An organisation needs a structure in order to achieve successfully its objectives. Businesses are structured in different ways according to the way there operate and according to their culture. The structure of the business can affect the way it works and performs. An ideal structure will enable management to perform in the most effective way, whereas as unsuitable structure can lead to poor morale among employees. It is important for an organisation to have a clear mission and a unifying culture, which no organisation can let the culture to get in the way of change.
Kenwood is also in the cultural environment, which is of constant change and development, indicating that they must keep up with the changes even if it means taking a risk, this is to keep their competitive advantage. They also needs to keep their employees happy, as they are what sell the business and satisfy the customers. As many people are anxious of changes, many of the long-term employees do not like changes in which they work. If changes to the structure and the way in which they work improve Kenwood’s ability to meet their objectives, it must be discussed with the employees so that they are content in helping the restructure to become a success in meeting their objectives.
There are three main structures that an organisation could have: Flat Structure – Organisations tend to be more democratic. There is more likely to be a team approach. E.g. A private shop owner Tall Structure – An organisation that operates with more layers of authority, which is likely to be an authoritarian culture. E.g. A large corporate organisation Matrix Structure – This involves teamwork, which can create a bonding between members of the team and sharing of ideas. Companies that sell and make products usually employ project managers.
Kenwood have a Tall and a Matrix structure, Task culture and a Consultative management style. I am going to explain how these have an effect on the performance of Kenwood and how it helps Kenwood to meet its objectives. The management style, culture and structure of the organisational all interrelate with one another. The Matrix structure helps this by having a project manager who brings people together through the different functional areas. This helps because the different functional areas all co-operate well with each other to get their overall project completed. This kind of working style allows the responsibility to be shared out and the pressure is not just on one individual. The manager working in this style will feel comfortable allow others to make decisions.
Advantages: Kenwood has to ensure that their structure is well formed, this would mean that they will deal better with external factors effecting the organisation such as governments etc. Changes in the external environment will be dealt with and adjusted in a much more efficient way if Kenwood build solid structure and it is in place. In a fast changing environment where for example technology is changing quickly, the matrix structure that Kenwood has will help them to identify opportunities and threats and therefore change.
Aswel as being able to take advantage of a steady environment by being able to identify new opportunities and therefore becoming more efficient overall. However no matter how solid the structure Kenwood are not always efficient and effective at the same time due to constantly changing environments and therefore for a good structure to be successful and for Kenwood to be efficient and effective then a stable environment needs to be present.
A Consultative management style works well with this structure because the manager will consult other members of the organisation that are in the different functional areas with the decision making which would make it a group decision rather than a one person decision. Therefore the whole team are co-operating with each other. The consultative manager would have to carry a great listening skill and also the ability to create the right sorts of channels to consult other workers. This is a great management style because everyone in the team would feel that his or her opinion is valued.
Advantages: Their ideas can be reinforce due to the fact that the project manager would draw upon expertise from various people from different functional area All the staff would feel that their opinion and input is valued This management stlye also help to take the pressure off the project manager as they won’t fell that they are responsible for everything Disadvantages: Due to the fact that the management style consent a large number of people to propose their inputs, this could cause conflict if certain individual consider their ideals to be better then everybody else’s The decision making process could take longer.
Lastly the task culture relates with the structure and management style. A task culture is where people work in teams together to complete projects. This is the same as the matrix structure. All three things include co-operation between the people in the organisation so all three interrelate and work well together. As all three works well together it means the overall performance of the business is the best it can be.
Everyone is working together, co-operating which means everyone is happy in their job which would make the products being produce would have a higher quality which would mean Kenwood would meet their objectives. Culture affects structure because the businesses attitude to workers affects it management style. For instant Kenwood has consultative leadership. This means that operatives are given the freedom to make their own decisions and use their initiative. Successful structures sustain success of Kenwood’s vision, mission and goals. A successful structure assists employees in “getting the job done”, helping them achieving goals set. Depending on the structure or type of structure will have an effect on the level of teamwork within an organisation.
