The Organization Structure of Companies - Essay Example

Both companies (K & CTF) have very complex structures that have several levels of management. For the case of CTF it is a branch of Bank of Pacific in which case Jane has to report to branch manager and portfolio manager. In this case there's no clear chain of command, as Jane has to report to the Branch Manager and Portfolio manager. The companies have to establish a clear spar of controls of the Branch Manager and Portfolio manager. It also has to give a clear hierarchy of authority to Jane as pertains who she should be reporting to directly and in terms of line management (mgt) of the product line and staff brunch. (Portfolio Managers). It is also evident that the work of Jane involves portfolio mgt to small clients. Therefore it is father ambiguous that she also reports to the same Portfolio Managers who had their own clients. In the case of Dylan the same situation exists when he subdivided on daily reports to Joseph the field Manager in terms of contracts and Bristol the general Manager. In both of this cases the Companies should establish a clear chain of command of Dylan and June in terms of communication (upward communication and downward communication). Organization Structure. The about the organization structure in company K is centralized, thus Dylan has to coordinate activities by use of North America office. The disparity in geographical region brings about the anomaly about international communication in responding to client's proposal, making it more complex and difficult to meet clients demand. The communication process has it that, for organizations to function, individuals and teams must coordinate their efforts and activities carefully. The football coach for example has to tell his team what plays to run. Therefore lack of key communication channels manufactures poor co-ordination leading to poor personnel and organization performance. Communication is social glue that keeps companies together. (Bristol Ito/Azuna Gichin and Tanaka) any information for contracts has to be approved accurately to the rigid chain described as their order. For Jane any decision has to pass through the Branch Manager but little mention is that of the head office. It seems the CTF is a bit decentralized in terms of decision-making. For instance when Jane requires to being a Certified Financial Planner, she approaches the Manager instead of the Head office. A Critical Exposition One shortcoming in embracing Matrix structures in management of organization's is that it waters the principals of good communication flow in organizations. Since communicating with employees is inclined towards a centralized approach. According to Walton business philosophy, communication is presupposed to be open minded," Sam's Rule for building a business" supports that you should Communicate everything you possibly can to you partners. The more they know, the more they understand the more they'll care. Once they care, there is no stopping them. K group of Companies however fails to achieve a business model that harmonizes activities due to the setup that has been exploded in different geographical backgrounds hampering the effective flow of information. For example Company K is contracted with a monumental project, the management portfolio, is designated to Joseph who is based in Vancouver. The company goes ahead making decisions from respective regions without following better communication channels. This is evident when the client is put in darkness thus breaching the communication protocol. Motivation Theory. Traditionally someone who gets a new job receives not only a salary but also a standard set of fringe benefits such a health insurance, life insurances, a paid vacation and a retirement plan. These days however, these basic benefits are not enough to bring job prospects through the door. The incentives that motivate today's employees are far more varied and in many cases, truly lavish. Both companies seemingly provide for esteem needs. Dylan feels the office held does not have sufficient authority to go with the little and also when Bristol gives for to go directly to Joseph, and then Joseph coordinates with Dylan. For Jane despite expanding the groups business and her used to attending meetings with the project managers, she is not given the opportunity as expressed of Sally and others in the CTF team. The implications on the ground here is a characteristic of a model that is designed not to give much feedback as possible. Motivation is a process of stimulating and maintaining of behaviors towards a goal. This involves three components namely arousal, direction and maintenance. In terms of motivating equitably, CTF seems to me a probe. Jane wanted Branch funding for her to sit exams for the certified financial planners. Peter denied her the opportunity for she does some as much as she does portfolio Manager for some small clients, for some other portfolio managers approved it. It also seems that the Branch is reluctant to recognize her contributions (Jane completed a financial Planning course and acquired her first level license.) As for company K Dylan seems to be participative and aggressive due to the unclear spar of control with