Strengths, Weaknesses and Suitability of Different International Organizational Structures - Assignment Example

Chun Fai Tsoi (Anson) International business communication ID:77464 Kings education Bournemouth Content: Introduction P.3 1 Assess the strengths, weaknesses and suitability of different international organizational structures for different types of business p.4 1.2 Analyse the influence of organizational behavior on an international organization’s structure, culture and performancep.5 2.1 Identify the features of an international communications strategy p.6 2.2Apply business writing conventions for a range of international communications purposes p.7 2.3 Explain methods of internal and external international business communications p.8 2.4 Explain the use of spreadsheets and databases for international business purposes p.9 3.1 Explain the difference between global e-commerce and e-business p.10 3.2Assess the advantages, disadvantages and use of international social networking and internet media for business purposes p.11 3.3 Explain how to use digital tools for international marketing purposes p.12 Conclusion p.13 Reference p.14 Introduction This paper is focused on three key areas of learning outcomes which are assessing the international organizational structure, international business communication and the principles of global e-commerce. The organizational structure discusses its different types and their strengths and weaknesses. The international business communication discusses about the communication strategy, practices and overcoming the involved issues. It also discusses about the internal and business communications and how t use software packages to improve them. Finally the principle of global e-commerce discusses about the details of e-commerce and e-business activities and how internet and social networking along with other digital tools are used for marketing activities. 1.1Assess the strengths, weaknesses and suitability of different international organizational structures for different types of business Traditional Hierarchical Structure Strength The strength of a traditional hierarchical structure is that the employees have clarity of their position in the organization and they have a single person to report to. This as a result removes any ambiguity of roles and overlapping of responsibilities, thereby removing any room of error (Baligh, 2007). Weakness Owing the presence of steep hierarchical structure, internal organizational communication becomes a challenge. In most cases the employees can only contact the supervisor who is immediately above him in hierarchy. Suitability The hierarchical organizational structure is suitable for very large firms, with more than a thousand employees. It is mostly suitable for the firms which operate in relatively stable market environment. Bureaucratic Organizational Structure Strength The strength of a bureaucratic organizational structure lies in strategic decisions taken by the organization. It allows the higher management to have high level of control in every decision making process in the organization (Baligh, 2007). Weakness In a bureaucratic organization the employees are less motivated and their creativity is not encouraged. The higher level of control by the management reduces the room for working freedom and flexibility in the work environment thereby de-motivating the employees. Suitability This type of structure is suitable for the firms where strictly following rules and regulations are imperative to high quality product and service development, such as in case of hotel management (Bate, 2008). Flat Organizational Structure Strengths The flat organizational structure allows seamless communication within the organization. This as a result makes the organization more reactive as their response time is reduced significantly. Weakness Area of control for the higher management is reduced. At certain times the lack any specific supervisor may create confusion in job role and absence of guidance. Suitability A flat organization is suitable for the firms that require fast response time. In this case, they can meet the needs to the clients as fast as possible (Colella and Miller, 2009). Matrix Organizational Structure Strengths The matrix organization allows the firm to bring together all the managers and employees together so that they can proceed towards a shared goal. The departments can work closely together owing to the efficient exchange of information (French and Rayner, 2011). Weakness Internal conflict and confusion of job roles and reposting authorities can be a weakness for this type of organization. Need for double management increases the overhead costs. Suitability This organizational structure is suitable for organizations with several business units. It allows the firm to monitor and control different business processes separated by operational activities. 