The Structuring of the Organization - Essay Example

The Structuring of the Organization Introduction Structuring an organization in a way that enhances the realization of the set goals and objectives is a procedural undertaking that requires the involvement of all stakeholders involved. There are numerous variables to account for, each of which uniquely contributes to the final outcome of any given project that a firm is designed to undertake. Industry trends are critical to account for at every level of planning made towards a given project. Specifically, the car industry exhibits dynamism in every aspect that influences it. Cultural, social, economic, and political trends affect the car industry, just like any other industry in the business sector. Establishing a successful car factory in the car industry must account for prior, current and possible future trends in the car industry. Planning and implementing a project that would make it possible to realize success in operations and performance must significantly counter or fundamentally actualize counter measures of the possible problems that the car factory is likely to face, relative to the performance of the entire industry. In such a pursuit, leadership must be critically positioned in every aspect of the industry in order to minimize problem effects and enhance the success of the business. There are variant problems that the car factory would face in the industry, but leadership should be availed to combat all underlying problems. Problems in the Car Factory and the Application of Leadership Styles High competition Different industries across the globe are characterized by stiff competition between the firms that make up such industries. Business enterprises within the industry setting engage each other in stiff competition for a significant market share that favours the continuity of the business aspects of every single enterprise (Robbins, Judge & Sanghi, 2009, p.218). The competitive advantage of a firm is determined by a number of factors, all of which are influential in the market. The objective to satisfy consumer needs is relative to product qualities and pricing policies. Consumer tastes and preferences must also be accounted for in the competition process, since the ultimate concern is to be in business by engaging consumers to buy. High competition in the car industry is a problem due to the already established businesses in the same line. Existing firms are often preventative of the market, and they try to make the environment unfavourable for new entrants. Setting up a car factory cannot fail to consider this aspect of competition. In order to effectively tackle high competition problems, leadership practices and more specifically certain leadership styles must be integrated into the planning process, as well as one the project is implemented. Transactional leadership style can effectively counter high competition problems (Schriesheim, Joshua, & Scandura, 2009, p.616). This is due to the fact that this leadership style is result-oriented, and there must be a superior authority to manage the seriousness of the matter. Currency Exchange In any given business undertaking, currency is a critical component. Businesses must be tailored towards flexibility in relation to currency concerns. Currency markets are hardly static, meaning that they keep fluctuating from time to time (Iversen, 1998, p.108). Taking into the account the dynamism of currency markets and currency values, establishing a new enterprise that is of high magnitude like a car factory calls for critical evaluation of currency exchange. The value of currencies can favour or threaten the operations and performance of the factory. The Australian dollar exhibits high values relative to other major currencies across the globe (Srivastava, 2003, p.69). High currency values in the place of factory establishment poses a significant challenge in relation to production costs. The cost of production and running factory operations would be high in the industry. Effectiveness and efficiency of production would be an effective measure to account for this problem. To do so, transformational leadership would play a significant role. There would be a need to inspire and work with every single person on board for better results. High cost of production translates to difficulties in export activities. Labour Costs The structure of the labour market in the industry of interest cannot fail to be considered. Every aspect of the factory should be fitted with a suitable workforce that understands every aspect of the duties and responsibilities that need to be undertaken. While this may not be a problem, creating a labour force may by itself prove to be a challenge. This is due to the variant factors that influence the labour market from within and without. Knowledge and skills may be readily available, but capturing the most suitable of these may be a significantly hard undertaking. The labour market is influenced by both demand and supply of labour, subject to the number of key employers involved. Due to government regulations and influenced from labour unions, there may be instances of minimum wage requirements to be adhered to (Bolden, 2011, p.259). Over and above this, to draw the most relevant labour force may be costly. Consider that this factory is a new entry into the industry. In this regard, the factory would need a labour force that is experienced, and one that can enhance the competitiveness of this new entrant. Luring knowledgeable and skilled labour force must account for transfer advantages if the labour force is to be derived from the already existing firms. Employing a labour force that is not yet tested would be critical risk to take, given