Reference no: EM132167463
Companies are often faced with the task of designing their structure — either during initial creation or when forced to restructure at a later time. Organizational design is influenced by a variety of factors, ranging from the nature of the business environment to the strategy and goals of the company to the sheer number of employees in the company. Understanding these factors can help top management choose the most effective design for their organization. The following scenario walks you through a consultant's task of designing an organization's structure. In this exercise, please read the mini-case and answer the questions that follow. You are a team leader at national consulting agency. Your team's focus is to help new businesses get off the ground. Since you are involved at a very early stage with most of these companies, your main focus is typically the organization's structure. You recently took on a new client, College Games, Inc. Your team has been researching this company and its industry for the past few weeks and has just handed you a packet with this information. The first thing you'd like to do is to decide, at a broad level, if the organization would best function under a mechanistic or organic structure. That is, would it be better for the organization to be efficient and rigid or dynamic and adaptable? Your team's analysis about College Games, Inc. contains the following major observations: 1. The industry is well-established and changes are typically made in a deliberate, linear fashion. 2. College Games, Inc. is well-equipped to manufacture its products with less overhead than the competitors. 3. The manufacturing process of most of these games is relatively straightforward. 4. There are several competitors — all of which have existed for over 20 years — and relatively few changes have occurred recently. 5. College Games, Inc. isn't seeking to design new features of these games, rather to provide them at affordable rates for college students.
1. "The industry is well established and changes are typically made in a deliberate, linear fashion." This fact is a good indicator of
dynamic technology.
stable business environment.
low-cost strategy.
2. "College Games, Inc. is well equipped to manufacture its products with less overhead than the competitors." This fact is a good indicator of
low-cost strategy.
adaptive environment.
dynamic technology.
3. "The manufacturing process of most of these games is relatively straightforward." After reviewing this fact, you note that this is a good indicator of
product differentiation.
flexible decision-making.
routine technology.
4. "There are several competitors — all of which have existed for over 20 years — and relatively few changes have occurred recently." This fact is a good indicator of
adaptive environment.
stable business environment.
product differentiation.
5. "College Games, Inc. isn't seeking to design new features of these games, rather to provide them at affordable rates for college students." This fact is a good indicator of
a highly adaptive environment.
high product similarity.
low work specialization.