Building Quality Organisation - Assignment Example

BUILDING QUALITY ORGANISATION Name Institution Instructor Date Contents Introduction 3 Question 1 3 Organization of Ford Motor Company 3 Classification of Ford’s organizational structure 4 Complexity 4 Formalization 5 Decentralization 5 Organisation’s present structure characterised using Mintzberg's 5 Effectiveness of organizational structure in achieving its goals 7 Evaluation of organisation’s effectiveness 9 Structural problems and organisational issues 10 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction Ford Motor Company is a United States based and global automobile manufacturer. The company has its headquarters at Deaborn, Michigan. Its products are manufactured and distributed across six continents. Ford was founded by Henry Ford in 1903 and the company went ahead to introduce the T-model as its first model in the market in 1908. This company is the largest American based automobile manufacturer with more than 180,000 employees globally. The automotive brands for Ford include Lincoln and Ford. Ford Motor Company is among the listed companies in the New York Stock Exchange. The ford family is among the shareholders and the controllers of the company (Geyer, 2011, p. 112). Question 1 Organization of Ford Motor Company The organizational structure for Ford Motor Company’s is largely dependent on business needs that are experienced in various conditions across the global market. The organizational structure of a company describes the configuration associated with organizational components as well as their interaction systems. The personality and character of an organization are defined through its values as is demonstrated by the Ford Motor Company. The organizational structure of this company is characterized by a participative system of communication. In the case of Ford Motor Company, there is a direct relationship between the organizational structure and the market condition of the automotive industry at the global level. The international associations of Ford Motor Company determine its key requirements in the organizational structure (Cunliffe and Luhman, 2012, p. 75). Additionally, such components are expected to withstand market risks and global market competition. In this case, the position of Ford Motor Company as one of the largest automobile manufacturer based in the United States demonstrates the effectiveness of its organizational structure. In addition, the effectiveness of this particular organizational structure supports it in its continued growth in business as well as enhancement of its performance. The structure of organization in Ford Motor Company finds its basis on the need for control and taking charge of operations in accordance with the market conditions at regional level. Markets that belong to one region have some common features used as grounds for facilitating regional structuring. The main components of Ford’s organizational structure include the regional geographic groupings, corporate hierarchy and global functional groupings (Jones, 2010, p. 83). Classification of Ford’s organizational structure Complexity There is clarity with regard to the chain of command that flows from the Chief Executive Officer to deputy presidents to directors of various departments and employees. The reasonable level of centralization is Ford’s organisational structure permits for its flexibility in the sense that employees enjoy the freedom of giving opinions. However, the power to make ultimate decisions is exercised by the top-level management. Formalization The formalization aspect of the Ford’s organisation structure plays a major role in enabling the team of top-level management to come up with regulations, responsibilities and procedures for others staffs and employees with the organisation. Formalization is an important aspect in understanding the relationship between operating requirements and the operations in a given organisation. Decentralization Decentralized organizational structures require the shifting of authority in relation to certain decision-making processes and responsibilities from the top-level management to various departments within an organisation. The implication of decentralization is that the top-level management still reserves the right make decisions that influence operations in other departments. Certain responsibilities may be delegated to individual employees, but the management in most cases makes the central decisions. Question 2 Organisation’s present structure characterised using Mintzberg's Mintzberg (2009, p. 107) observes that Mintzberg's model of organisation structure is widely applied in strategic management of large organisations. This model is also associated with organizational and strategic processes that occupy a critical place in organisational structure of an organisation such as Ford Motor Company. Considering complex analysis in relation to contemporary organizational structures, the organizational structure of Ford Motor Company is largely a professional bureaucracy. Cunliffe and Luhman (2012, p. 75) argue that the structure of an organisation could be built from the interplay of strategies in the organisation and the environmental factors that affect the organisation. When such factors are integrated, they lead to the formation of an organisation that performs in an effective manner. However, if there is a failure in integrating these factors, there is a higher likelihood that the organisation will experience serious structural challenges. Various organizational structures could be associated with the different attributes and features of the organizations in question. Further, Cunliffe and Luhman (2012, p. 82) note that there are a deeper understanding of the strategies and objectives of an organisation allows for ease of classification of the organisation’s structure. The type or organizational structure adopted by Ford is the professional organisation, which requires bureaucratic procedures. In this case, there is decentralization of decision-making process and a high level of specialization. The existence of this type of organisational structure enables Ford to experience enhanced efficiencies in its operations since the staff and workforce have considerable power and autonomy. Mintzberg (2009, p. 254) explains that the structure of an organization can be defined in relation to three fundamental aspects. These include the main part of an organization that plays a key role in the determination of its achievements or failures. The second one is the central system that is expected coordinate the main techniques used by the organization in executing its operations. The third one is the decentralization that demonstrates the level that an organization incorporates subordinates in the process of making decisions Figure 1: Main elements of an organisation Question 3 Effectiveness of organizational structure in achieving its goals The facilitation of the effectiveness on an organisation towards the achievement of its goals and objectives is largely dependent on the flexibility of its structure. Aquinas (2010, p. 204) indicates that an organisation’s structure plays an important role in the provision of organizational framework in many aspects. The establishment of an organizational structure causes it to act and function as a framework with the ability to facilitate or constrain managerial operations and activities. The achievement of goals and objectives in an organisation are enhanced through organisation’s structure in the sense that the structure provides a formal picture of its capabilities. In the case of Ford Motor Company, the horizontal aspect of the organizational structure aims at the achievement of objectives through ensuring effectiveness through the departments within the organisation. Bhattacharyya (2010, p. 241) observes that another way through which the structure of an organisation can facilitate the achievement