Friday, June 22, 2012

Dissertation on Organizational Structure

Organizational Structure Dissertation

The fast-paced and ever-changing business environment has given the world innumerable ideas and technological accomplishments which have pushed civilization to unparalleled limits. The industrial revolution, which began to turn its wheels of progress in mid-1700’s London (Hudson, 1992), created  a precedent that is reverberating throughout the world today. Implementing the standardization of production, efficiency, labor and logistical support, paved the way for today’s multinational conglomerates to flex their corporate muscle and reward their shareholders with plentiful dividends. Countless recessions, wars, political and social upheavals, natural disasters and a myriad of other variables have not been able to completely crush the corporate world’s drive to succeed and derive profits from any adverse environmental factors that could damage its capabilities.

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Although the corporation and the organization have been around for over a century, the internal structures have changed dramatically due to external changes. The organizations, that were capable of changing with the times and surviving the external environment have blossomed into the top dogs of their respective industries. One such organization, General Electric (GE), was significantly streamlined as a ‘new and improved’ organizational structure.

GE’s Jack Welch, transformed the company into a modern, twenty first century powerhouse, focused on innovation and progress. Welch had introduced a very competitive and brave approach to GE and always aimed for instant improvement. He tried and experimented with various ways to make both the efficiency and the productivity better and was never truly satisfied with the achieved results.

Immediately, he set the #1 and #2 standards for all of GE’s departments in a clear order to make them lead the market, then kept those who really succeed to follow through with the plan. Welch managed to reduce the wasteful workforce and unnecessary departments, with that, he brought in the “work out” system, which let the employees be "closer" to the management, being able to take a symbolic part in the company’s decision-making process and politics; in turn, this gave GE more as a family-like atmosphere, which improved one’s motivation and productivity. Welch also checked the competitor's advantages and struggled to beat most of them with efficient training programs for his employees: seminars, training, teaching…that significantly raised the quality standards which indeed made his way to the international market much more easier and smooth (altogether with his admirable ability to analyze the proper investments opportunities overseas). (Christopher A. Bartlett, 2005)

Allowing an open flow of ideas within a company and giving it an open environment, seems to be working for many organizations these days. When comparing the Mechanical Organization to the Organic Organization, it shows that the more flexibility an entity will have, the greater are its chances of surviving a sturdy shaking, as opposed to a rigid structure. (Cole, 1995) Hence, companies that did not adjust themselves accordingly to the quickly changing times of a flat world, (Friedman, 2006) would have to suffer the consequences. The need to outsource, in source, open source and other fundamental cost-cutting moves are vital steps for an organization to stay ahead of the competition.

Furthermore, a company without new and innovative ideas will still be stuck in the twentieth century, which in today’s world is not sustainable for a firm. Unfortunately, to have new and innovative ideas, the environment must be ripe for them. They must be nurtured and allowed to be expressed freely, if that does not happen, this will be a major source for problems.

Lately, emphasis on teamwork has played a major role in a company’s structure. It is an excellent concept which can increase productivity and efficiency; it can create a greater feeling of community within a team or a department, like the Pioneer Phase of an organization, the employees can have excellent relationships with themselves and focus solely on the customer. Unfortunately this can lead to a lack of independence among the staff members. Moreover, a situation like this one can create ‘group think’, a theory, which states that under certain circumstances, new ideas, or dissent are suppressed for the interest of group harmony. In cases where a group is under a lot of pressure and the situation seems hopeless, where there is a directive leader who sways the opinion of the group towards his ideas without allowing for dissent. In these cases a group will feel invulnerable and conformity pressure will arise. A few things that managers can do to reduce ‘group think’, is to assign a ‘devil’s advocate,’ who will tell it like it is, encourage critical evaluation, subdivide the group in order to get a few differing ideas, a manager should be impartial and let every idea flourish, critiques from outsiders should be welcomed and are encouraged before implementing the idea and second-chance meetings should take place just to go over the final details. (Safire, 2004) Incentives, are also a great way to motivate people to create new ideas. In forms of cash, stocks, promotion status and recognition, incentives can work miracles for an unmotivated group. Ideas will come and the rewards will be reaped, however, this will be something that can create a new culture, whereupon the staff are dependent on their incentive bonuses. In case incentives are minimized or eliminated completely, the chances of previously higher levels being attained are improbable and will leave the team to regress to group think and lack of motivation. In cases like these, where there is a team environment, the most important cause a manager can take up, is the reduction of ‘group think,’ and the encouragement of intercommunication between the staff and the managers, along with other departments.

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