Grace has been with her firm for a year and sees a number of procedures that she feels can be changed to enhance efficiency and effectiveness

What impact does organizational structure have on ethics?

If the organizational structure is too rigid or hierarchical, employees are not provided opportunities to develop moral intelligence. This moral intelligence is key in assessing what is ethical or not in the business setting. Similarly, when the structure prohibits an employee from making decisions with some degree of autonomy, ethical behaviors fail to develop.

142. Do organizational structures differ around the world?

The answer is very simply, yes. The student may choose to cite specific countries and their structures but generally they will be noting the nature of centralization or decentralization of organizations in each country. In addition, the student may note the culture’s level of uncertainty avoidance in noting structure.

ESSAY

143. What impact does structure have on Toyota Company’s success in the automobile industry?

Toyota is successful because its structure supports its strategy. Toyota functions under just-in-time production. Such a production focus requires employees who are expert at their positions, and who are continuously learning and improving.  Toyota, which is functionally structured, has aspects of a matrix organization whereby employees are placed on teams to engage in that continuous learning process. Further, Toyota has strategic alliances with a number of firms that, again, support the just in time production process. In fact, Toyota’s supplier firms are responsible for roughly 75% of the car’s production. Toyota shows the success associated with an organizational structure aligned with a firm strategy.

144. Choose a firm and discuss the nature of its structure using the four building blocks of structure as your focus.

Student responses will vary. But they should include a discussion of centralization, formalization, departmentalization and hierarchical levels.

The university is generally centralized with key decisions made in the chancellor/president’s office and implemented at the college level.

The university is highly formalized with explicit policies, rules, and procedures in place to guide all activities from teaching to tuition payment by students.  Everyone is covered by a general employee handbook and each school has specific additional rules.

The university is departmentalized into schools based on functional area.

The hierarchical levels include the chancellor/president, vice presidents, deans, full professors, assistant professors, associate professors, etc.

145. Max has just been assigned to a project team after his organization restructured to a matrix organization. What kinds of advice could be offered him to help him deal with multiple bosses?

Having multiple bosses is a difficult adjustment for many individuals because we are accustomed to the unity of command structure. The potential for conflict with the multiple boss, multiple duty/obligation structure is thus obvious. Some tips to meet the challenges include:

Do not assume that having multiple bosses is necessarily a bad thing.

Make sure all your managers are familiar with your overall workload.

Make conflicts known to your bosses.

Do not be afraid to request a meeting with all your managers.

Make an effort to establish effective relations with each manager.

Be cognizant of the relationships among managers as well.

With these tips in mind, Max should be able to make the adjustment.

146. Describe a time when a change was made in some organization of which you were a part. Were you resistant to the change? Why or why not?

Answers will vary with the student but the response should clearly delineate what the change was that was instituted. Also, the reaction to the change should be noted with the commentary on whether the student was resistant or not.

Sample: A manufacturing firm reclassified secretarial jobs. The company suggested the reclassification was necessary because the nature of jobs had changed. In this particular organization, computers had been provided to all members of the firm. Thus individuals throughout the organization were now able to type their own communication; they did not have to send work to the secretary for typing. Further, the organization had purchased a new telephone system so all organization members were able to put calls through to voice mail if they were busy. Again, secretaries had no need to answer phones. The overall result of the reclassification was that many secretarial jobs were placed at a lower level in the pay scale to reflect few duties performed. There was very vocal resistance to the plan, but that active resistance never rose to the level of sabotage. Clearly, the fact that employees’ livelihoods were impacted made the change a difficult one for the firm to implement. A number of secretaries ultimately left the firm, which likely was the intent of the company in reclassifying the jobs to begin with, as those positions were never filled when vacated.

147. Describe an organization that you believe needs to undergo a change. Describe the change that is needed and, using Lewin’s model of planned change, discuss how you would implement that change.

Answers will vary depending on the organization chosen. A family business owner of a mid-size manufacturing firm is aging and wants to leave the organization for retirement. He has two sons who are both part of the business and both desire to lead the organization. Before choosing a successor, he needs to work on stage one of change, unfreezing. He must prepare all employees of the firm and his external stakeholders for his departure. As the founder of the firm, he is the face of the firm so he must inform everyone of his desires but also of the smooth transition that will not interrupt their service. Once he informs the stakeholders of his plans, he must choose a leader. That leader must create a vision for the future. This vision must be communicated to the employees. A sense of urgency must be imparted as transitions cannot drag on but must take place. Change leaders need to be found who will serve as key supporters for the new leader. All management members must support each other and the employees as this change takes place. Clearly, stage two is the actual change.  As the transition occurs, small wins must be publicized so the employees believe that the firm will continue to prosper. The final stage of the change, refreezing, will be a publicizing of the success of the transition and how the firm continues to serve its customers.

148. You have just been downsized from the firm where you have worked for nine years. What do you do to recover?

Though a painful experience, given the economic circumstances and the fact that firms now compete in a global setting, downsizing is a possibility at any time for any level employee. To recover:

Be calm. Easier said than done, but rational approaches to the incident as well as your next job search are needed at this critical time.

Do not get angry. This is not your fault, it is circumstances. Do not burn bridges because of those circumstances.

Know your rights. Make sure you understand severance packages and continued health insurance coverage.

Think about your ideal job situation. Are you in the right field?  Are you in the right size firm? Now is the time to make any changes that help you realize your ideal job.

Get help. If the firm is not providing some job search assistance, find organizations that offer the resources you need including assistance on resume writing, job interview skills, etc.

Polish your resume and job-hunting skills.

Do not give up.  You will find a job.

149. Grace has been with her firm for a year and sees a number of procedures that she feels can be changed to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. She has offered those suggestions during group meetings and even through written communication to her boss. No one seems to pay any attention to the suggestions she has offered. How can she get support for her suggested changes?

Grace might consider the following:

Listen to the naysayers. Grace may believe she has a great idea, but maybe it is not as good as she thinks. Those who dissent may offer suggestions for change that make the original proposal, now a viable one.

Assess whether your change is revolutionary. If Grace’s suggestions are dramatic changes, resistance is to be expected.

Involve those around you in planning the change. Grace should not provide everyone her suggestions, but make them a part of building those suggestions into a useful plan of action.

Do you have credibility? Grace has ideas for changes but how is she perceived in the organization? Grace must be honest with herself and assess whether others trust her and thus will be willing to follow through on her suggestions.

Present data to the audience. Grace needs to not just say “this needs to be done”; she needs to provide rationale for that change and why it would be successful.

Appeal to the audience’s ideals. What is the purpose behind the suggestion?  Will the suggestion in some manner make the company employees happier?  Will it improve the company’s prospects?

Understand the reasons for resistance to change. Grace must understand why employees are ignoring her proposals. Do her suggestions threaten the personal influence of some members? Are employees afraid to fail if this suggestion is implemented?

As Grace reviews these items, she can reshape and reword her suggestions and resubmit them for consideration.