The Organizational Structure of the Merrill Lynch Company - Essay Example

Introduction Merrill Lynch is one of the leading providers of trading and sales securities, financial services, investment and banking services as well as wealth and property management in the world. The company endeavors to provide the best solutions that address the problems of their customers and partners as they arise in areas such as investments, finances and any strategic decisions that have to be made for the company. The mission of the company is spelt out in the mission statement as to be bold and maintain high quality working relationships with their clients by putting the client's needs first. The company provides leading advisory services to most of the leading corporations in the world including government agencies, financial institutions, mutual and trust funds, pension and also the endowment funds.Advicing various companies on the available investment opportunities is one of leading roles of this company. 1. Organizational structure of the company The organizational structure of the company is a functional structure .This is because it is divided into three businesses. The business segments of Merrill Lynch involve Corporate and Institutional Client Group, Private Client Group and Merrill Lynch Investment managers businesses. The Corporate And Institutional Client Group is a business segment that provides its clients with comprehensive investment banking, financing and related products and services to the corporations, institutional clients and to the sovereign government throughout the world. The activities of the segment are carried out through the network of subsidiaries such as Merrill lynch, Pierce, Fenner and smith incorporation and through other subsidiaries that are outside the United States of America. Private Client Group is a business segment that provides its products and services that are the accumulation and management of wealth. It also involves brokerage, dealer and related activities. It also deals with the provision of banking, retirement, investment and custody services, business financial services, trust services as well as the mortgage lending and related activities. Merrill Lynch Investment is a segment that deals with the rationalized asset management activities that are conducted through the MLIM brand name which is a principal subsidiary that is involved in the investment business. Its assets amounted to over $557 billion as at 2007 (Grant and Neupert 175). The financial services of the company are provided to the clients through using its subsidiaries and affiliates that participate with the facilitation and consummation of the single transactions of the company. This organizational structure of the company ensures that the services of the company are delivered to the clients so as to enhance its growth and development. Organizational chart refers to the graphical representation of an organization that shows its hierarchical authority and relationship that exists between the department and jobs carried out within the organization. The structural segment of Merrill Lynch involves implementing an administrative structure of the company that assists the company in solving some of the problems that it is faced with. The mananagement of the company come up with the goals of the company. Carrying out an external macro environment analysis, defining the structures and the lines of authority are the basic reasons for undertaking the four framework analysis. Finance, marketing, administration, human resources and the research & development department are the main functional processes of the company. Finance department is concerned with all the financial transactions of the business, thus all the expenses and incomes of the company are recorded here. Measurement of the financial performance of the company is done in this department. The functions of controlling and monitoring of all the finances of the company are done in this department and also making sure that enough money is available for the recurrent expenditures of the company. Financial reports are generated in this department and later on the reports are used for performing the financial analysis so as to give the financial position of the business. Investments decisions are made based on the reports produced by the finance department. Marketing department works in conjunction with the finance, purchasing, transport and the administration departments. They market the products of the company to the prospective clients. They do so by carrying out advertisements and promotions on the products and services to the customer's targeted. By doing market research through the use of surveys and questionnaires they are able to identify the needs of the customers The administration department helps the organization in properly organizing all its business activities with an aim of meeting its set objectives. This is concerned with ensuring that the company is running smoothly by bringing together all other departments with an aim of working towards common and binding goals. The administration department ensures that all the procedures and protocol of the business are all well spelt out to be followed by all employees (Grant and Neupert 175). Research & Development is the department ensures that proper research is done so that the need of the customers is known. At Merrill & Lynch research and development is done by Global research. They must come up with very innovative ways of designing new products.Inovative products will attract new customers as well as maintain the old customers. Through innovation the company has been able to redesign the market structures and securities market and also being able to create more modern and highly sophisticated trading and analytical business systems, providing huge and voluminous transactions and eventually developing the right strategies to assist the company stay competitive in the market. Historical aspect History of Merrill Lynch is