1.2Analyse the influence of organizational behavior on an international organization’s structure, culture and performance Organization behaviour is the aggregate of the ways in which an organization impacts the behaviour of the individuals within an organization. The behaviour of an organization reflects the way the employees interact with each other and with the higher management. It also determines the level of job performance, job satisfaction, job description, leadership, etc. From a theoretical stand point it can be stated that these factors influence the behavioural pattern of the individuals in an organization. The impact of organizational behaviour largely influences the organizational goals and objectives (French and Rayner, 2011). The organizational behaviour of John Lewis partnership is quite notable from the point of view of its effectiveness in increasing the overall productivity of the firm. The organizational structure is quite unique in this company, as there are practically no employees. All the employees are considered as business partners and they are also treated as such. The company distributes its profit to the employees based on the overall performance of the firm. The leadership style followed by the higher management is democratic in nature, which allows the employees to engage in the decision making process of the company. The employees feel like they are part of a big family and they voluntarily take the responsibility to look after of its welfare. This as a result increases the overall all job satisfaction of the employees, and increases the overall performance of the firm (John Lewis Partnership 2015). From a theoretical stand point, this organizational behaviour can be justified by the concept of psychological contract. It suggests that the employees will voluntarily engage in organizational welfare if they are being properly taken care of by the organization. It is a non verbal agreement between the employer and the employees which indicates that the employees will only look after the organization, if the organization also looks after them (Colella and Miller, 2009). 2.1 Identify the features of an international communications strategy The international communication strategy includes transfer of information to a wide range of audience of diverse demographics and psychological back ground. The communicational theory suggests that in order for an effective communication to take place, the information transfer should be able to overcome all the communicational noise barriers. The same rule applies to the international communicational strategies. In order to ensure an effective communication strategy, the following features should be addressed. Alignment to Organizational goals: It is important for the firms to ensure that the communication that the organization is trying to commence is capable of delivering its primary objectives. In order to achieve that the organization must assess the overall goals and objectives of the communication process and how it will influence the company. After assessing the objectives, the company should find out how much the current communicational strategies can help to deliver the goals. Defining target audience: Every communicational activity is targeted at a particular audience. A group of target audience usually have a certain common characteristics such as nationality, cultural background, language preference, etc. Depending on these characters the organization designs the communication message so that it can overcome any communicational noise created by the values and beliefs of the target audience (Bate, 2008) Delivery: The delivery of message is a vital part of the communicational strategy. The organization chooses a particular delivery medium that best suits the communicational objectives. The choice of the delivery medium also depends on the target audience. A particular set of audience may be comfortable with a particular type of medium. As for an example a particular audience may be more comfortable with email communication, whereas others may prefer to have a telephonic conversation or a video conferencing. Cultural consideration: The international business communication can only be successful if the sender has a clear idea of the cultural background of the receiver. Since the cultural background of one nation varies from another, so it is imperative for the sender to have a clear insight regarding the cultural background of the receiver (Baligh, 2007). 2.2Apply business writing conventions for a range of international communications purposes In business communication the domain written communication plays a vital role in fulfilling the business objectives. Written communication skills are important for the managers and employees to ensure that the proposed message is received by the concerned party exactly like the way in which it was desired. A poor business writing skill can deliver a bad impression on the recipient regarding the sender or who that person represents. There are a different set of writing conventions used for different communicational purposes. The purpose a communication can be primarily of four types to inform readers, to persuade readers, to establish a good relationship with the readers and to save the readers’ time. In order to inform the readers the writing needs to be focused, complete, clear and accurate. It has to be focused on a particular topic that might of interest for the readers and its purpose needs to be clearly stated. These should not be any ambiguity and statements must be able to deliver a particular idea to the readers. The accuracy is also quite important and the writing should reflect the exact situation of the topic under discussion. In order to persuade the readers the writing needs to bear three features, logos, pathos and ethos. The logos indicate that the writing needs to be logical and must be supported by facts and theories so that it becomes easily believable. The pathos indicates the emotional appeal in the communication and the ethos indicates the reflection of the writer’s own image in the writing. In order to establish a good relationship the writing needs to focus on the benefits and concerns of the readers. The writing should be positively paraphrased and must be free from any biasness and legal disputes. 