Concepts of Organisational Structure - Essay Example

Case study on Pfizer Contents Concepts of organisational structure 3 Pfizer structural implication 3 Theory of leadership style and behaviour 5 Pfizer leadership style and behaviour practiced by senior directors 6 Strategic or innovation plan for change management & organizational effectiveness 7 Conclusion 9 References 11 Introduction The structural approach to change and transforming teams, organisation and individuals from present state to an expected future state for achieving and implementing strategies and vision is called change management. This organizational process helps the employees to embrace and accept change in the business environment. Change is natural and useful thing. It happens in all the companies and for this reason it has become a part of the company’s strategy. Change is initiated from external sources for social, technological, political and economic factors. In some cases change initially becomes painful but in the long run it leads to the betterment of the organization. Change management is also known as alteration. This case study shall explain about the change management, leadership style and organizational structure of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. It is one of the successful pharmaceutical companies of the world operating its business approximately 180 countries of the world. The firm was founded in 1849. Presently it has around 110600 employees. The strong vision of the company helps it to operate its business worldwide. This American multinational company produces medicine for animals and human. The leaders of this company are very effective and they run the organization in an efficient way. They played an important role in the development of the company. The firm hire good and quality staffs that innovate and develop strategies to achieve the goals of the Pfizer. The company experienced many acquisition, divestitures and mergers. The change management of this firm has improved the organisational structure of the company. Pfizer’s organizational management system experienced many changes which helped the company handle many situations which can even lead to break up of the company. The organizational goal of the company is to deliver its commitments to its customers by maintaining transparency in its activities. Concepts of organisational structure Efficient operation of the business is based on its organizational structure. The routine of the company is set by its structure. It helps to determine how the firm will make and implement decisions for performing its various tasks and activities. There are many types of organizational structure like functional, flat, geographical, product, matrix and divisional organizational structures. Divisional organizational structure is mainly implemented in big companies which operates business in a large geographical area. This structure is expensive because of its scope and size. In functional structure each part on the company is grouped according to the work. There are many departments where employees work as per there specific functions. Matrix is a high breed organizational structure. It is mixture of functional and divisional organizational structure. This type of structure is mainly used in the big multinational companies. The small companies use flat organizational structure which has less numbers of management levels. The firms which are mainly focused on its product lines follow product organizational structure. This is mainly found in the retail stores which are located in multiple locations. The companies which are present in the different parts of the world often established such an organizational structure according to the geographic area for providing better services. Pfizer structural implication The operating structure of Pfizer initiates the steps in innovating and revitalizing the organisational structure of the company. It enhances different values of the company. The firm’s structural implications help to achieve greater independence, responsiveness and focus into the business. The organizational structure of Pfizer contributes a lot in its development process. Its structural implication is explained through various ways. The company maintains a high level of work specialization (Mathew, 2014). It hires excellent employees who are highly qualified. These employees innovates many new things within the organization which helps to build and develop networking. For work specialization critical thinking capabilities develops in the employees which creates an impact on Pfizer’s strategies formulations. The company have specific departments for various types of jobs based on their functions. The employees of the company having same job role and functions work in the same departments. Pfizer have different functional job groups which leads to efficient performance of work and the firm achieve its target in a short span of time. The company has made many functional departments by outsourcing resources. The strong chain of command of Pfizer makes the management process of the organization easy. Its chain of command is followed by three steps like authority, responsibility and unity of command. From upper organisational level to the lower levels the authority is extended in this structure. The manager of Pfizer tells the employee about their duty and job role and expects them to perform that. The acceptance of the authority shows the willingness of the subordinates. A sense of responsibility develops among the employees which unite them together to perform their job. Unity of command is an important part of the management principle. Each and every employee has to follow this by reporting only to their managers. The structural implication of the span of control helps to determine the number of managers and employees of Pfizer can effectively and efficiently manage different tasks of the organization. It is an important concept because it gives an idea about number of organisational levels and managers required in Pfizer (Economic Administration University of China, 2003). This firm is characterised with decentralised organisational structure. The lower level employees have a huge contribution in the decision making process of the company. Pfizer has highly educated employees with low formalization. This process means the degree to which Pfizer is standardised and the extent of rules to guide the employees. In this company the employees has much freedom in their work. Theory of leadership style and behaviour Leadership is an important part of the management process. The leaders of the organisation contribute a lot in the growth and development of the organisation. There are theories on leadership style and behaviour which creates a positive impact on the skill of the leaders. The trait theory of leadership focuses on specific characteristics and traits of the individuals which helps them to lead (EPA Export, 2013). The leadership traits are present in behaviour, intellectual and physical characteristics of individuals. There is a strong connection between success and these leadership traits. The behavioural theory of leadership is concerned with the behaviour of the individual leaders. This theory focuses on promoting the value of the leadership styles. The theory emphasizes on the decision making, team development, importance towards the employees and encouraging collaboration by combining the group and the individual objectives. The situational theory mainly deals with developing the capacity of the people to work in different working condition in order to suit the management style according to the situation. The path goal theory emphasizes on the power and influence of