Joseph about the controls and the head office. Equitable Theory: In this case it is clear the Jane's Inputs are not as much as the output. She is gaily from her job. Given that she has acquired extra qualifications that allowed the group to expand it's business and Jane taking responsibility of designing prepay and presenting financial planning summaries for the clients. Departmentalization In terms of departmentalization based on function and product company K seems to be in a fuse between Dylan and Joseph it is a bit unclear of the controls especially when Dyle feels he doesn't have the authority to go with the title. It is also evident when Dylan receives a written warning through Joseph the field manager. Instead it comes from the line Manager Mr. Bristol. Also after the issue of a manager contract Mr. Bristol Issuing a memo, the USA office stated sending warnings to Joseph and again Joseph to coordinate with Dylan instead of Vice versa. The CTF seems to be properly departmentalized as evidenced by the team of peter, Jane and Sally. Many have their own branch with a manager. Downward communication seems to come from Peter the Manger. For instance he constitutes a task force composed of Fred, Sally and others and when Jane seeks (CTF) the departments riding on Certified Financial Planning from Peter. Motivating By Esteem Needs. Both seem not to be having a clear work manual as evidenced in the case study. Jane Dylan receiving communicating from Joseph and Bristol on Vancouver project. Jane also finds problem in terms of finding of her Certified Financial Planning when some portfolio manager who does the same work is permitted. In addition the subversive nature that leaves the recipient in darkness on the proceedings of the project undermines the feedback concept and also the enhancing of variety skill in terms of communication. CTF needs a clear policy on training needs so that Jane doesn't feel it is Peter who impedes her quest to study and work. Also, despite the fact that Jane did more field responsibilities for designing and presenting Financial Planning summaries. Job Enrichment. Working together in teams reducing boredom. Therefore Convergence of concerted efforts has a higher rate of production. On spar of control, it is not coming out very Cleary in the case of Company k where Dylan is not having faith in the powers of his office. For CTF, Peter seems to be a ware of his role- the department as well as Jane. However Sally's role towards Jane is not clear. Since enriched jobs are said to be changed vertically because peoples responsibilities goes up. This case fails completely in company K and Communication Taskforce by the sheer lack of a collaborative approach in handling their work that see them resort to excluvism ideals. The case of Taskforce Communication and Company K, there's no higher responsibility involved or any greater skills. Since both Dylan and Jane are not encouraged to perform more tasks at same levels is basically aimed at stimulating work performance that enhances efficient. Both companies for instance would have borrowed a leaf from the school of thought implemented by Volvo Motor Company. In response to a serious dissension among its workforce in the late 1960s, Pehr Gyllenhammar the then president introduced job enrichment in its Kalmar plant. Cars were instead planned, organized and inspected in groups of 25 engineers. Communication Policies Communication is defined as a process by which a person, group or organization, the sender transmits some type of information the message to another person, group or organization to the receiver. Running of Company K on a matrix scale on a wide spectrum of multicultural environments dilapidates the communication flow of information. In a Matrix organization a product structure is superimposed on a functional structure. This results in a dual system of authority in which some manager's report to two bosses. One for the specific product (or project) and one for the functional department involved. Because people working in this fashion have two bosses they must have sufficient freedom to attain their objectives, through flexibility, openness, and trust is essential for such a program to work. For communication in both companies, Dylan seems to have avoided communicating, " the mum effect" i.e. being distributed with the role of his office - he is not complaining officially. Dylan goes about his duties eventually causing confusion in the contracts. While Jane seems to confront the issues she is facing to her superiors especially what led to the communication Task Force set up by Peter and when she confronts Peter to attend meetings to boost her understanding of the job. Division of labor The standard organization chart reflects the fact that the many tasks to be performed with an organization are divided into specialized jobs. The more the tasks are divided into separate jobs the more these jobs are specialized and the narrower the ranges of activities the job incumbents are required to perform. On division of labor, this comes out clearly in CTF as opposed in company K. There seems to be confusion between the duties of Joseph and Dylan, Ito and Azumma. This is partly due to poor departmentalization for the CTF