Types of Organisational structure
The below discussion has revealed the importance of different kinds of Organisational structure with their advantages and disadvantages. The key Organisational structure which are discussed in this study may include functional, divisional and matrix Organisational structure. Besides this, the concept of contemporary management has been discussed which is totally different from traditional management. It has been determined that contemporary management utilizes modern business techniques to manage different aspects of an Organisation. In order to understand the concept of management in a broader sense, two different kinds of management styles have been revealed to make sure that employees are managed properly in an Organisation. Hence, authoritative and participative management styles have been discussed with their merits and demerits (Elsaid, et al., 2010).
On the contrary to this, the term strategic management has been discussed in the later part of the report to determine its importance for an Organisation. In addition to this, strategic objectives of HeySuccess have been discussed to reveal the importance of perfect strategies for the betterment of an Organisation. The whole work is divided into three different tasks which are closely relevant to the different concepts of management to understand its importance in the success of an Organisation.
An effective Organisational structure helps to determine how activities like task allocation, supervision and coordination are directed to attain the Organisational goals with an ease. Different Organisations have different goals and objectives and to attain these goals, each Organisation adopts a different kind of Organisational structure as per its suitability and size. There are different kinds of Organisational structure in which some of them may include functional Organisational structure, divisional Organisational structure and matrix Organisational structure (Anand and Daft, 2007).
Functional Organisational structure
A functional Organisational structure is a kind of hierarchical Organisational structure in which individuals are grouped on the basis of their area of specialization. All these individuals are guided and supervised by their respective functional manager with expertise in the same arena (Anand and Daft, 2007). Under this kind of Organisational structure, people are subdivided as per the function they perform at their workplace. The Organisational chart of functional Organisational structure begins with president which is followed by vice president, finance department, sales department, administration department and many more (Drury, 2007).
Divisional Organisational structure
A divisional Organisational structure is a very common type of Organisational structure in which an Organisation is sub divided in two different kinds of units called divisions. These groups are self managed as divisions contain complete set of functions. It is extremely flexible because it can also be broken down into product, market and geographic structures (Steinhäuser, 2013).
Matrix Organisational structure
The matrix Organisational structure is an amalgamation of two or more kinds of Organisational structure. The amalgamation is really very helpful to attain higher efficiency and easy market adaptation. Also, this kind of structure is helpful for those kinds of Organisations which are dynamic in nature (Dugdale and Lyne, 2010).
Functional Organisational structure
Advantages
- The company enjoys several benefits of specialization due to the presence of ample of talented individuals.
- Managerial efficiency is enhanced by doing the same work again and again which ultimately increases profits (Lewis and Trevitt, 2007).
Disadvantages
- Conflicts may arise when the interest of one department is contrary other departments.
- Ignorance of Organisational objectives as individuals lay more importance to their departmental objectives (Lewis and Trevitt, 2007).
Divisional Organisational structure
Advantages
- Assignment of authority and responsibility is easier in this Organisational structure.
- This approach allows decision making to shift downwards in an Organisation which enhances Organisational capability to respond to local market conditions in an appropriate manner (Ghuman, 2010).
Advantages and Disadvantages of Each Organisational Structure
Disadvantages
- Conflicts among divisional heads may impact the profitability of company.
- Each division makes sure to flaunt better performance even at the cost of other divisions which does show the feeling of altruism. As a result, such kind of attitude hit the interest of a firm as a whole (Ghuman, 2010).
Matrix Organisational structure
Advantages
- This kind of Organisational structure is extremely helpful for multi project Organisations.
- Also, matrix Organisational structure helps to encourage democratic leadership style which helps to make quick decisions with an ease (Anan and Daft, 2007).
Disadvantages
- This Organisational stricter is quite expensive as it includes huge overhead cost.
- The amalgamation of two kinds of Organisational structure is difficult to balance as it requires higher level of interpersonal skills (Combe, 2014).
