Sunday, May 26, 2019

Abdul Basit

Introduction McShane and Von Glinow state that the best organisational structure depends on the organizations outer environment, size, technology, and strategy (409). To find the best organisational structure for Protege Engineering, I lead first determine what Organizational Structure means. In a second step I will analyze its elements and carve out the important components for the considered organization. Finally I will provide a conclusion and recommendation.Organizational Structures In general, organizational structure is related to the modality that an organization organizes employees and jobs, so that its wrick can be performed and its goals can be met. McShane and Von Glinow define Organizational Structure in more(prenominal) detail they state that organizational structure refers to the division of labor as well as the patterns of coordination, communication, workf low-toned, and nominal power that direct organizational activities (386).To understand what this means we will brook a look at each component. The division of labor is related to the subdivision of work into separate jobs assigned to different concourse (McShane and Von Glinow 386). The patterns of coordination refer to the coordinating of work activities between the employees where they divide work among themselves. This process requires coordinating mechanism to ensure the workflow, which means that everyone works in concert (McShane and Von Glinow 386).The primary means of coordination argon free-and-easy communication which involves sharing information on mutual tasks and forming common mental models to synchronize work activities, Formal hierarchy which refers to the assigning legitimate power to individuals, who whence use this power to direct work processes and allocate resources, and Standardization which involves the creating routine patterns of way or output (McShane and Von Glinow 387).We can admit that free-and-easy communication is incumbent in no routine and amb iguous situations because employees can sub large volume of information through face-to-face communication and other media-rich channels. Therefore informal communication is important for Protege Engineering because their work involve new and novel situations when developing specific solutions for each client. Even if informal communication is difficult in large firms it can be possible when keeping each intersectionion site small (McShane and Von Glinow 388).Now, that we identified what organizational structure means, and that informal communication is prerequisite for Protege Engineering, we penury some more information of how structures differ from each other. McShane and Von Glinow state that every company is configured in terms of four basic elements of organizational structure namely span of turn back, centralization, formalization, and departmentalization (390). Further on, I will explain these four elements and carve out what this means for Protege Engineering.The span o f control refers to the number of people directly account to the next level hierarchy (McShane and Von Glinow 390). Todays research found out that a wider span of control (many employee directly reporting to the management) is more appropriate especially for companies with staff members that coordinate their work mainly through standardized skills and do not require close supervision equivalent the highly skilled employees of Protege Engineering (McShane and Von Glinow 390-391).However, McShane and Von Glinow also state that a wider span of control is possible when employees have routine jobs and a narrow span of control when people perform novel jobs. This statement is based on the need for frequent direction and supervision. Another influence on the span of control is the dot of interdependence among employees. Employees that perform highly interdependent work with one another need a narrow span of control because they tend to have more conflicts with one another.I assume that the employees working for Protege Engineering do not require close supervision because they are highly educated have university layers in these field and a few have doctorates therefore, a wider span of control allows the employees to work in self-directed teams that coordinate mainly through informal communication and formal hierarchy plays a minor role (McShane and Von Glinow 390-391). Centralization evanesces when formal decision authority is held by a small group of people (McShane and Von Glinow 393).Companies often decentralise when they become larger and their environment more complex however, different degrees of decentralization can occur simultaneously in different party of the organization. In my opinion, the power of decision-making should be decentralized in the considered company because the mentioned projects demand highly specialized knowledge, which cannot be provided by the head of the organization. Formalization is the degree to which organizations standardiz e behavior through rules, procedures, formal training, and related mechanism (McShane and Von Glinow 393).Usually larger organizations tend to have more formalization because direct supervision and informal communication among employees do not operate easily when larger numbers of people are involved. Notwithstanding that Protege Engineering employs about 600 individuals, I assume that a high degree of formalization is not appropriate because their jobs cannot be standardized, every project is customized to the client and has therefore novel and new components.Another evidence against formalization is, that formalization tends to reduce organizational flexibility, organizational learning, creativity and job satisfaction, which the employees of Protege Engineering definitely need (McShane and Von Glinow 409). Regarding the first three elements of organizational structure we can admit that Protege Engineering should have an organic structure because organizations with organic structur es operate with a wide span of control, decentralized decision making, and little formalization (McShane and Von Glinow 395).This structure works well in dynamic environments because they are very flexible to change, more compatible with organizational learning, high performance workplaces, and quality management because they emphasize information sharing and an appoint workforce rather than hierarchy and status (McShane and Von Glinow 395). Departmentalization specifies how employees and their activities are grouped together alike(p) presented in an organizational chart of the organization (McShane and Von Glinow 395).A functional structure organizes organizational members around specific knowledge or other resources, which enhances specialization and direct supervision however, functional structure weakens the focus on the client or product (McShane and Von Glinow 396-397). A functional structure would not support Protege Engineering because the success of this company highly de pends on especially developed products for its clients therefore, this organization should focus on the satisfaction of its clients rather than focusing on organizing employees around specific resources.A divisional structure organizes groups of employees around geographic areas, clients or products in very flat team-based structures with low formalization. This structure seems to be very appropriate for Protege Engineering because it focuses employees attention on products or clients and self-directed teams with