that the business is a new firm in the industry. On the same note, employing a new labour force would have to incur training costs in order to equip this force with the interests and qualities of the enterprise. In this regard, whatever means of adopting labour force is chosen, labour costs would be significantly high. Consequently, the effect of this would be transferred to the production costs. To account for this problem, the leadership would have to design and implement mechanisms tailored towards reducing production costs. The factory cannot function, operate, or perform without the labour unit. This means that no matter the cost of labour, setting operations would have to account for such labour costs. Participative and delegative leadership are two critical leadership styles that could account for this problem (Iles & Feng, 2011, p.41). Playing collaborative roles and decentralization of authority would ensure that every single member of the labour force is equally responsible and accountable, thereby meeting extensive duties at the same cost. Supplier Problems and Low Sales during Financial Difficulties There is no single business enterprise that can claim to be self-sufficient. There are observable chains of interdependence realized between businesses. This is especially so in relation to supplier activities for the realization of business aspects that enterprises engage in. Suppliers are crucial players in the undertaking of businesses, ensuring that the parties they serve are in adequate supplies. The suppliers on the same note are dependent on their business counterparts, without whom they would not engage in business. On the other hand, high sales constitute the primary objective of businesses. It is from sales that all the other variables are captured. Revenue generation and profitability are accounted for from sales volumes (Collins, 2003, p.202). However, realizing the desired volume of sales may constitute a significant challenge especially in the event of financial crisis. All these combined can pose serious operational and performance threats to the car factory in the industry. Dealing with other business players in the industry requires stern measures to ensure swift flow of events. In this regard, autocratic leadership style suitably applies. Authoritarianism enhances relationship between internal and external parties to the business, and further directs the turn of events in business. In the account of financial difficulties, participative leadership would realize positive results through collaborative efforts to counter the underlying problems. Knowledge Transfer Different players in the various industries engage in practices that benefit the internal and external stakeholders. In this context, knowledge transfer would be critical to engage in relative to the other firms in the industry. However, knowledge transfer is static in nature, so as to minimize the event of new entrants challenging the existing firms. The car factory must be highly characterized by technological creativity and innovativeness, a scenario that highly gives rise to improved knowledge levels in that line. Knowledge transfer is not an easy undertaking due to secrecy of already existing firms in releasing information that pertain to the way they run their operations and engage in production (Sarros & Santora, 2001, p.96). The bid for every single firm to dominate the industry would result in slow knowledge information, a scenario that is likely to affect the car factory negatively. This is in terms of accessing and gaining industry knowledge, as well offering the knowledge the stakeholders in the car factory has. Transformational and participative leadership styles would critically enable effective knowledge transfer by enhancing relations between leaders and their followers, as well as between the leaders and their colleagues in the same line. These styles of leadership apply in this aspect in terms of enhancing leader-leader collaboration across the industry. On the same note, this realization can come in line with fair competition and responsible marketing across the factories that make up the industry (Bushe & Kassam, 2005, p.164). References Bolden, R. (2011). Distributed leadership in organizations: a review of theory and research, International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 251-269. Bushe, G. & Kassam, A. (2005).When is Appreciative Inquiry Transformational? A Meta-Case Analysis, The Journal Of Applied Behavioral Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada. Collins, D. (2003). The branding of management knowledge: Rethinking management “fads.” Journal of Organizational Change Management, 16, 186-205. Iles, P. & Feng, Y. (2011). Distributed leadership, knowledge and information management and team performance in Chinese and Western groups, Journal of Technology Management in China, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 26-42. Iversen, M. (1998). Competitive Advantage through Intrafirm Synergie, Copenhagen Business School: Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy. Robbins, S.P., Judge, T.A., & Sanghi, S. (2009). Organizational behaviour (13th ed.), New Delhi: Doring Kindersley pvt. Ltd. Sarros, J.C. & Santora, J.C. (2001). The transformational-transactional model in practice, Leadership and organization development journal Vol.22 No.8. Schriesheim, C.A., Joshua B. W., & Scandura, T.A. (2009). A meso measure? Examination of the levels of analysis of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) School of Business Administration, University of Miami, USA, The Leadership Quarterly 20 (2009) 604–616. Srivastava, M.K. (2003). Transformational leadership, New Delhi: Macmillan India Ltd. Read More