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Essay / Organizational Analysis
Table of ContentsOrganizational StructureTypes of OrganizationComponent of an OrganizationWorks CitedThis chapter examines organizational structure with an emphasis on the work of Mintzberg and how it applies to the researcher's organization. In doing so, emphasis will be placed on Minztberg's view of the structure, types and components of power in organizations. While the second aspect of this chapter will focus on the analysis of organizational culture, how it shapes organizations and how the analyzed cultures interact with the researchers' organization. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Organizational Structure Organizational analysis is the process of examining the development, work environment, personnel, and operations of the organization. In doing so, the focus is on the organizational structure and type of organization as well as how the systems, capabilities and functionalities of the organization influence the results. In other words, organizational structure can make a big difference in how it operates. Some businesses succeed because of strict controls and systems, but another business that uses such strict controls and systems will fail. Organizations must therefore find what suits them best, integrate them to achieve efficiency. Organizations must also review and rethink their structures on an ongoing basis. Henry Mintzberg (born September 2, 1939) is a Canadian academic and author on business and management. He has written extensively on management and business strategy. He believed that prestigious business schools focused too much on numbers and overemphasized the need to make management a science rather than an art. Thus, he suggests a greater emphasis on postgraduate programs that train practicing managers rather than students without real-world experience, relying on action learning and knowledge gained from their own problems and experiences. Mintzberg's (1983) organizational analysis aims to find the best way for an organization to operate by breaking down workplace organizations, management roles, and management responsibilities. Find below his analysis of organizationsTypes of organizationEntrepreneurial organization: Organizations of this nature are characterized by simple structures, with a single large unit. They are mostly controlled by the owner or a manager, so they are flexible and supervision tends to be direct. They lack standardized roles and systems. Examples of these organizations are small and medium-sized businesses or start-ups. Machine organization: This is a highly structured, standardized and formalized type of organization with clearly defined tasks for each department and group. It is procedural and decision-making is centralized by the top managers of the different functional departments. Examples of organizations in this category are large manufacturing companies as well as government agencies. Professional Organization: As the name suggests, this is the type of organization where you find many professionals who have a level of control over their work. The structure is therefore complex, highly regulated, specialized and constitutes a decentralized decision-making system, so that senior managers have less control over their work. Examples are universities and hospitals. OrganizationsDivisional: Organizations with many product lines and businesses rightfully fall into this category. Due to its broad focus on different products and brands in different geographic regions, the company has very strong autonomous divisions allowing managers to control and make decisions while the head office focuses on strategic plans and direction of the organization. The example is that of large multinational companies. Innovative organization: This is a characteristic of new and creative industries like filmmaking, consulting, and other project-based industries. They tend to be very flexible and attract talent, with workers moving between teams. In other words, the decision is decentralized and power is delegated wherever necessary. Component of an Organization According to Mintzberg, every organization has six different components. Strategic Top: This is the top management of any organization. Their role is to define the mission of the organization and they set the agenda for how the mission of the organization will be achieved. General managers and directors have their place here. Operational core: These are the people who do the basic work of producing products. They are made up of people working in the operational unit of the organization. Middle line: Middle management provides the link between the strategic top and the operational core through the use of delegated authority. The example is the department head who takes instructions from senior management and passes them on to those in operations. Smaller organizations may not have this. Technostructure: Analyst who designs the system and processes. Example human resources, training, finance and administration. They decide how best to perform their work and seek to standardize skills. Planners decide on results and define quality requirements. Support Staff: Works in functions such as research and development, public relations, and legal. Their results do not directly contribute to the main objective of this organization. Mintzberg then identified ways in which tasks can be coordinated in organizations. Mutual adjustment: This involves the process of coordination through informal communication between two employees. This mainly occurs in small organizations with flexible structures.Direct supervision: a manager gives orders on the task to be done and how it should be done.Standardization of the work process: the focus is on the work process and on how to achieve the goal according to the instructions. . The work process is designed by the technological structure and the task to be performed in the operational core. Standardization of the result: This allows coordination by specifying what the final result or product should look like. For example, the marketing department is given an annual sales target to achieve. Standardization of skills: This allows coordination through the complementary efforts of individuals with related skills. For example, a surgeon and an anesthesiologist in an operating room, responding almost automatically to each other's standardized procedures. Norms: This is a situation in which coordination is achieved because common beliefs and norms guide the operation of the organization. Mintzberg's organizational analysis is a simple but elaborate classification of organizations based on size, structures, degree of standardization andof specialization. His