategy 3 Technical Processes 4 Size of the organization 5 Technology 6 Age of the organization 7 External Environment 8 Organizational design form 10 Conclusion 11 References 13 Introduction Jones Lang LaSalle is one of the largest investment management and professional services company specializing in real estate. The company has offices in different parts of the world including Australia. It has about 53,000 employees comprised of professionals as well support staff members. The revenue of the company is usually about $ 4 billion annually making it among the most profitable in the world (LaSalle, 2013). The company is involved in a wide range of activities, and it has developed an organizational structure to ensure that it can carry out its activities effectively. The management staff members at the company are highly qualified which is part of the organizational strategy to ensure efficiency. As a result of mergers and acquisition, the company has experienced a high level of growth. Managing a high number of employees may be difficult for an organization as this may require a lot of expertise and resources. Delivering performance within an organization is also a difficult task, and several actors have to be considered during the organization design. Innovations and creativity is also required within an organization to ensure that the required performance is delivered. The organizational design plays an essential role in providing a framework that can be used by an organization to achieve its goals and objectives (Simons, 2013). The organizational design will enable the company deliver its core values and ensure that the needs of the customers met. The paper thus discuses the key contingency factors that the senior managers must consider in the organizational design process to deliver performance. Discussion Contingency factors to be considered by the senior managers Strategy Strategy mainly involves the long-term goals of an organization and the mechanisms that have been put in place to reach the goals (Puranam, Raveendran & Knudsen, 2012). The senior managers have to consider the strategy of the company during the organizational design process. Strategy also considered as the mediating role during the organizational design process. During the formulation of the organizational design the mission and strategic goals of the organization has to be modified. This will ensure that its strategy is in line with the needs of the customers. The presence of a comprehensive strategy is useful in providing an organization with a vehicle to deliver performance. The performance of the company will improve in the presence of an effective strategy as it will ensure all the activities of the company are well planned. The strategy has to be considered as it influences the structure of the organization. The consideration of the strategy will enable the company to develop an organizational structure that will promote good performance. The company has highly qualified personnel as well as a high number of employees. It is through strategy that the organization will be in a position to deploy the required expertise in different departments. Having the right people at the right place to implement the strategies of the company plays an important role in contributing to its success (Puranam, Raveendran & Knudsen, 2012). The senior managers must, therefore, ensure that the strategy is flexible and considerate of the future changes. Strategy as a contingency factor will also aid in the planning of operations within the organization. Technical Processes The technical processes within the organization have to be considered by the managers during the organizational design. The technical processes mainly involve the conversion of inputs into outputs (March, 2013). The company is involved in the conversion of outputs into inputs when carrying out its operations. The senior managers must therefore ensure that its technical processes are effective to deliver the required performance. The senior managers must also consider how the technical processes affect the behavior of the employees. The effect on the employees has a direct impact on the performance. In order for the company to ensure that it has the best vehicle to drive performance, the conditions at the workplace have to be considered. The worker control at the workplace is also influential to the organization. The degree of routine is also useful when carrying out the technical processes and it affects the environment. It is therefore important for the organization to ensure routine processes are carried out in a manner that will not have negative effects on the employees. Any negative effects contribute to negative impacts on the performance at the organization. All the types of technical processes that are carried out by the organization must be identified and considered during the design (March, 2013). Identifying the technical process that is involved in the real estate investment will also ensure that the company can deal with specific issues. The interdependence within the processes must also be determined during the process to ensure that efficiency is achieved. Size of the organization The company operates in different countries and it is therefore a huge. Future growth and development at the company is also expected which will increase its size. To deliver the required performance, the organization has to develop formal rules and procedures to govern its operations in all the countries that it operates (Daft, 2012). Although the company already has formal written rules, more is required to ensure that it supports the delivery of the organizational goals and objectives. The senior managers should also consider decentralizing its operations in different countries. This will improve performance and it will reduce the management levels that are currently in place at the organization. Reducing the number of management levels ensures that processes are carried out easily and effectively. The decision making process is also improved when the management levels are reduced (Daft, 2012). Higher coordination levels should be considered by the management due to the huge size of the organization. This will ensure that the performance of the organization is enhanced. The company will be in a position to improve the performance delivery if a higher coordination level is in place. As a large organization, managing different operations is a complicated