of its objectives is by facilitating coordination. In this case, the structure acts as a link that brings about integration and coordination among the operations and activities across departments within the organisation. Additionally, it leads to the establishment of clear-cut associations and linkages between various departments and assists in bring appropriate and agreeable balance in their different roles. The operation of the structure at Ford facilitates the attainment of its goals through facilitation of the division of roles and responsibilities within the organisation. The creation of various departments is aimed at ensuring the division of and specialization of work in an orderly manner. The effectiveness of the organizational structure at Ford in allowing for the achievement of its strategic direction places more emphasis on means focus in comparison ends focus. This strategy is informed by the need to achieve optimization in the organisation’s resources and processes. Organisations are involved in selecting processes and resources that they find appropriate in the execution of their operations. Allocation of work and responsibilities is done in accordance with the experience and qualification of the human resource (Yajima, 2006, p. 129). This kind of structural arrangement ensures that individuals are scheduled to handle roles and tasks for which they are best suited. Question 4 Evaluation of organisation’s effectiveness The approaches to organizational effectiveness are associated with merits, which play an important role in evaluating and enhancing organizational effectiveness. One of these approaches is the goal attainment whose merits the ability to rationalize the objectives of an organization. Coninck (2008, p. 176) argues that the goal attainment approach is founded on the mechanistic organizational view. In addition, the merits of this approach are based on the assumptions that organisations are entities that are guided by logics, plans and objectives. An organization uses the merits in this approach to carry out an effective evaluation of its operations and activities and assist it in the accomplishment of its predetermined objectives. Goal attainment approach places a lot of emphasis and focus on the outcome of organizational process and activities. These organizational approaches to effectiveness consider effectiveness in relation to internal performance and objectives of an organization. Some of the typical factors associated with goal-attainment include the maximization of efficiency and profit. The other approach whose merits are important considerations in the evaluation of organizational effectiveness is the resource systems approach. Kazmi and Kazmi (2008, p. 193) explains that the development of this approach finds its merit in its ability to respond to organizational objectives. Further, the approach is capable of highlighting the challenges and issues experienced in systematic and structural components of an organisation. This approach allows an organisation to receive inputs and take part in the process of transforming and generating outputs. The resource system approach is more concerned with inputs than the outputs within organizational systems. In this case, organisations are considered entities whose operations are aimed at their survival where organisations are made of subsystems that are interrelated in one way or another. The balanced sore card and strategic approach to evaluation effectiveness, which are the approached employed by Ford, consider the efficiency of an organisation as involved in the fulfilment of the demands and requirements of various departments. Ford considers balanced score card in its approach towards the evaluation of its organizational effectiveness. According to Coninck (2008, p. 181), the balanced score card approach is also involved in the assessment of and satisfaction of multiple strategies within and without an organisation. The merits of this approach are ideal for Ford Motor Company since it is concerned with reliance on the responses that are made in relation to demands for the company products. Question 5 Structural problems and organisational issues Ford motor company is faced with various organizational issues as well as structural problems. Such issues and challenges have led to the existence of poor profitability where the company experience loses in relation to several automobile lines. Another structural problem at the Ford motor company is the one arising from the use of a single source for components. This makes it difficult to boost its competition and compete strongly against other competitors. Aquinas (2010, p. 352) observes that the sources of components and power of supplier is something that has proven to be a major organizational issue in most auto companies including Ford motor company. These organizational challenges manifest themselves in different ways. Presently, the buying power that is wielded by Ford is of a significant margin as compared with the suppliers of its other components. Most suppliers of components rely on contracts that have few automotive firms. This implies that the structural functionality of the production process at Ford has the ability to cause dramatic results and influence on the stability that describes the chain of supply. Yajima (2006, p. 103) observes that a company that is founded and guided by strong organizational structures is beneficiary of enhanced communication, a properly structured hierarchy as well as the ability to formulate a common goal for the. Kakabadse, Bank and Vinnicombe (2004, p. 261) indicates that an efficient structure of an organization prevents the existence of problems that could immensely contribute to internal conflicts and loss of productivity. In order to introduce and uphold a strong and effective structure in a company, it is important to identify organizational issues and address them immediately. Conclusion Organizational structures play an important role in the understanding of the relationship that links various elements and departments. It is from the functionality of an organizational structure that an organization is able to run its operations. Theories and models of organizational structure such as the Mintzberg's theorem are critical in characterizing and describing the major components in organizations such Ford Motor Company. This description allows for the enhancement of effectiveness of the evaluations processes with organizations. Further, a deeper understanding of the structure of an organisation facilitates the process of addressing organisational issues. References Aquinas, P. G. (2010). Organization structure and design: applications and challenges. New Delhi, Excel Books. Bhattacharyya, D. K. (2010). Cross-cultural management texts and cases. New Delhi, PHI Learning Ldt. Coninck, J. (2008). Planning, monitoring and evaluation in development organisations sharing training and facilitation experiences. New Delhi, SAGE. Cunliffe, A. L., & Luhman, J. T. (2012). Key concepts in organization theory. London, Sage. Geyer, G. (2011). Ford Motor Company: the greatest corporate turnaround in U.S. history. [Place of publication not identified], Gerhard Geyer. Jones, G. R. (2010). Organizational theory, design, and change. Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice Hall. Kakabadse, A., Bank, J., & Vinnicombe, S. (2004). Working in organisations. Burlington, Vt, Gower. Kazmi, A., & Kazmi, A. (2008). Strategic management and business policy. New Delhi, Tata McGraw Hill Education. Mintzberg, H. (2013). Simply managing what managers do and can do better. Robbins, S. P., & Barnwell, N. (2006). Organisation theory: concepts and cases. Frenchs Forest, NSW, Pearson Education Australia. Yajima, M. (2006). Management and organizational strategies of utility companies: experiences and lessons in foreign utility companies. Tokyo, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry. Read More

