-How does a business-level and corporate-level strategy determine corporate structure?
-Identify each of the organizational structures types. Explain how each relates to a corresponding business-level or corporate-level strategy.
Introduction
Today, with increased globalization, majority of the organizations are looking for expansion in different parts of the world. However, the top-level management before expanding into other geographical territories need to determine their key strengths and weaknesses (Emerick& Lueck, 2015).
Also, they need to conduct a research that will allow them to determine the needs of the customers at the new location; it will allow the Human Resources (HR) team to allocate human resources accordingly for the different departments of the organization. Further, the HR department will be required to formulate a structure based on the strategies formulated (Emerick& Lueck, 2015). It will allow the different employees working for the new location to adhere to the guidelines based on their position levels. Also, it will help them improvise communication and fill in the gaps between different positions.
This report will thereby discuss the importance of organization structure, types of organization structure, and will reflect on how strategies - both domestic and international can affect the organizational structure in a given working environment.
Business-level and Corporate-level Strategy determine Corporate Structure
The organization structure determines the different departmentalization of the organization based on the key functional departments of the organization. It will allow the different departments to determine the mode of interaction, determine the communication channels that can be used in a given environment, will assist them in submitting reports from ground-level to the top-level, and also will help the senior management to follow the strategies accordingly (Emerick& Lueck, 2015).
For example, the top-level management of the organization will be formulating strategies based on the expansion needs of the organization. Later, the HR department will be required to select employees for the different functional roles and thereby position them within the organization (Csaszar, 2013). The business-level strategies will determine that the strategies need to be followed by all the employees in the form of tasks allocated to them.
On the other hand, for the corporate-level strategies formulated, it will assist the different departments in formulating their departmental strategies accordingly in a given environment. It will allow each of the department to not only adhere to the guidelines of the organization but also follow the customer trends and accordingly serve them in a better way in a given competitive market environment (Csaszar, 2013).
Organizational structures types
There are four major types of organization structures that are generally formulated within the organization. These include - traditional or administrative structure, functional structure, divisional structure, and matrix structure. Each of these structures is formulated based on the needs of the organization.
It will assist the senior management to formulate their strategies accordingly in a given environment. The first is the administrative structure wherein it is preferred in those organizations that have complex functional processes (Rodgers et al., 2015). The strategies will be formulated based on the future objectives of the organization. The pros of this structure include - better functioning of the different departments, direct communication, and employees will be following to the instructions of the senior management. On the other hand, the cons include - more of autonomy, lesser control with the middle-level management and ground-level staff, and lesser transparency.
Second is the functional organization structure that reflects the allocation of responsibilities, direction of working, and overall supervision will be based on the functional departments of the organization. The strategies thus will be framed separately for each of the functional department and later will be following the roadmap of the senior management. The pros of this structure include - better supervision, specific allocation of tasks to all the employees, and clear communication. On the other hand, the cons include - lack of decision-making authority at the middle-level management and lesser interaction between different departments of the organization.
The third is the division structure wherein the structure is defined in the organization based on the different divisions of the organization. Within a given department, there could be multiple divisions and thus there is a need to define different strategies for each of them (Zhou, 2013). The pros of this structure include - work transparency, improvised communication and work collaboration, better strategy formulation, and better work approach. The cons include - lesser control of the top-level management on the ground-level staff in a given working environment.
Finally, the last is the matrix structure, wherein the structure is formulated that addresses the needs of both employees and employers in the organization. A matrix structure is specifically developed for those companies that are operating geographically across multiple nations of the world. It is thereby recommended to first determine the needs of the organization then formulate the organization structure for a given organization in a given environment.The pros of this structure include - more power and authority among the ground-level staff that will save time and other efforts and will have more interaction among different departments that will allow them to achieve desired objectives of the organization. The cons include - lesser control of the senior management on the different departments and functional areas due to geographical barriers. Also, due to geographical constraints, communication will be a barrier to a certain extent in this structure of the organization.
An international strategy affecting organizational structure
As mentioned before, today, organizations are looking for expansion in different parts of the world. However, before expanding into any of the new territories, it is vital for the organization to understand the scope of work, the role of the different departments at global level, and the availability of the Human Resources in a given environment (Zhou, 2013).
It will thereby allow the HR team to formulate the organization structure accordingly and then define the strategies for all the departments of the organization. It will subsequently allow the team to overcome the challenges both in the internal environment and external environment.
Further, the HR team will be also required to train the staff on the different aspects that will further allow the employees to perform and deliver as per the stated needs of the organization (Zhou, 2013). On the other hand, the senior management will be required to monitor the strategies implemented, determine the gaps, if any, and accordingly provide recommendations for improving the future outcomes.
Conclusion
This report describes about organization structure and how it is formulated in the organization. The role of the HR team is vital as they need to determine the current needs and future trends of the working environment in the organization (Gupta& Singh, 2014). They also need to consider the future needs of the senior management that will allow the HR team to define the structure accordingly. In addition, the employees need to adhere to the working guidelines base ton this structure and thereby complete the allocated tasks within the given timeframe and as per the expectations of the senior management in a given organization.