process. The complexity of organization usually increases with size. This means that the performance can be impacted negatively if adequate measures are not put in place. The senior managers at the company should also ensure that measures are in place to manage the company as it continues to grow. Technology In the current business environment, technology plays an essential role in enhancing improving the performance of the company. Technology plays an essential role in streamlining the operations of an organization (Csaszar, 2013). It is through technology that a company can improve its ability to gather information and make business decisions. It is therefore important for the senior managers at the company to consider the modern technology and concepts that is required to deliver the required performance. This may require the development of a new technological infrastructure to support the use of modern technology. The senior managers should consider the technological concepts which also include knowledge, machinery, work procedure and all the materials that are required to convert the inputs into outputs. The company requires technology to carry out its processes and coordinate different operations. Communication among the managers operating in different countries is important to the company and it contributes to the delivery of the required performance. Technology can therefore be used for the purposes of linking different branches to the headquarters. Technological changes are also rapid and this may affect the performance of the company (Csaszar, 2013). The senior managers must therefore consider the ability of the company to adapt new technology from time to time to keep up with the modern trends. The senior managers should also consider the ability of the employees to utilize modern technology to carry out its operations. Technology can be used by the company with an aim of monitoring different operations and improving performance. Age of the organization The company was formed as a result of a merger between Jones Lang Wotton and Lassalle partners in 1999. This means that the organization has been in operation for more than 15 years. A company usually incorporates standardized systems, procedures and regulations with age (Bryant & Niehaus, 2013). The senior managers at the company should therefore consider the age of the company to ensure that the systems, procedures and regulations are relevant to the organization. The organizations usually evolve through different lifecycles which determines its ability to deliver the required performance. The capabilities of an organization are dependent on the lifecycle stage (Bryant & Niehaus, 2013). During the development of the strategies, it is important to ensure that the age of the organization is considered. Due to the high growth and development of the company, it is currently at its maturity stage. The senior managers should therefore consider deploying specialized staff that can work independently and deliver the required goals and objectives. Rules and regulations at the company should ensure that the employees are able to deliver the required results. The senior managers should ensure that the rules and regulations promote creativity and innovations. The ability of the organization to deliver the required goals and objectives is dependent on the levels of creativity and innovations. The age of the organization indicates that it can offer a lot of flexibility to the employees which may also contribute to improved performance. The age of the organization also determines its ability to hire professionals who can deliver the required performance. External Environment The external environment directly influences the operations of an organization. This has to be considered by the managers to deliver performance. The company operates in different parts of the world and the performance is dependent on the external environment. During the decision the uncertainty of the external environment has to be considered. The design must ensure that it can address any problems that may arise as a result of changes in the external environment. An organization in most cases does not have any control on the external environment but it has to put in place measures to ensure it can adapt to the changes (Galbraith, 2012). The senior managers at the company must ensure that the design can increase the ability to collect information about the external environment. The knowledge of the external environment is useful to an organization in delivering performance. The long term as well as the short-term decisions regarding the performance of the company is dependent on the available information. The senior managers at the company must also ensure that the company is flexible enough to adapt to the external environment. The flexibility of the company will ensure that it can deliver its goals and objectives regardless of the changes in the external environment. Responsiveness is also required by the organization to adapt to the changes in the external environment (Galbraith, 2012). Responding to changes can improve the competitiveness of the company in the market. To deliver performance, the senior managers must consider the elements of environmental uncertainty. The complexity of the external environment which ranges from simple to complex must be clearly understood. The company operates in different parts of the world with simple and complex environment. The simple external environment has few similar elements while complex environment has many different elements (Zeng, Chen, Yu, & Li, 2013). The external environment may also be static or dynamic and it directly affects the delivery of performance within an organization. The static external environment usually experiences slow or no change. However, the dynamic environment usually experiences rapid changes. This has direct impact on the operations of the organization and the delivery of the required performance. The deployment of resources is also dependant on the nature of the external environment and hence its importance to the organization. More resources and expertise is required in dynamic external environments as compared to the static external environment. The external environment is also useful in determining the coordination of activities between different departments within the organization. In a complex and dynamic external environment, the performance of the organization is