2.3 Explain methods of internal and external international business communications Depending on the type of audience and communication process, business communication can be classified into two categories, Internal and External communication. The internal communication is the process of communication among individuals within the organizational boundary. These individuals can belong to the same department or to various departments within the organization. The methods of internal and external communication are different in terms of the purpose of the communication. The purpose of the internal communication is to conduct seamless exchange of information across the hierarchical ladder. It also allows the members within a team to communicate and coordinate with each other. On the other hand the external communication allows the firms to maintain a good relationship with other companies or external stakeholders (French and Rayner 2011). The methods of internal communication usually include telephonic conversation, email and face to face communication. This type of communication is usually short and precise, that can deliver the desired information to the receiver without taking must time. The preciseness of the communication is essential as it save on the organisational time. At the same time the message needs to be clearly understandable so that there is no ambiguity in communication. In case of the external communication, this usually takes place among different organizations. The medium of communication generally include email, postal services, messengers, face to face communication or video conferencing. The message delivered to the external stakeholders is mostly descriptive, elaborate and are written in a polite and positive tone. Most of the external business communications are addressed to business partners and the underlying motive may be to build a long term relationship with them. Thus the communication message must carry a positive image of the sender or organization he or she represents. 2.4 Explain the use of spreadsheets and databases for international business purposes The technological advancement has changed the way a company manages data and information and they are being processed by the employees to derive the necessary information. Before the advent of database management systems, data storage was only dependent on hard copy records. This as a result took a lot of effort and time to manage the stored data. Moreover, gathering the information from the database was also quite challenging. However, with the inception of the database management system and spreadsheet software like MS Excel or Gneumeric, it has become quite easy for the individuals to maintain and manage organizational information. Moreover, the digitization of information management has also improved the overall security of the confidential data. The spreadsheet software offers the user with a sheet constraining rows and columns and in each cell, data can be store. The numeric data that are stored in the cells can undergo mathematical calculation so that the user can derive the necessary information from the quantitative data (Stokes, 2011). There are certain regulations set by the organization and the government itself to protect companies against data theft and data protection. The cyber law allows the firms to file a lawsuit against any individual or organization who may have attempted to steal confidential data by hacking a database system or having unauthorized access. There are several software packages used in daily business operations to ensure that data and information management becomes easier. These are MS Word, MS PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. Word allows the users to have seamless document processing and report writing. PowerPoint helps to create attractive slide shows for key note presentations and outlook helps to organize and sort mails. 3.1 Explain the difference between global e-commerce and e-business p.10 Technological advancement has changed the way the business operations of a firm are conducted. The increased internet usage over the years has changed the customers purchase their favourite products. The rise of online shopping has made it easier for the customers to shop and at the same time also allowed the marketers to target a wider customer base (Dopson, 2008). The term e-commerce and e-business are often used as synonyms, but on a closer review it can be started that they indeed are different in several ways. The concept of e-commerce suggests that a firm is conducting its business activities through an online portal or website open to the customers. The e-commerce is an outward facing process that connects the business with the customers and allows them to seamlessly make business transactions. The activities included in e-commerce usually involve ordering products through a dedicated website run by the company. The order is placed by the customers through payment methods like credit cards, debit cards, internet banking, and cash on delivery. After a successful order placement the product is shipped to the customers’ address which has been given during placing the order. E-commerce helps the firms to make the purchasing experience of the customers more pleasing and convenient (Stokes, 2011) E-business on the other hand encompasses a wide area of discussion. It includes e-commerce activities along with several other internal activities related to the use of advanced technological usage. E-business includes processes like product development, production, risk management, inventory management, finance, human resources and knowledge management. Implementing an e-business can be complex, as it comprises of four basic operational integrations which are vertical (web-front and back end systems), lateral (between seller and buyer), horizontal (within the organization) and downward (integration of new technologies). 