Jane role does not come out very clearly. Although each member has specific duties to perform on a daily basis with CTF. The overlapping of duties where Bob and Brad are interchangeable and Jane of course covering for the Manager, defeats the purpose and subsequent theory of designing effective organizations through specialization. The theory of specialization has it that the fewer tasks a person performs the better he or she may be expected to perform them freeing others to perform tasks that they perform best. Grapevine There's grapevine breakdown in the case of company K, where Mr. Ito stays most of the time barred in paper work. These as mentioned Kitchen facilities provided without specific lunchroom. In these case CTF seems to mar in these Kitchen facilities where grapevine communication takes place as opposed to the case of Mr. Ito. Expectancy Theory According to expectancy theory an employee's effort should be facilitated to perform, and an incentive inform of a reward should be put in place. In the case of the company K, Dylan efforts are not facilitated so that he can perform. However for Jane her efforts are facilitated for her to perform by assigning additional duties but the reward is only monetary. There is no mention of her being recognized as she feels for her input in the expansion of the business. Peter seems to be oblivious by her contribution and potential. He continues seeing her as any other associate despite her qualification and communications. Jane's case is an outright abuse of the expectancy theory that recognizes the role of opportunities to perform one's job. By limiting her opportunity to perform leads to her low level of performance. Again her poor performance goes in a deplorable state when she realizes a demeaning perception from her workmates irrespective of her credentials. This arising uncertainty creates a psychological response that consequently undermines the productivity of the job. Autonomy Concept. As for company K, the Branch Manager and Portfolio manager don't have a clear hierarchy of authority to Jane as pertains who she should be reporting to directly and in terms of line management (mgt) of the product line and staff brunch. This brings about a state of disorientation that puts employees in a quagmire state since Jane lacks the freedom and discretion to plan schedule, and carry out their jobs as desired. Consequently history repeats itself in the case of Dylan when daily reports are subdivided to Joseph the field Manager in terms of contracts and Bristol the general Manager. This task is therefore not meaningful since it works against the job characteristics model that specifies three critical psychological state: people feelings of motivation, the quality of work performed, satisfaction with work, responsibility for the work performed and knowledge of results, affects various work outcomes. Since Dylan is not given the freedom to pick on duties does not conceive it as a worthwhile vendetta. Lack of autonomy lacks, freedom to decide what to do and how to do it put Dylan in a scenario less of responsibility and unaccountable for his work. This undermines the propensity and the smooth flow of Taskforce Communication. Goal Setting Theory This is a single dominant theory in the field of organizing behavior. The basic idea behind goal setting theory is that a goal serves as a motivator because it causes people to compare their present theory, to the extent that people believe they will fall short of a goal. Jane feels dissatisfied after realizing this prospective shortcomings, she decides to advance her academic circles to acquaint herself with using several different skills and talents to perform a wide variety of jobs. Unfortunately her decisions are overridden by the monopolistic defiance from her seniors killing her dreams as non-consequential. It's no secret that the unique characteristics special skills and abilities of some people predispose them to perform their jobs better than others. For example, a tall strong, well co-coordinated person is likely to make a better professional basketball player than a very short, weak uncoordinated one. Not recognizing this, Taskforce employee goes an extra mile making a mistake to assume automatically that Jane's performance reduced below par due to is a poor motivation. Goal Acceptance Theory Finally, both Communication Taskforce and Company K fail in setting goals in a manner that strengthens employee's commitment to them. One obvious failure by CTF in enhancing goal strengthening is by not supporting Jane's idea on her goal setting process to empower her strong minds and ability. This works contrary to the research findings on workers participating in goal setting that has demonstrated that people better accept goals that they have been involved in setting than goals that have been assigned by their supervisors and they work harder as a result. In the case of Company K, Dylan is tossed here and about making her more likely not to understand and appreciate goals set for himself by the mere fact of being presented for tasks to accomplish. Since the lack, of the psychological forum, to rationalize and come up with goals that is acceptable to the effective running of the company. Read More