low formalization. However, there are some disadvantages that need to be considered, like duplicating resources and creating silos of knowledge. Conclusion and testimonial In the introduction I stated that the best organizational structure depends on the organizations external environment, size, technology, and strategy.We found out that Protege Engineering should have an organic organizational structure because a wide span of control, decentralized decision-making, and li ttle formalization will organizes employees and jobs so that Protege Engineering work can best be performed and its goals can best be met. Furthermore, McShane and Von Glinow give the advice that corporate leader should formulate and implement strategies that shape twain characteristics of the contingencies as well as the organizations resulting structure (409). This advice is very valuable because the structure of an organization should follow its strategy and not vice versa. . many another(prenominal) organizations think that they integrate organizational endings when merging or getting other companies. Explain what does integrating organizational cultures means? Under what conditions is this strategy most promising to succeed? Case 6 integrate Organizational Cultures Introduction Every organization has its own culture. According to McShane and Von Glinow organizational culture stands for the values and assumptions shared within an organization (416). When companies are mer ging with, or acquiring, other companies the likelihood is very high that the organizational cultures differ from each other.To avoid that the new company ends up with devil different cultures, there need to be any kind of integrating organizational cultures. First I will explain what integrating organizational cultures means and second I will present the conditions under which this strategy is most likely to succeed. Finally, I will provide a conclusion and recommendation. Merging Organizational Culture The necessity of merging organizational cultures becomes clear when regarding that failures to coordinate activity, based on cultural conflict, contribute to the widespread failure of corporate mergers (Weber and Camerer 412).Differences in culture in an organization lead to consistent decreased performance for both employees after the merger, and there is an evidence of conflict from the differences in culture, which could be a possible source for the high turnover rate followin g mergers (Weber and Camerer 412). McShane and Von Glinow also state that most mergers and acquisitions fail in terms of subsequent performance of the merged organization and that this happens because leaders fail to conduct due-diligence of the corporate cultures (426).At this point, we can admit that some forms of integration may allow companies with different cultures to merge successfully. One strategy in avoiding cultural collisions is to conduct a bicultural audit. A bicultural audit is a process of diagnosing cultural relations between companies and determining the extent to which cultural clashes will likely occur (McShane and Von Glinow 427). The bicultural audit identifies cultural differences and determines those that possibly result in conflict. In addition, it also identifies values that provide a common earthly concern on which cultural foundations can be built.Finally, it identifies strategies and prepares action plans to bring the two merging cultures together (McS hane and Von Glinow 427). In some cases the bicultural audit may identify that the two cultures are too different to merge effectively however, the companies can still form a workable union, if appropriate merger strategies are applied (McShane and Von Glinow 427). alike(p) the following illustration shows, McShane and von Glinow provide four main strategies to merge different corporate cultures successfully. Figure 4 Strategies for MergingDifferent Organizational Cultures Source McShane and Von Glinow 428. The first strategy is Assimilation, which occurs when employees at the acquired company willingly embrace the cultural values of the acquiring organization (McShane and Von Glinow 427). This strategy is most likely to succeed when the employees of the acquired company are looking for forward motion because they have a weak, dysfunctional culture and the acquiring company has a strong culture, which is aligned with the external environment (McShane and Von Glinow 427).The second strategy is Deculturation, which means that the acquiring company is imposing their culture and business practices on the acquired organization (McShane and von Glinow 428). However, this strategy rarely works because employees usually resist organizational change, especially regarding personal and cultural values. Sometimes deculturation may be necessary for voice, when the culture of the acquired company does not work effectively (McShane and von Glinow 428). The third strategy and the strategy which the given case is intercommunicate for is the Integration Strategy.This strategy is a combination of the two or more cultures into a new composite culture that preserves the best features of the previous cultures (McShane and Von Glinow 428). That sounds like a good compromise, but the integration strategy is slow and potentially risky because there are many forces preserving the active cultures (McShane and Von Glinow 428). McShane and Von Glinow also state that mergers typical ly suffer when organizations with significantly divergent corporate cultures merge into a single entity with a high degree of integration (McShane and Von Glinow 427).This strategy works best when both sides can benefit from an integration strategy for example, when the existing cultures of both companies are not optimal and could use some improvements. The negative aspects of the integration strategy for example being very time-consuming result from the employees being resistant to changes, or ambiguous rules which are also a source of conflict and often occur during mergers and acquisitions (McShane and Von Glinow 335).However, the integration strategy, which is the most effective combination of all existing cultures, is most likely to succeed when the existing cultures can be improved and members of the organization are motivated to adopt a new set of dominant values (McShane and Von Glinow 428). The fourth strategy is separation, which occurs when the merging companies agree t o remain distinct entities with minimal exchange of culture or organizational practices (McShane and Von Glinow 428).This strategy is most suitable when the merging organizations operate in different industries or countries because cultures differ between industries and countries (McShane and Von Glinow 428). Conclusion and Recommendation The integration process of merging companies is a combination of the existing cultures into a new culture that maintains the best features of the previous cultures, and it is most likely to succeed when existing cultures already need improvement so that employees are motivated to accept change.This strategy is particularly challenging when the members of the organization are satisfied with their previous culture because they will be resistant to change. Another very important factor for the success of mergers is the level of commitments made by the employees. Therefore, employees should be brought into the process as wee as possible (Badrtalei and Bates 314).

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