Management & Organisation in Global World-Samples for Students

Questions: 1.Yves Morieux claims that structure follows strategy. Is this always the case? 2..Whats your understanding of holacracy? How would you describe it compared to bureaucracy and team-based structure? 3.Discuss how Contingency Factors of Organisational Design are at work in the case of Zappos? 4.In what ways do you think Innovative culture is related to (agile) Organisational Structure? Answers: Introduction The first activity of the report deals with the topic of whether or not organisational structure follows organisational strategy. The suggestions and ideas developed by Yves Morieux are taken into consideration and analysed thoroughly. It is seen that in most cases this statement is true considering the aim of an organisation. The second activity sheds light on the fact the report that provides the news of abolition of bosses in Zappos. The idea of holacrarcy is analysed and the ways by which the employees of Zappos undertake the transition is reported. Furthermore, the relation between innovative culture and organisational structure is established. 1.From the statement made by Yves Morieux, it can be said that structure and strategy of an organisation are essential for its success. In order to formulate a proper strategy, every organisation needs to maintain its structure (YouTube.com 2017). Without a proper structure, managers cannot formulate strategies. This is because the managers will remain unaware of the people in the organisation and the productivity that is derived from them. Apart from this, the analysis of the marketing factors, internal and external factors are also required to be formulated based on the structure. However, it can be said that a badly organised structure can lead to poor strategies. This is because of the fact that if employees remain confused about the people to be reported in the organisation then the strategies cannot be formulated or executed. Hence, it can be said that it is important to set up a good organisational structure before attempting to formulate strategies (Robertson 2015). Apart fro m this, other reasons also exist for the proper structuring of an organisation. Managers need to ensure that the strengths and weakness of the organisation are well understood. This is because without a proper understanding of internal factors, plans to eliminate the threats from external factors cannot be done. Sorensen and Stanton (2013) stated that the external and internal factors are important for the success of an organisation. These two factors prove to be the most important threat while setting up a business. An organisation with a proper hierarchy and a management system can eliminate these threats easily than an organisation with poor management skills. This is because the strategies can be formulated based on the resources and capabilities of an organisation. Hernandez-Ortega, Serrano-Cinca and Gomez-Meneses (2014) compared the structure of an organisation with that of a human structure. If the human structure is incorrect, it becomes difficult for the person to work in an efficient manner. This similar scenario can be faced by the organisations. Improper guide or lack of ability to understand resources can lead to the fall of an organisation. Hence, after analysing the potential pitfalls and understanding the statement made by Yves Morieux it can be said that the following of str ategy after a structure is justified. This is something that every organisation needs to adopt. A proper structure is an utmost strategy that an organisation needs to adopt before formulating ways to execute further strategies. 2.According to Bernstein et al. (2016), holacracy is considered as a managing technique that focuses on experimentation. The authority and decision-making related to an organisation are distributed equally among the team members. This can be related to bureaucracy and team-based structure in a way. This is because of the fact that the power to take important decisions is done among the teams, as the roles adopted by the employees do not match the job description. In the case of bureaucracy, the state officials take the decisions that are important for the success of the country. In the case of a team-based approach, the managers view the decisions provided by the team members. Based on that, the decisions are accepted. Hence, it can be said that the success of an organisation depends upon the decisions taken by the team members. However, this is not always the case in most organisations. 3.In the case of Zappos, it can be seen that the organisational design provided flexibility to the employees. The flexibility was provided to the team members to make independent decisions. However, there had been a contingency plan in case of failure of decisions. This included the transition of mentality from non-holacracy to a holacracy situation. About six to nine months period was required in order to make the full transition. The people, however, are not fired unless they perform extremely poorly or violate any organisational laws (Vox.com 2017). The record is maintained through GlassFrog software that enables to keep in track every action of the team members. Thus, the contingency plan is effective in order to understand the ways by which employees can be controlled by the organisation. 4.According to Cummings and Worley (2014), innovation is essential to gain a competitive advantage over the rivals. In the case of Zappos, innovative products can help it to become the number one online brand in the world. In this regard, the relation between innovative culture and organisational structure can be established. Innovation is possible only if the higher authority supports the idea (Willis et al. 2017). In this regard, if the managers of Zappos are supportive enough, then innovation can take place in the organisation. The encouragement of innovation needs to be the basis of an organisational culture upon its establishment. Thus, the relation between the culture or practise of innovation and organisational structure need to be established from the base itself. Conclusion Thus, it can be concluded that organisational structure is an important factor in determining the culture and success. From the first activity is seen that certain factors contribute to the success of an organisation. The formulation of strategy before the establishment of structure can have positive as well as negative affect. The second activity establishes the fact that innovation needs to be part of an organisational culture. For a company like Zappos, it is an important part in order to remain competitive. The fact that a major decision regarding the relaxation from bosses is made can be a huge step for the company. Reference Bernstein, E., Bunch, J., Canner, N. and Lee, M., 2016. Beyond the holacracy hype.Harvard Business Review,94(7/8), pp.38-49. Cummings, T.G. and Worley, C.G., 2014.Organization development and change. Cengage learning. Hernandez-Ortega, B., Serrano-Cinca, C. and Gomez-Meneses, F., 2014. The firm's continuance intentions to use inter-organizational ICTs: The influence of contingency factors and perceptions.Information Management,51(6), pp.747-761. Robertson, B.J., 2015.Holacracy: The revolutionary management system that Abolishes hierarchy. Penguin UK. Sorensen, L.J. and Stanton, N.A., 2013. Y is best: How Distributed Situational Awareness is mediated by organisational structure and correlated with task success.Safety science,56, pp.72-79. Vox.com (2017).Zappos just abolished bosses. Here's why.. [online] Available at: https://www.vox.com/2014/7/11/5876235/silicon-valleys-latest-management-craze-holacracy-explained [Accessed 22 Aug. 2017]. Willis, C., Riley, B., Lewis, M., Stockton, L. and Yessis, J., 2017. Guidance for organisational strategy on knowledge to action from conceptual frameworks and practice.Evidence Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice,13(2), pp.317-341. YouTube.com. (2017).Organization Design: BCG's Yves Morieux on organization and competitive advantage. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm7d1dzOKmw [Accessed 22 Aug. 2017]