3.2Assess the advantages, disadvantages and use of international social networking and internet media for business purposes The rise of social media has created a growing trend in the society and has changed the way the people communicated with each other. Owing to the inception of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc, people can easily share enriched data with practically anyone in the world. The social networking is also quite important from the marketing point of view. It helps the marketers to easily communicate with an extremely large audience base owing to the large user base of the social networking services. The companies can open pages in Facebook and Twitter and post information regarding their products and services (Wind and Mahajan, 2002). They are also allowed to post pictures and videos to make their communication more enriched, thereby attracting the more customers. The social networking services also helps to make direct communication with the customers with “chat” box. This as a result allows the company to answer to any queries or complaints of the customers. The social network can also used to post advertisements. In fact the revenue generation of the social networking services is dependent on the advertisement posts. The companies can post banner ads that will appear on the social networking website and will help to achieve higher exposure. Compared to the traditional marketing services the posting ads on social media is much less costly (Gefen 2000)). The firms also adopt several other internet marketing strategies such as banner ads on popular websites, video ads on YouTube, search based ads on Google and other search engines. This as a result gives an effective alternative to traditional communication medium. However, there are certain disadvantages as well. The social media boosts word of mouth. Anyone can talk to anyone regarding a product or a bad experience he had with it. Thus along with the positive side, social media can also lead to brand dilution if any negative image of a company or product goes viral. 3.3Explain how to use digital tools for international marketing purpose The digital tools like social media, email, text messaging, ads on mobile applications, etc have change the way the marketers can communicate with the customers. They are capable of delivering personalized product suggestions and gain much higher exposure from the customers. Web browsing has become an integral part of the modern society. Almost the entire urbanized population is connected to the internet. This as a result has opened up new opportunities for the firms to communicate with a large audience base. Before the inception of the internet the digital communication was only limited to telephonic conversation and text messaging. The digital tools can be utilized effectively by integrating them with customer relationship management system. This system helps to track the purchase behaviour of the customer and allows the firms to advertise products related to the individual preference of the customers. Based on their preference the company can send email to the customers suggesting their favourite products. The mobile applications have now become another platform for advertisements. Several popular ad supported applications are used by the companies to post advertisements in form of banners and videos. Internet has opened up the global business market place where the firms all across the world can communicate with the customers and gain higher footfall. Owing to the popularity of social media, digital marketing has become easier than before (Amit and Zott, 2001). Conclusion The business communication has evolved over the decades owing to the technological advancements. The internal and external communication has improved which as a result has increased the productivity and reduced room for errors. The introduction of database management system has helped the companies to securely maintain the confidential data and at the same time have access it without any hassle. Technology has also changed the way a company runs its operations the rise of e-commerce and digital marketing tools has opened up new ways to gain higher footfall. The popularity of social networking has also allowed the companies to reach out to the customers easily. Thus it can be stated that international business communication has improved over the years, thereby improving the sustainability of the business operations. Reference A .Colella,. and C. Miller, Organizational Behavior A Strategic Approach. New York: Leadership Press. 2009. Gefen, D. (2000). E-commerce: the role of familiarity and trust. Omega, 28(6), 725-737. H. H. Baligh,. Organization Structures: Theory and Design, Analysis and Prescription, Heidelberg, New York: Springer Verlag. 2007 J, Wind and V, Mahajan,. Digital marketing: global strategies from the world are leading experts. John Wiley & Sons. 2002 John Lewis Partnership, Its Your Business. in , , 2015, [accessed 29 May 2015]. L. R. Dopson, Underlying Dimensions of Hotel E-Commerce Competencies and the Predicted Immediacy for their Inclusion in Hospitality Curricula from the Hospitality Educator’s Perspective. Journal of Hospitality &d Tourism Education, 2008. Vol.17 issue 1, pp. 22-32. R, Amit and C, Zott, Value creation in e‐business. Strategic management journal, vol.22 issue 6‐7, pp. 493-520, 2001. R. French and Rayner, Organizational Behaviour. 6th ed. Norwood: Artech House. 2011. R. Stokes, eMarketing: The essential guide to digital marketing. Quirk eMarketing. 2011. S. Bate, Strategies for Cultural Change, 4th ed. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. 2008. Z. Zhou, E-commerce and information technology in hospitality and tourism - Page 199, 4th ed. London: Thomson Learning. 2009 Read More