dependent on the levels of coordination of activities between the departments (Zeng, Chen, Yu, & Li, 2013). The company also needs to ensure that different activities are coordinated across different countries where it is operating. This is useful in ensuring that the organization can counter the complexity in some of the environments. The level of uncertainty is also increased as a result of the external environment. Organizational design form Different forms of organizational design exist depending on the nature of the company. The main organizational design forms includes functional, divisional and hybrid (Schroeder & DeNoble, 2014). The organizational design form is also dependant on the contingency factors that has to be considered. The senior managers at the company should consider the hybrid organizational design form. The hybrid organizational design involves the configuring the tasks of the organization into different departments. This is relevant to the company as it requires different unique tasks which include human resource management and marketing. The company has a diverse range of activities that needs to be performed. The hybrid organizational design will ensure that the organization can meet its goals and objectives. The hybrid organizational design ensures that the goals and objectives of the organization are configured around the tasks (Schroeder & DeNoble, 2014). In the hybrid organizational design, the strategy is focused on the products and services as well as the competitors in the defined markets. This will ensure that the organization can focus on improving its performance to deal with the competition in the market. The hybrid organizational design will have positive impacts on the organization regarding developing an effective strategy. As far as the external environment is concerned, the hybrid organizational design will ensures that the organization can operate even in conditions that are uncertain. The technical processes within the organization can be realigned with the goals and objectives to deliver on the required performance. The hybrid organization design enables the organization to align its operations with the sector (Smith, Lewis & Tushman, 2011). This will enable to improve its performance through focusing on the core activities. Hybrid organization design enables the organization to put more emphasizes and focuses on the customers. This ensures that the quality of services is improved hence delivering the required performance. Teamwork within the organization will also be encouraged through the use of hybrid organizational design. It ensures that the employees can share knowledge and information leading to improved performance. Teamwork may lead to improved performance at the organization as it has employees from a diverse background. The company has a high number of specialists who perform different functions. The hybrid organization design ensures that the specialists can work together for the benefits of the organization (Smith, Lewis & Tushman, 2011). This leads to an improvement in service delivery which is an important objective of the organization. Collegial relationship among the specialists is also developed leading to improved performance. Sharing of knowledge and skills among the specialists leads to innovations. The employees of the company will also benefit from the hybrid organizational design. The career path of the employees can be cleared as a result of using the hybrid organization design. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that the contingency factors that should be considered by the senior managers to deliver performance. The organization operates in many countries and hence the need for proper performance measures. It is evident that the main factors that the senior managers should consider include age of the organization, external environment, strategy, technical processes and technology. The consideration of the factors will ensure that the organization can function effectively and make improvements. It is evident that the senior managers should ensure that the organization is well equipped regarding technology to improve its performance. It strategies should also promote innovations. An analysis of process is required to ensure efficiency is achieved. It is evident that the hybrid organizational design is appropriate for the company as it will improve its processes and operations leading to better performance. It is evident that the organization will benefit from teamwork and involvement of professionals in its activities. The organizational design is likely to change the structure of the company. It is evident that the company will be more flexible and responsive to the external environment if the organizational design is carried out effectively by the senior managers. References LaSalle, J. L. (2013). Corporate Australia wants more value from its real estate assets. LaSalle Simons, R. (2013). Levers of organization design: How managers use accountability systems for greater performance and commitment. Harvard Business Press. Puranam, P., Raveendran, M., & Knudsen, T. (2012). Organization design: The epistemic interdependence perspective. Academy of Management Review, 37(3), 419-440. March, J. G. (2013). Handbook of Organizations (RLE: Organizations) (Vol. 20). Routledge. Daft, R. (2012). Organization theory and design. Cengage learning. Csaszar, F. A. (2013). An efficient frontier in organization design: Organizational structure as a determinant of exploration and exploitation. Organization Science, 24(4), 1083-1101. Bryant, D. T., & Niehaus, R. J. (2013). Manpower planning and organization design (Vol. 7). Springer Science & Business Media. Galbraith, J. R. (2012). The future of organization design. Journal of Organization Design, 1(1). Zeng, H., Chen, Q., Yu, D., & Li, X. (2013). Design of Organization Process of Data Link Based on Three Phase Methodology. In Computational Intelligence and Design (ISCID), 2013 Sixth International Symposium on (Vol. 2, pp. 261-264). IEEE. Schroeder, B., & DeNoble, A. (2014). How To Design A Triple Bottom Line Organization: A Start-Up Case Study. Journal of Organization Design, 3(2). Smith, W. K., Lewis, M. W., & Tushman, M. (2011). Organizational sustainability: Organization design and senior leadership to enable strategic paradox. The Oxford handbook of positive organizational scholarship, 798-810. 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