that it was formed in 1907 by Charles E.Merrill in New York City. He was later on joined by Edmund C.Lynch where they formed a partnership business. In 1915 the company's name was changed from Charles E.Merrill and company to Merrill, Lynch and company. Its first operations manager was referred to as Ann Grimes who served in the company as a sales woman. As at 1920 the company had experienced rapid growth and development since it had began distributing its securities to its customers and also ventured into the grocery -store chain investment activities. By the year 1926, the company had acquired Safeway thus making it one of the largest grocery stores in 1930s.With this kind of investment it turned its activities into investment banking. During the trading period of the company, it was in a position of purchasing several company's thus had a controlling interest in it. For instance it purchased the investment banking division of Cassatt and company and the Old-line Philadelphia investment house, E.A. Pierce and company and also controlled its retail brokerage. It is currently owned by the Bank of America which is currently one of its subsidiaries. Human resource strategy The human resource strategy views human beings as an asset to the company that is supposed to be respected and treated with a lot of respect and dignity. This department empowers its employees by sharing of information and also supports its members of staff through effective communication strategies. Employees are allowed to participate freely in the decision making process. Merrill Lynch Company's human resource department manages over 50,000 employees worldwide. It provides an expertise service that ensures that employees achieve the best professional services in their personal life. It works together with other specialists so as to deliver quality and standard services to their client's .To this effect, the company has been able to deliver a good business strategy through its quality business policies, human resource advice, recruitment, and selection and retention programs (Grant and Neupert 175). The company is usually customer oriented through trying to understand and positively respond to the needs of the customers .It fulfills all the demands and needs of the customers without compromising on the quality and standards of their products and services. To be able to add value to the services they give to their customers, they carry out on research on all the requirements of the business thus they are able to maintain a good working relationship with all their clients. By engaging in a good working relationship with their clients they are able to get feedbacks thus improving on their negative points. The company also offers personal services to their clients together with the latest art of technology for their products. Open communication is also highly valued within the company's set up where the mangers freely interact with their employees and are allowed to air their views without the fear of victimization. It thus allows employees to freely share their ideas with the manager thus improving on the performance of the company. Team work, collaboration and building of consensus are highly encouraged so as to foster a good and healthy working environment for its employees. Differences in individual opinions and preferences are highly valued with all employees being encouraged to across all the teams within the organization and groups. Where there is success or failure, it is shared amongst all the employees so that they all learn from one another. People are encouraged to take responsibilities of each other out because they believe that the failure or success of the organization depends on all of them.To foster a better working relationship all employees are involved in the decision making process so that all employees feel that they are part of the company. The company values all the people who are participate in the operations of the company. It values all the stakeholders who include all its employees, clients, shareholders and the public at large. To this effect all individuals are treated with dignity and the respect they deserve as human beings. They support all their employees by giving them flexible working hours, maternity and paternity leaves, career breaks so that they are able to balance between their personal life and life at the workplace. Diversity is highly valued at the workplace by employing people from diverse backgrounds regardless of their sexual or gender orientation, race, nationality or religious differences (Grant and Neupert 175). The recruitment and selection process is such that they give priority to their members of staff once the vacancies arise. This is a structured program that allows the employees to apply for the vacancies available by applying online .Once approved they go through the interview process to evaluate their skills. If no members of staff have qualified, they normally advertise in the media or their website for the vacancies. Vacancies usually arise because of their expansion program or when a member of staff resigns or promoted to a more senior position. Employees normally undergo extensive training programs so that they can acquire skills that meet the high and quality standards of their employees. New employees are also undertaken an extensive induction training program so that they can asquint and familiarize themselves with the functions of the company. 