Formalization The formalization aspect of the Ford’s organisation structure plays a major role in enabling the team of top-level management to come up with regulations, responsibilities and procedures for others staffs and employees with the organisation. Formalization is an important aspect in understanding the relationship between operating requirements and the operations in a given organisation. Decentralization Decentralized organizational structures require the shifting of authority in relation to certain decision-making processes and responsibilities from the top-level management to various departments within an organisation.

The implication of decentralization is that the top-level management still reserves the right make decisions that influence operations in other departments. Certain responsibilities may be delegated to individual employees, but the management in most cases makes the central decisions. Question 2 Organisation’s present structure characterised using Mintzberg's Mintzberg (2009, p. 107) observes that Mintzberg's model of organisation structure is widely applied in strategic management of large organisations.

This model is also associated with organizational and strategic processes that occupy a critical place in organisational structure of an organisation such as Ford Motor Company. Considering complex analysis in relation to contemporary organizational structures, the organizational structure of Ford Motor Company is largely a professional bureaucracy. Cunliffe and Luhman (2012, p. 75) argue that the structure of an organisation could be built from the interplay of strategies in the organisation and the environmental factors that affect the organisation.

When such factors are integrated, they lead to the formation of an organisation that performs in an effective manner. However, if there is a failure in integrating these factors, there is a higher likelihood that the organisation will experience serious structural challenges. Various organizational structures could be associated with the different attributes and features of the organizations in question. Further, Cunliffe and Luhman (2012, p. 82) note that there are a deeper understanding of the strategies and objectives of an organisation allows for ease of classification of the organisation’s structure.

The type or organizational structure adopted by Ford is the professional organisation, which requires bureaucratic procedures. In this case, there is decentralization of decision-making process and a high level of specialization. The existence of this type of organisational structure enables Ford to experience enhanced efficiencies in its operations since the staff and workforce have considerable power and autonomy. Mintzberg (2009, p. 254) explains that the structure of an organization can be defined in relation to three fundamental aspects.

These include the main part of an organization that plays a key role in the determination of its achievements or failures. The second one is the central system that is expected coordinate the main techniques used by the organization in executing its operations. The third one is the decentralization that demonstrates the level that an organization incorporates subordinates in the process of making decisions Figure 1: Main elements of an organisation Question 3 Effectiveness of organizational structure in achieving its goals The facilitation of the effectiveness on an organisation towards the achievement of its goals and objectives is largely dependent on the flexibility of its structure.

Aquinas (2010, p. 204) indicates that an organisation’s structure plays an important role in the provision of organizational framework in many aspects. The establishment of an organizational structure causes it to act and function as a framework with the ability to facilitate or constrain managerial operations and activities. The achievement of goals and objectives in an organisation are enhanced through organisation’s structure in the sense that the structure provides a formal picture of its capabilities.

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