Outline:
What is Organizational Structure? What is Organizational Culture? What is the relationship between Organizational Structure and Culture?
Functional structure
: groups people together because they hold similar positions in organization, perform similar set of tasks, or use the same kind of skills : allows an organization to be effective
Functional structure
Advantages: Coordination 1. Easy communication among specialists 2. Quick decisions 3. Learning
Functional structure
Advantages: Motivation 1. Facilitates performance evaluation for supervisor 2. Facilitates performance evaluation for peers 3. Creates teamwork 4. Creates a career ladder
Functional structure
Disadvantages: 1. Serving needs of all products 2. Coordination 3. Serving needs of all regions
Divisional structure
: overlays functional groupings : allows an organization to coordinate intergroup relationships more effectively than functional structure : can be Product, Market or Geographic divisional structure
Divisional structure
Product : each product division contains the functions necessary to the service or specific goods it produces Market : group functions into divisions that can be responsive to the needs of particular types of customers Geographic : group functions into regional divisions to service customers in different geographic areas
Divisional structure
Advantages: Coordination 1. Quality products and customer service 2. Facilitates communication 3. Customized management and problem solving 4. Facilitates teamwork 5. Facilitates decision making
Divisional structure
Advantages: Motivation 1. Clear connection between performance and reward 2. Customized service 3. Identification with division
Divisional structure
Disadvantages: 1. High operating and managing costs 2. Poor communication between divisions 3. Conflicts among divisions
Matrix structure
: a complex form of organization used to control their activities results in matrix structure : simultaneously groups people into two ways by the function of which they are member and by the product team on which they are currently working : have two bosses: functional boss and product boss
Matrix structure
Advantages: Coordination Facilitates rapid product development Maximizes cooperation and communication between members Facilitates innovation and creativity Facilitates face-to-face problem solving Provides a work setting in which managers can decide to solve nonprogrammed problems Facilitates frequent product changes of membership in product teams
Matrix structure
Advantages: Motivation Freedom and autonomy to take responsibility for their work activities
Matrix structure
Disadvantages: Increase role conflict and role ambiguity High levels of work stress Limited opportunities for promotion
Excess capacity Foreign demand for the product Saturation of domestic markets If a product is exported without modifications and is in demand, the need for adaptation in communication is minimal. Formalities and communication can be handled by special export firms or a designated in-house person, typically someone from marketing. Translators can take care of the necessary translation requirements.
Subsidiaries report directly to top management at headquarters. The company may use ethnocentric, polycentric, or geocentric staffing or a combination thereof in the subsidiary. The structure facilitates communication with headquarters but may limit communication between subsidiaries.
Advantages: Global operations report to appropriate functional managers in management, marketing, finance Disadvantages: Functional managers may not see the big picture. Advantages: It coordinates operations and communication between regions and facilitates adaptation to local conditions. Disadvantages: It does not pay enough attention to coordination between regions. Advantages: Communication relating to one product is efficient. Disadvantages: Each product may have its own sales force. There is not sufficient coordination and integration between product lines. A corporate language
Organizational Culture
Like national cultures, organizational cultures have a shared system of symbols and meanings. Employees go through a socialization process that is like growing up in a society. Each organization has its own inner structure for acceptable communication patterns and practices. Corporate culture is embedded in industry and national culture.
Process culture
Process culture
Features: Most often found in organizations where there is no feedback Rarely a good culture Obsessed on how things are done and focus is lost on what the goal is Overly cautious and stuck with the letters of the law Only positive argument is the consistency of results makes it good for public services
Organizational pride Ambition towards being better Obvious teamwork and communication Quality leadership Constant review of profits and costs Employee relationships Client and customer relations Honesty and safety Education and developmental programs Cutting edge thinking
Allegorically
Organizational culture resembles the plumbing and the water while the organizational structure is the actual pipes. If the football team is the organizational culture, the specific coaches and players comprise the organizational structure.
Job qualifications and portable credentials, such as an MBA or CPA (certified public accountant) are important. The employee can enter and leave the firm at any level. Outside networks are crucial to identify better opportunities.. Loyalty is to oneself. Training is minimal. Employees always scan the environment for better opportunities.
Group belonging is crucial. Employees identify with the firm. Loyalty is to the company. The system is based on reciprocity. When hiring employees, companies look for people who fit in rather than possess specific skills. Training lasts a long time, since employees typically stay many years. Seniority matters.
Families take care of their own before they hire outsiders. Loyalty is to the family. The senior member is the major decision maker. Business is conducted at a personal rather than institutional level. The focus on hiring family members may hinder the growth of the firm.
Organizational Culture
Clan
Flexibility/ Discretion Leadership Mentors and Coaches Effectiveness Cohesion and Morale
Adhocracy
Leadership Entrepreneurs and Innovators Effectiveness Creativity and Innovation
Stability/Control
Hierarchy
Leadership Monitors and Organizers Effectiveness Efficiency and Order Internal Focus/Integration
Market
Leadership Hard Drivers and Competitors Effectiveness Goal Achievement and Winning External Focus/ Differentiation
Cultural Socialization
A process through which an organization imparts its values to newcomers
Context
Content
Social Dynamics
Cultural Audit
A tool for assessing and understanding the culture of an organization. Use these five steps for conducting the cultural audit:
Analyze process and content Analyze responses to critical incidents Analyze values and beliefs of culture creators Explore anomalies or puzzling features Examine linkage culture with goals
Subcultures groups that share values that differ from the main values of the organization.
Managerial Advice
Do you agree that an individuals management style and values should agree with the organizations culture? Why or why not? Do you think Nardelli is what Home Depot needed at the time? Have you worked with a leader whose style was very different than the culture of the organization? What was that like? Robert Nardelli Can some organizations benefit from a major change in leadership philosophy?
Person-Organization Fit
Types of personal goals that one ought to have
Values
Abstract ideals that relate to proper life goals and methods for reaching those goals. End-Means Dimension
Summary
Companies develop their own unique corporate cultures. The corporate culture is embedded in the national culture.
Stages in internationalization.
Typically, the internationalization starts with an importexport stage, followed by the multinational rm and then the global rm. Each stage has its own organizational structure and communication environment.
Implications of cultural aspects of business structures for communication in the international rm.
Effective intercultural communication in a rm is inuenced by the structure of the rm, which in turn is inuenced by cultural priorities.
Priorities for credentials, context, family, and political considerations inuence the way people are hired, trained, and promoted. As a result, communication patterns depend on the specic organizational context.
Conclusion
An international rm, no matter what its own organizational structure is, must deal with a variety of business structures around the world. As companies expand internationally, their communication needs change. In addition to adapting communication to the growing internal diversity, international rms must adapt to the varying communication practices of other rms around the world. To be effective, international managers need to understand how cultural priorities shape organizational structures and communication patterns.