analysis also highlights the relationship between the structure of an organization and the mode of coordination that suits it. For example, the machine organization will need to emphasize the standardization of work processes and results to be effective, while the professional organization will emphasize the standardization of skills. It is also important to note that there are organizations with more than one identified structure, for example having both machine and divisional structures. USAID, which is the unit of analysis in this research, can be considered both a machine and a professional organization. USAID is a highly procedural and structured organization with coordination from the senior level administrator at headquarters to the head of mission and other division heads. However, it is also professional because it consists of a large number of professionals whom it employs to achieve its mission. For example, it requires the services of a health professional to help carry out its interventions in immunization, malaria, nutrition and family planning services. Organization culture can be described as a set of norms, beliefs, principles and ways of behaving that together give each organization a distinctive character. According to (Needle, 2004), organizational culture represents the collective values, beliefs and principles of the members of an organization and is the product of such factors as history, product, market, technology, strategy, types of employee management style and national culture; Culture includes the organization's vision, values, norms, systems, symbolic language, assumptions about the environment, location, beliefs, and habits. Ravasi and Schultz (2006) wrote that organizational culture is a set of shared assumptions that guide what happens in organizations by defining appropriate behavior for various situations. It is also the pattern of these collective behaviors and assumptions that is taught to new members of the organization as a way of perceiving and even thinking and feeling. So, from the above definitions, organizational culture influences how groups and individuals interact with each other. with customers and stakeholders. Additionally, organizational culture tends to affect the degree to which employees identify with an organization. Some organizations have a very strong culture, exemplified by the transparent alignment of workers with the organization's values based on belief and commitment. This is because organizations with a strong culture have clear values that give employees a reason to embrace that culture. On the other hand, a weak culture is one where there is little alignment with the organization's values, because such control must be exercised through extensive procedures and bureaucracy. Better alignment of the company towards the achievement of its mission, vision and objectives. High employee motivation and loyalty Cohesion between the company and departments and divisions Promote consistency and encourage coordination and control within the company Shape employee behavior at work, enabling the organization to be more effective . USAID has a strong culture that has evolved over the years and has helped its employees align with the agency's mission. Some of the values that have helped USAID develop a strong culture include: Passion for Mission: USAID employees are passionate and aligned with the agency's mission. Employees work indifferent sectors and continents to promote and advance the agency's mission. Excellence: USAID employees are always seeking to improve operations and mission impact. They are also proud of their achievements. Collaboration: USAID employees are made up of people with diverse skills and perspectives. This way, all employees, regardless of their title or position, collaborate so that everyone feels empowered to contribute. Openness: USAID consciously creates open and safe spaces for honest conversations with employees, partners, and stakeholders. This is done to ensure that we get honest feedback on our work. Agility: dynamism and flexibility are important attributes to respond to the challenges that employees encounter in carrying out their work. Inclusion: the agency advances equality, promotes equal opportunities and fights against inequalities. Integrity: the agency is ethical and fair with its colleagues, its partners and establishes relationships of trust. Charles Handy, a leading authority on organizational culture, defined four different types of culture: Power culture: Authority exercised by a few individuals who make major decisions in the organization without strict rules and regulations. regulations. Employees are judged on their accomplishments rather than how things are done or how they act. This makes the decision quick and these organizations tend to have a strong culture. Role: People have clearly delegated authority within a highly defined structure. It has a hierarchical and highly controlled bureaucracy. Everyone in the organization knows what their roles and responsibilities are. Task: Teams are formed to solve specific problems. Power comes from expertise as long as a team needs expertise. No energy source team can work on its own goal. People culture: individuals feel superior to the organization. You find people with similar backgrounds and expertise. This is common in professional businesses. Examples are accountants and lawyers whose power lies in cultivating the role of each individual. Handy best describes USAID's culture. This is because it is hierarchical and highly structured. Employees clearly know their role and the task expected of them. In my opinion, this is the best way for such a large organization to be effective. In their classic 1982 book, Corporate Culture, the rites and rituals of corporate life. They argued that corporate culture is based on six interlocking cultural elements such as history, values and beliefs, rituals and ceremonies. Others are stories, heroic figures and a cultural network. Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy identified four cultural types of organization. They are: Tough/Macho: This is a good thing in organizations where the emphasis is on individual success rather than group success. It's a place where individuals work to become stars. As such, they appreciate risk and get a quick return on their decisions. The sports and entertainment industry is an example of where such a culture can be found. Intense Work/Leisure Location: Ideal for sales where employees take high risks but feedback on their performance is immediate. The emphasis is on team performance because it is believed that one person cannot do the business, but it is team effort. Bet on your business: this culture is one in which decisions are high risk,but employees may wait years to find out if their actions generally pay off. Examples include pharmaceutical, oil and gas companies, and businesses that engage in capital-intensive projects. Due to the need to make the right decisions, values are based on a long-term view and there is a collective belief in the need to plan, prepare and carry out due diligence at all stages of decision-making . Process: Feedback is slow and risk is low. Banks, insurance companies and government agencies are typical of this group. No single transaction has a large impact on the success of the organization. It takes years to know whether a decision was right or wrong. Due to the lack of immediate feedback, employees find it very difficult to measure what they are doing and instead focus on how things are done. Technical excellence is valued and attention to processes and details is correct without necessarily measuring the result. Like Handy's role culture which is a characteristic of highly hierarchical, bureaucratic organizations with clearly defined roles, the process model best describes the structure and system of USAID. It has long-term goals and targets in areas such as eliminating extreme global poverty and improving the well-being of vulnerable groups. Since this involves many partnerships and engagements with different governments and non-governmental organizations, NGOs and other stakeholders, the emphasis is on the procedure agreed by the stakeholders. A metaphor, in the broadest sense, is "the application of a name or descriptive term or expression to an object." or an action to which it is imaginatively, but not literally, applicable” (Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2004). More specifically, metaphor creates meaning by understanding one phenomenon through another in a way that encourages us to understand what is common. Thus, the idea that “the organization is a machine” finds machine-like qualities in the organization… The metaphor gives meaning in a primary way; its role is not just an embellishment (Morgan, 1983, 602). We have come to understand organizations as machines, organisms, brains, cultures, political systems, psychic prisons, instruments of domination, etc. (Llewelyn, 2003). A metaphor allows one object to be perceived and understood from another” (Alvesson, 1993). ). Metaphors can evoke a neutral or positive image of culture or a negative image of it. The clan metaphor is a family or tribal type business environment that emphasizes consensus and commonality of goals and values. Ouchi (1980), in his analysis of clan culture, describes it as the core values described previously permeate the business and bring people together as a clan. People are employed and indoctrinated through training that takes this culture into account. On the negative side, there is evidence that culture is a disease (kets de Vrieset Miller, 1984) with people obeying managers wholeheartedly, which they probably would not do in another context (BSN Course Notes, 2011: 627). Alvesson (1993) believes that research on organizational culture should focus on how culture relates to “work activities”. and social relations” or, succinctly, “socio-material reality” (BSN Course Notes, 2011: 628). Simply put, the social aspect of work requires as much attention as the financial aspect to keep employees motivated.employees. As such, a work environment such as well-furnished offices and flexible working hours is important, but understanding how these cultures affect work and social relationships will impact efficiency and effectiveness. Several factors influence organizational culture and how they are shaped. We view culture as the norm and the way we do things here. Environmental factors are beyond the control of the organization and therefore have little control over them. For example, the legal, economic and social structure of a country affects the organizations operating there. On the other hand, internal factors include factors such as size, leadership, management style, compensation structure, and work environment. Wolf (1982) argues that cultures are best viewed as open systems, which continually interact with other cultures and which are "diversely related." with broader social fields. Alvesson (1993) is of the opinion that it is not the organization itself that primarily defines the mode of change; it is the environment (BSN Course Notes, 2011: 630). Similarly, the external factors that shape USAID's operations are based on Nigeria's economic, social, and political structure. For example, because Nigeria is a country with diverse ethnic groups, USAID is inclusive in its projects and partners, so that no one feels disadvantaged by its policies. Additionally, the lack of basic amenities such as schools and health care in many countries where USAID operates has fostered this passion in its mission to empower vulnerable groups and society economically and of overall social progress. Finally, transparency is important in Nigeria because USAID ensures that it is transparent and accountable in all its work. Organizational change has become synonymous with management effectiveness. The environment in which any organization operates is constantly evolving. To survive, the organization will have to adapt to these changes by continually modifying itself. The most important thing that organizations need to change is their culture (Peters and Waterman, 1982). The MAOC advocated by (Bate, 1990) and explained by (Kirkbridge, 1993) identifies four possibilities for change. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In the conciliation approach, the style of change is gentle and bottom-up. Useful when the changes to be made are not drastic. This is a slow and expensive approach. In the aggressive approach, the style of change is harsh and downward oriented. The emphasis is on clear, unambiguous messages and proponents argue that this approach offers the only possibility for real change in a crisis situation. The major drawback is that it is rigid. In the indoctrination approach, the style of change is gentle and downward oriented. The goal is to influence people's ideas through training and indoctrination. The major drawback is that dissidents are labeled “disloyal?” or worse. In the corrosive approach, the style of change is harsh, bottom-up, and directional. The goal is to change people's behavior by giving them new tasks, missions, responsibilities and positions. It is believed that changes in behavior will lead to a change in culture. Bates (1990) believes that change occurs in episodes or stages rather than gradual evolution. Each stage requires its own method and moving from one stage to another requires moving from one method to another. USAID applies.