Organizational

structure: Appex
Corporation
Prepared By:
Tushita Goel
Divya Jhamb
Amarendra Amar
Amritanshu Shekhar
Pawan Sah

Company Background
Founded in May 1986
Merger of Appex, Inc. & Lunayach Communications
Consultants (LCC)
Specialized in:
o Management information systems
o Inter carrier network services
o Design and engineering solutions

1990: Rated as the fastest growing high-technology

company in the US
Innovative company
Everyone did anything

Challenges faced by Shikhar Ghosh

Undefined KRAs (Key Responsibility Areas)
No job description, Very informal and fluid
organizational structure
Overwhelming work resulting into work overload
Unstructured financial spending, Only fire fighting
approach was in practice
Lack of planning, Undefined priorities, Improper
interdepartmental cooperation
Soaring backlog, Un-kept promises to the customers
Individualistic approach, Unclear information flow
Rise of customer detracting mentality, No ownership
of the issues, Chaotic environment

Structural changes- Circular structure

Characteristics
Non-hierarchical, Concentric circles
expanding out from executives to customers

Positives
Free flow of information
Theoretically customer-based
Theoretically responsive structure

Negative
Employees could not relate
Aimed at response, not planning
Unclear decision hierarchies
Customer became the enemy

Structural changes- Horizontal structure

Characteristics
Non-hierarchical, Org-chart turned sideways

Positives
Impression of traditional structure

Negative
Complete failure
Employees gave no response

Structural changes- Functional structure

Characteristics
Separation into functional teams
Positives
Focus on task completion
Increased planning
System for assessing accountability

Negative
Extensive politics
Development of sub-functions
Polarization of teams
Reduction on cooperation
Poor skill/management matches

Structural changes- Product + Functional

Characteristics
Overlay of functional representatives for
each key product
Positives
Improved planning
Application of management vs. skill to
products

Negative
No system of authority
Extensive executive decision support
No system of priorities between products

Structural changes- Product + Functional

+Business
Characteristics
Intermediaries between product teams
and corporate management
Positives
Decision making authority
Resource allocation authority

Negative
Too many people in overhead
Too many layers of management
Internal process focus
Loss of customer focus
Loss of P&L accountability

Structural changes-Divisional Structure

Characteristics
Separation into three divisions, ICS, IS, and
Operations
Positives
Improved accountability, budgeting, and planning
Extensive communications within divisions
Negative
Resource allocations squabbles
Cross-divisional antagonism
Second guessing of Sr. Management
No cross-divisional communication or cooperation
Fractal structures
Financial gamesmanship

What would we have done ??

An RCA of the problems
A control on the structure was required
A balance between centralized and decentralized
power
A combination of horizontal and vertical structure
Such structure is called Matrix structure
Grouping the employees on the basis of function and
product while maintaining the vertical and horizontal
integrations between the two.

Address the new challenges

Acquired by Electronic Data Systems (EDS)
New Challenges:
EDS has a bureaucratic structure
Appex still does not have clear structure

Solution
Deploy Matrix structure at Appex and use senior
resource from EDS
Integrate the two teams functional areas, so the inter
organization conflict does not arise

Thank You