the leadership behaviour towards its employees. Figure 1: Leadership Style Pfizer leadership style and behaviour practiced by senior directors Pfizer leadership style consist of the team of the executive leadership which is considered to be the senior most and top level leadership and the capacity of decision making management system. The main aim or focus of Pfizer is bringing together the top leaders of the company in order to provide importance on the strategic, financial and operational decisions of the company. The structure is mainly formed in order to capitalize the opportunities that are available for the advancement and development of the business by entering into partnership with the important and the potential customers, gaining and acquiring the support for successfully introducing the new medicines, by entering into licensing agreements and also co promotional activities and investment in the new and innovative technologies in order to add value to the basic and important products and obtaining and attaining various new services and products from outside the company (Bryant, 2011). The board members and the employees of Pfizer at each and every level of the organization are mainly dedicated towards improving the reputation that is responsible for conducting the business practices ethically. Pfizer mainly adopted the strategy of job outsourcing. This outsourcing is the result of the good leadership of the senior directors of Pfizer and Jordan Cohen. The leadership plays an important and effective role in framing the mission and vision of the organization. Pfizer follows a leadership style which is coaching style this type of style mainly emphasizes on developing the performance of the individuals in order to achieve the goals and the objectives of the organization, Coaching style mainly focuses on the professional enhancement. Pfizer mainly focussed on providing high value for the work that is performed by the employees in the organization. The leaders of Pfizer have implemented the strategy of job outsourcing that is not considered as a common approach that is adopted by the other organizations. The leaders of Pfizer have adopted this strategy in order to provide greater level of satisfaction for its employees. It has mainly focussed on the renewal, development and growth in order to develop and enhance the performance of the employees of Pfizer (Joni, 2010). The coaching style of leadership is followed by the senior managers of Pfizer in order to develop the creativity of the employees. The behavioural aspect of Pfizer is that the senior leaders of the organization mainly considers and provides high importance increasing and developing the morale of the employees in the organization and also increasing the productivity level of the employees in the organization. Therefore it can be concluded that the coaching style of leadership that is advocated by Cohen is supported by the entire organization (Swindell, 2011). Strategic or innovation plan for change management & organizational effectiveness The change management is considered as the most effective and systematic approach in dealing and handling with the changes that are related to the perspective on the individual as well as on the organizational level. The successful adaptation towards the change is considered as an important and crucial aspect within the organization. The organizational assessment of Pfizer in relation to the strategic planning of the organization and carrying out the various examination for the future development of the company and the industry results in the development of the various organizational and strategic agendas which will help in shaping and designing the future of the company. Cohen has strongly contributed towards the change of the management which is very fruitful for the organization. This can be analysed and interpreted from the fact that the changes that is adopted in the organization and the employees of Pfizer were being supported and helped by Cohen in order to build and develop the potentials of the employees on the organization. The innovative and strategic approach that is implemented in the organization is termed and regarded as the starting area for Pfizer to get rid of its traditional systems and methods of work. Pfizer emphasized on its magical button in which all the issues relating to the action plan of the organization leads to the development and increasing the productivity of the employees working in the organization. The plan mainly includes providing flexibility to the employees to work in different countries and in different working environment, the second plan includes that the employees of Pfizer will be allowed to work from their home, the third plan facilitates the retired employees of Pfizer to get engaged by carrying out part time work in the organization. Concerned areas Aims Activities Responsible Person Time Period Employee productivity augmentation Employees from different ethnicity can work for Pfizer. Flex location HR 6 months probation period Employee productivity augmentation Work from home facility to be provided Home work program HR 6 months probation period Employee productivity augmentation Retired employees can be invited to work on part time basis Phased retirement HR 6 months probation period Therefore it can be observed that the action plan can be termed as a new and innovative technique. Thus it can be concluded that Cohen have adopted the job outsourcing in revolutionary manner which will enable the organization to implement the changes in the organization and developing the organizational effectiveness (Armenakis and Bedeian, 1999). Conclusion Change in the management and the organizational structure is required by each organization. Pfizer has adopted in doing new and innovative things that is different from that of the other organizations and it will add to the value of Pfizer. The change management is considered as an important strategy adopted by the organization. The change in the management in case of Pfizer has led to the increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of the organizational structure of Pfizer as the combination of the primary and the secondary market research that is conducted by Pfizer has facilitated the senior management of Pfizer in making decision for implementation of new strategy for the organization. References Armenakis, A.A. and Bedeian, A.G., 1999. Organizational change: A review of theory and research. Journal of management. 25(3). pp.293-315. Bryant, A., 2011. A Blueprint for leadership: show, don’t tell. [Online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/business/amy-schulman-of-pfizer-on-demonstrating-leadership.html. [Accessed 1 January 2015]. Economic Administration University of China., 2003. Basic organizational design. [Online] Available at: http://www.eauc.hk/show.asp?id=295 [Accessed 1 January 2015]. EPA Export, 2013. Leadership team. [Online] Available at http://www.epa.ie/licences/lic_eDMS/090151b280122d40.pdf [Accessed 1 January 2015]. Joni, S.N., 2010. Getting beyond the corporate culture at Pfizer. [Online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/18/pfizer-corporate-culture-david-simmons-leadership-managing-innovation.html [Accessed 1 January 2015]. Mathew. J., 2014. Constant organisational changes at Pfizer UK hurt morale, employees complain. [Online] Available at http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/constant-organisational-changes-pfizer-uk-hurt-morale-employees-complain-1448157 [Accessed 1 January 2015]. Swindell, M., 2011. Leadership in practice. [Online] Available at: http://leadership-effect.com/articles/leadership-in-practice-swindell/ [Accessed 1 January 2015]. Read More