Essay on Changing organizational structures
The organizational structure has a considerable impact on members of organizations. In fact, the impact of the organizational structure may be so strong that it can influence interpersonal relations within the organization and affect the organizational performance. This is why organizations are always concerned with the elaboration and maintenance of the organizational structure that matches the organizational culture, environment and current needs of the organization and key stakeholders.
On analyzing possible impact of the organizational structure on organizations and members of organizations, it is possible to refer to the case of SAS, Google or Apple, which are quite successful companies, which though cannot avoid the impact of the organizational structure. If in case of some organizations, such as Apple or Google, their organizational structure is effective and contributes to the successful organizational performance of two companies. Then in case of SAS, the organizational structure may be a cause of problems and cause tension in interpersonal relations between employees as well as it can deteriorate the organizational performance, especially in a long-run perspective (Chambers, 2005).
The ineffective organizational structure of SAS contributed to the emergence of conflicts and tension within the organization along with the considerable downturn in its business development. In this regard, the bureaucratization was one of the main effects of SAS’ organizational structure. On the contrary, Google benefits from its flexible organizational structure and develops its business successfully since the company works on multiple projects and the best one obtain funding from the company. In such a way, the fair and tight competition within the company along with the freedom of work on diverse projects brings the company large opportunities to develop very successful projects. As for Apple, this is another case of the successful organizational structure, especially after changes introduced by Steve Jobs, which made Apple’s organizational structure efficient and successful.
The problem of many organizations, including SAS is the inability of the organization to match its organizational structure to its current marketing position. For instance, in case of SAS, the company sticks to the centralized organizational structure, while the company operates globally. Therefore, the company would be more efficient, if it had a more flexible organizational structure but the company refuses to change its organizational structure so far.
Therefore, the major cause of the problem of SAS and other organizations is their inability to change their organizational structure. At this point, the poor or wrong vision of top executives of the company of goals and prospects of the company may be one of possible causes of the problem. However, in its essence, the cause of the problem is systematic. What is meant here is the fact that organizations and their business environment keep progressing but organizations cannot always catch up with changes in their business development and their business environment. As a result, they retain their old organizational structure which once used to be successful and effective, but they remain unaware of the fact that this organizational structure does not work effectively anymore and changes are needed urgently.
In such a situation, a possible solution to such companies as SAS and other companies that need the immediate solution of their problems through balancing their organizational structure and human behaviors. In this regard, changes have to be conducted at the organizational level. Organizations should change their organizational structure to create comfortable conditions for work of their employees and to maximize the effectiveness of their interaction in the course of their work. At the same time, there are no universal solutions concerning the organizational structure because companies are different and they operate in the different business environment (Buhler, 2011). Therefore, one and the same organizational structure may be effective for some organizations and ineffective for others.
Consequently, the possible solution that all organizations can apply to enhance their organizational structure and match human behaviors in their structure is to develop organizational structures that are the most efficient for them specifically. In this regard, organizations should assess adequately their current needs and challenges along with future prospects and goals, which they want to attain (Puffer, 2004). On the ground of their current needs and future goals, they can elaborate the strategy of changing or developing their organizational structure to maximize their effectiveness through balancing their organizational structure and behavior of their employees and other stakeholders.
Thus, the development of the effective organizational structure is essential for the successful business performance of companies. The organizational structure influences human behaviors and may cause conflicts within organizations and deterioration of the organizational performance. Hence, organizations should develop effective organizational structures that match their current needs and future goals and help them to maintain positive behavior patterns in their employees.
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