3. Political The political climate can actually affect the business and thus should not be ignored .The political aspect attempts to make the managers understand that conflict of interest that may arise and the issue of scarce resources can affect the performance of a business. Thus with the understanding of the political arena the managers are able to comprise so as to make reasonable judgment on behalf of the business. It tries to understand the political groups and other interest groups that could affect the performance of the company. Merrill Lynch Company was prohibited by the United States law and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-37 from participating in the Federal elections of United States of America. However in countries where it had its branches its employees engaged themselves in political activities (Grant and Neupert 175). The public policy and responsibility committee consists of board of directors who oversees the company's political strategies. It makes presentations about the firms' political strategies through the governmental relations office. The company has a political action committee which also oversees the issues of politics within a country. It is funded by the voluntary contributions made to it by the senior employees. The role of the committee is to ensure that its candidate campaign for issues that are aimed at promoting free financial markets that can foster growth and development within a country. They have been involved in political campaigns both for the democrats and the republicans depending on which party believes that the financial market should be free without any political interference. The United States Federal Electoral Commission imposes heavy penalties on any employees of corporate companies that engage themselves in presidential elections .This issue however does not deter the employees from airing their views aimed at improving the financial status of the company. For instance the employee holds different kinds of debate that involve advocating for incentives and eliminates any disincentives so as to enhance individual savings to be carried out in the right way. They also address the issue of public and capital markets so that they can advice their clients on the benefits of engaging themselves in this savings schemes. They have also been involved in public debates on public policies that may affect their clients or their operations. Education of the public on public policies is also a key role of this institution. For example in the year 2005 ,the company launched the Retirement Solutions for the 21st century-Bridging America's Saving gap that showed the problems and solutions associated with the retirements savings. Merrill & Lynch has also been involved in responding to the situation in Darfur Sudan by paying for air tickets for the staff involved in the region as from 2007 but the company's policy indicates that they should not engage themselves with companies that have been deriving profits from the heinous acts of genocide. Thus the company has not been involved in any business activities with companies operating from Sudan and any other war torn countries (Grant and Neupert 175). Symbolic aspect gives the vision and inspiration that the company attempts to make people believe in the company. It also entails the mission, the core values and the tradition of the company. Having a unique sense of identity and cohesiveness of the company is one of the reasons a company comes up with a vision. The mission of the company is usually spelt out through its mission statement. The Merrill Lynch Company has been able to position itself as a key financial institution due to the key pillars that define it. These pillars include their ability to deliver high and quality services to their customers thus adding value to them, investing in areas that give their clients competitive advantage over their competitors, maintaining a high degree of discipline and professionalism while handling their staff and clients. They have also been able to efficiently and effectively manage risks and to ensure that clients have the highest returns for their investments and finally they are involved in training and developing their members of staff so that the employees can improve on their performance. The company has also created a lot of time and resources to change the lives of the people and communities that live around it. To be able to achieve its set goals and objectives the company believes that a high level of integrity and discipline must be maintained so as to avoid assassinating the reputation of the company. Thus all their members of staff are expected to display a high level of professionalism in the business by being open and honest about the business policies of the company. They tend to own up to their own misdoings while at the same time standing up for what they believe is best for the company (Grant and Neupert 175). Merrill Lynch Company has positioned itself as being a preeminent global investment bank, wealth manager and plays the role of advising its clients on how to make investment practices. The facets it has used in order to position itself involve delivering value added services, products and services to the clients with unmatched levels of quality and intergirty.It has also been in position to invest in opportunities that enhance its growth and diversification through taking advantage of the firms strengths and global client franchise. It has been conducting its activities through instilling discipline and ensuring that the appropriate resources are committed to enhance the business opportunities within the industry. The company has been in a position itself through managing risks and capital through ensuring that there is efficient deployment of appropriate returns to the shareholders equity within a stipulated period of time. It has also been in a position to develop the employees' talents and leadership skills so as to achieve its results as required. The management of the company uses a companys logo known as the bull that signifies that it is optimistic in growing and developing as a company.. Work Cited Grant, Robert M. and Neupert, Kent, E. Cases in Contemporary Strategy Analysis 3rd Ed. United States of America: Wiley-Blackwell, 2003. Times Reader. Merrill Lynch & Company.30 April 2009. http://74.125.47.132/searchq=cache:advGcONrOMYJ:topics.nytimes.com/top/news/bus iness/companies/merrill_lynch_and_company/index.html+Merrill+Lynch&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ke References Read More