Bus4001B Understanding The Environment: Business Assessment Answers

1.Choose four different organisation types and show how they are different from each other.

2. Identify the key stakeholders from one of the organisation types identified in Question 1 and construct a stakeholder mapping & basic power /interest matrix.

1.

The hierarchy of the organization defining job position and the functional role of the person within an organization is known as its organizational structure (Fan, Wong and Zhang 2013). The organizational structures differ among organizations according to their organizational goals. The organizational structure helps the management by allowing them to understand the functioning and allocate jobs according to the proficiencies. To an employee the organizational structure helps in understanding their job role and the organizational goals. The four major organizational structures are Line organization, Line and Staff organization, functional organization and the project organization.

• Line Organization: It is the oldest and the simplest type of organizational structure. In this type, the authoritative hierarchy flows from the top of the managerial level to different t subordinates and workers of the organization. It is a target or goal based organization in which the accountability, authority and responsibility is defined at each level (Ashkenas et al. 2015). It is a model, which can help in the functioning of small organizations due to its simple structure and ease of communication. Despite its advantages, the structure does not have provision for employee feedback and motivation.

• Line and Staff Organization:  It is an organizational structure for the functioning of the larger organization. The functional specialists are in line as the managers in the organization and help in the achievement of goals (Marume 2016). The staff of the organization is the advisory body, which have no real control over the line of the specialists or workers in the organization. It has staff on the different proficiencies like the legal, control and general staff. The staff advises the managers to helping in their performance but have no direct control over them. This type of organization helps in proper functioning due to specialized functioning but they often cause clashes between management and employees.

• Functional Organization: It is the type of organization in which each function of the organization such as production, management and sales are well bifurcated and is performed by an expert. This organization system helps in the performance functions of the organization by allowing the better functioning by assigning the tasks to people based on their proficiencies (Rothaermel 2015). This type of organization functions well because each of the managers is an expert in their field and they know their job well. This type of organization is not conducive for taking swift actions and enacting proper discipline in the organization.

• Project Organization: In this organization, the specialist from different departments comes together to develop a new approach or to resolve any issues faced by the organization. The coming together of the people of different expertise in the organization will help in the proper problem resolution and devising plans and measures keeping in view the overall functioning of the organization. This organizational structure will help in the proper devising of plans for the organizational development (Kerzner 2013). The difference in background types decreases managerial control and causes miscommunication among them.

2.

The organizational structure of an organization helps in its proper with the help of the bringing a balance in the organization with the help of planning. The planning helps in the proper execution of the needs of the stakeholders in the organization and building a proper communication channel (Missonier and Loufrani-Fedida 2014). The organizational structure taken in consideration is the Line organization. The stakeholder’s analysis of an organization help in planning the growth of the organization by building communication channels and devising plans for better functioning. The analysis has the important stakeholders kept in different quadrants according to their power and interest (Hua, Aman and Ying 2016). The different stakeholders of the line organization include the head of the organization, managers, consumers and employees.

 The head of the organization is the position of supreme authority and the decision-making powers. They are kept in the first quadrant because he has the most power and interest for the growth of the organization. It is the head of the organization, who sets up the organizational goals and decides the functional approach of the organization. It is the head’s responsibility to assure that the organizational goals are properly communicated to their subsidiaries. Any required measure or change in the functioning of the organization is the responsibility of the manager.

The manager is the one who has complete control over the working of the employees and help in the functioning of the organization. The mangers are in the fourth quadrant because they have high interest in the success of the business but they are merely communication channels. It is his responsibility to keep in check the production of the organization (Reina et al. 2017). He has a role in the working of the organization and the achieving the goals of the organization. He is answerable to the heads of the organization for the success or failure of the ventures.  The manager has an important role to play as the link of communication between the top level of the organization and the employees.

The employees play a very important role in the functioning of the organization, as they are the ones who execute the tasks assigned to them for achieving the organizational goals (Memon et al. 2014). They employees in this model are in the third quadrant because they have no power and have low interest as this business model has no appraisal method. The working of the organization helps in the development and growth and the employees decide the success of the organization. The ideas put forward by the managers are performed by the employees, which helps in the proper functioning. The employees should be given necessary feed backs and their feedbacks recorded for the proper functioning of the organization.

To any organization the most important member of the stakeholder are the consumers they decide the success and failure of the working of the organization (Im, Bhat and Lee 2015). The consumers are in the second quadrant because they have less interest but more control as their feedbacks shape the organization. The consumer feedback is very important for the success of and devising a plan for the fulfillment of the consumer demands.

References

Ashkenas, R., Ulrich, D., Jick, T. and Kerr, S., 2015. The boundaryless organization: Breaking the chains of organizational structure. John Wiley & Sons.

Fan, J.P., Wong, T.J. and Zhang, T., 2013. Institutions and organizational structure: The case of state-owned corporate pyramids. The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 29(6), pp.1217-1252.

Hua, X., Aman, Z. and Ying, W., 2016. A Study on the Path of the Non-capital Function Relieving Policy Based on the Stakeholder Analytical Framework of “Importance-Influence” Matrix: An Empirical Analysis on the Relocation of Beijing Zoo Wholesale Market. Urban Insight, 5, p.009.

Im, S., Bhat, S. and Lee, Y., 2015. Consumer perceptions of product creativity, coolness, value and attitude. Journal of Business Research, 68(1), pp.166-172.

Kerzner, H., 2013. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Marume, S.B.M., 2016. An Understanding of Concepts of Line, Staff and Auxiliary in Organization.

Memon, M.A., Salleh, R., Baharom, M.N.R. and Harun, H., 2014. Person-organization fit and turnover intention: The mediating role of employee engagement. Global Business and Management Research, 6(3), p.205.

Missonier, S. and Loufrani-Fedida, S., 2014. Stakeholder analysis and engagement in projects: From stakeholder relational perspective to stakeholder relational ontology. International Journal of Project Management, 32(7), pp.1108-1122.

Reina, C.S., Rogers, K.M., Peterson, S.J., Byron, K. and Hom, P.W., 2017. Quitting the Boss? The Role of Manager Influence Tactics and Employee Emotional Engagement in Voluntary Turnover. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, p.1548051817709007.

Rothaermel, F.T., 2015. Strategic management. McGraw-Hill Education.