BOK MATRIX

Introduction

Organizational structure builds the base of any organization. The structures define the

primary goal of the existence of the organizations and based on the structure in which the

organization is operation, the synchronization if mission, vision and aim are worked on. The

formal structure primarily includes various defined positions of each of the member in the

company. Setting a dimension of the differentiation can act as a criterion on the base of which

the employees and management of the organization would be formally divided into different

positions and departments, as viewed by the division of the labor; or into the ranks, notably at the

various managerial levels; or into the subunits, like the organization’s local branches, regional

branches, headquarters divisions, or the sections within these branches as well as divisions

(Rivkin, 2000).

Analysis

The structural component can be defined either as a distinct official status or the subunit

in the firm. Differentiation in an organization primarily refers towards the number of structural

components that needs to be formally distinguished in the terms of any of the defined criterion.

The diversity in organization brings innovative ideas along with assisting organizations to

continually strive for improvement; if the prevalent positions in the company never undergo a

change up by the newer people then the firm would become highly stagnant and would

eventually fail (Steven McShane, 2009). Organizations around the globe can improve change

efforts made by them using some practical, effective graphic metaphors as well as an

organizational transition model for insuring employees understanding, and commitment towards

the whole process of change. This means that the companies should guarantee their smooth sail

through during their change voyage.

Differentiation is not only attributed to large organizations however it could be for any

organization that has a structure requiring diversity towards continued functioning of various

divisions. The span of control primarily refers to the number of employees and the subordinates

that the manager or the supervisor of the organization could effectively handle (Michael A. Hitt,

2008).

The manager of a small firm also needs to be concerned about the organizational

structure because to grow more it needs the structure within the organization to define its

organizational culture which in turn will define the goals and mission of the organization.

Structure is always linked to organizational culture which in terms is linked with the goals and

effectiveness of an organization. To achieve the organizational objectives; a manager should

implement proper structure. Many organizations are not able to grow big just because of their

negligence towards the structure.

The centralized organizations are primary those wherein the most of decision making

authority is in control of the few people that are at the top of the hierarchy. Centralized

organizations usually carry a top-down structure of the management, wherein the top-level

managers have a strong control over the entire direction of the firm through their decisions as

well as supervision. Conversely, an organization with the decentralized structure allows the

greater decision-making as well as the authority at lower organizational levels (Randall S.

Schuler, 2007). In decentralized structure, the power is distributed among appropriate levels of

the organization and each division has the authority and control to come up with their decisions

and strategies.

Highly decentralized organizations might have the divisions that would be operating

nearly independently of the other divisions in the organization. The standards are the set of

various guidelines defining on how the organization needs to behave. For example, the

employees need to show utmost respect to their employers regardless of the organizational

hierarchy they operate in (Steven McShane, 2009). The queries asked of the division’s managers

needs be clear as well as to the point as their time is precious, valuable and limited. In the

horizontal differentiated firms the type of the hierarchy that in the place is similar however

certain protocols within the hierarchy may have been altered.

For instance consider an organizational situation wherein there may be three different

managers and then a senior manager and the employees of the company need to follow the

organization’s chain of command. These rules might be amended in a way that the firm’s

employees need to go through only two of these three managers or could by-passes them

altogether in the order towards get to the senior manager (Randall S. Schuler, 2007). There might

be some internal confusion at initial stages however these employees might find the whole

process efficient and faster.

A functional organizational structure primarily is the one wherein the employees are

grouped usually on the base of their work experiences, core expertise or because they had used

the same resources. Employing functional structure in the organization also has various

disadvantages as in this structure the requirement of the firm towards its growing product lines is

highly strained because the skills as well as abilities of the employees gets narrowed down to the

assigned functions (Randall S. Schuler, 2007). This however could be solved through various

training programs as well as hiring the employees that carry varied skill sets and are good with

multitasking. Secondly, the communication problems within the organization could highly

increase because of the interaction within the various departments is reduced.

The organizations employing functional structure needs to create an open line of the

communication within various divisions and the departments. Thirdly, the measurement

problems in the functional structure are usually to erupt as it becomes highly difficult towards

analyzing which person has been more efficient compared to the low performed in the team. For

determining the productivity the number of products as well as services with the lower amount of

the problems would be an efficient indicator of the good productivity. Also, assigning

individuals goals to the employees within the team that match up to the key performance

indicators of the team would be a good idea to overcome this problem. Lastly, the strategic

problems in the organization are not given a highly significant focus in the functional structure as

the top executives and management of the organization is majorly busy in looking the solutions

of the coordination problems. The top management of the organization needs to delegate various

tasks that are highly important but are not in the authorization and power of the management

towards handling the in a timely manner. This could be daily operational strategies required to

maintain the ground staff of the organization.

When all these solutions are implemented the firm the productivity, the profitability as

well as the market share of the firm could be greatly increased. Self-Managed work teams also

form a part of a prevalent organizational structure prevalent in the current scenario. Self-

managed work teams are the teams formed in the organization consisting of around 12 to 15

employees that are then assigned the responsibilities those were formerly being handled by their

supervisors (Steven McShane, 2009). The responsibilities included the plan and design of work

schedules, operating decision making capacity and to handle the problems related to work. These

teams within the organization are completely by themselves, that reduces the supervisor’s role in

the organization.

Quantitative research method of undertaking research is generally derived from

experimental and statistical methods in natural science. Under this method, the main focus is to

measure how much is required for how many people. The main tools of this method are large

scale surveys which are analyzed by using statistical methods. The hypothesis are identified and

combined into questionnaires by this method. Quantitative methods are used in large scale

research projects teams composed of a number of skilled research designers and analysts assisted

by teams.

Quantitative research has already proved to be an effective tool of exploring, analyzing,

and researching various management concepts and phenomena. The definitions of quantitative

research vary: more often than not, quantitative research is defined as the means of researching

and analyzing quantitative relationships between variables (Nykiel 2008). Quantitative research

presents business researchers with a unique opportunity to gather and analyze the data that can

be tracked over time (Nykiel 2008). Quantitative research is associated with numerous

advantages and, simultaneously, reveals serious methodological limitations. The latter, however,

do not prevent the researchers from using this form of business research to achieve reliable and

measurable research results.

Quantitative research is believed to have two most important advantages. First,

quantitative research is the most effective way for researchers to produce statistically reliable

results (Nykiel, 2008). In other words, quantitative methodology is the only way for business and

management researchers to determine whether one idea and/ or concept is better than its

alternative(s). Second, the results produced in the process of applying quantitative research

methodology in practice in practice, researchers in management are capable of producing the

results that are readily projectable to the population (Nykiel, 2008).

Conclusion

An organization, whether big or small, is defined as a group of people working together

to achieve common goals. The top management establishes the organizational goals. These goals

are then redefined to obtain measurable performance targets. Such measurable parameters help

the management monitor employees and ensure that they are on the right track. The management

also develops strategies that will help the organization meet these goals. The implementation of

these strategies requires a formal structure of authority and responsibilities (Therese F. Yaeger,

2009). A well designed organization structure facilitates coordination among the activities of

employees and enables an organization to accomplish its goals and objectives.

References

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