Contemporary management is a kind of managerial skill that makes use of modern techniques to conduct business operations in an appropriate manner. In other words, contemporary management refers to the kind of management that occurs in the present as this management cannot be perceived as the management in the past. This means that the contemporary management can be defined as the new, current and recent paradigm in the field of management (Jones and George, 2007). For instance, the way a textile company was running 100 years ago is totally different from today as they use contemporary approaches of management in the modern business era.
Contemporary approach of management is further classified into systems theory and contingency approach. In this regard, systems theory is a set of interdependent sections which are arranged in a manner that brings a unified whole. This is subdivided into open and closed systems in which systems that are not influenced by the environmental factors come under closed system while systems that interact with their environment comes under open systems (Hamilton, Mitchell and Mangan, 2014).
On the contrary to this, contingency approach states that each Organisation is different and faces different circumstances and hence, they need different ways of managing the issues. Some of the best managers’ tools which are used in contingency approach may include personal evaluations, team building exercises, thorough conferences and many more. In nutshell, it can be stated that contemporary management is based on teamwork so that employees can work in unity (George and Jones, 2016).
Management styles are approaches or methods which are used by managers to manage an Organisation or group of individuals in an Organisation. In this regard, two management styles may include:
The Authoritative Management Style: This management style is also regarded as visionary style of management as its foremost objective is to provide long term direction and vision to employees in order to enhance their productivity. In this, employees get clear cut vision of the future happenings which help them to avoid any kind of chaos and ambiguity (Nieuwenhuizen, et al., 2008).
Advantages
- Employees get clear vision as well as direction.
- The manager is supposed to have firm but fair behaviour.
Disadvantages
- Employees do not get appropriate guidance which makes them to feel underdeveloped.
- Employees do not always follow their manager’s vision if they do not have faith in it.
The Participative Management Style: This kind of management style is also regarded as democratic style of management as the main objective of such kinds of managers is to encourage commitment and consensus among all the employees working in an Organisation. This style also encourages employees to participate in the process of decision making and get reward as a motivation in case of a successful input (Hamilton, Mitchell and Mangan, 2014).
Advantages
- It helps to create steady work environment with an ease.
- Staff has credibility that ultimately helps to create a better workplace.
Disadvantages
- Close supervision is needed due to lack of competency.
- Employees are needed to be coordinated to get more benefits of this kind of management style.
Strategic management can be defined as set of strategies which are used by managers in order to attain better performance as well as competitive advantage for their firm. It can also be defined as number of decisions and actions which are taken by managers with the main aim to determine the outcome of a firm’s performance (Zafar, Babar and Abbas, 2013). It is a continuous process that analyses and controls the business to evaluate its major competitors and frame strategies to deal with them effectively. In other words, strategic management is an effective process of building capabilities that help an Organisation to frame great value for customers, shareholders, society and various other stakeholders to operative properly in highly competitive market (Sadler, 2003).
Meaning of Term ‘Contemporary Management’
In this regard, Michael Porter provided four key elements that are important to consider while framing an effective corporate strategy. These elements may include SWOT analysis, ethical points of an Organisation, the opportunities and threats of industry and societal as well as various other stakeholder’s expectations. Apart from this, Henry Mintzberg stated five basic approaches which ate popularly known as 5P’s that are really helpful in improving business strategies. These five approaches may include strategy as plan, strategy as pattern, strategy as position, strategy as ploy and strategy as perspective (Cole, 2003).
This shows that strategic management of an Organisation consists of corporate strategy as well as business strategy which ultimately help in maintaining the strategies of a firm with an ease. Therefore, strategic management is the kind of management of a company’s resources in order to attain its goals and objectives. This may include setting of objectives by analyzing the competitiveness of environment and evaluating company’s strategies to attain its major goals effectively (Sadler, 2003).
The chosen Organisation is HeySuccess which is a small platform to allow huge opportunities to study abroad. This Organisation helps students and newly graduates to search international opportunities overseas in order to help companies and Organisations to recruit the world’s brightest and the most talented individuals. Basically, HeySuccess is the first global marketplace to let students find and go for international career building opportunities as per their skills and eligibility.
Also, it allows Organisations and famous companies to hire from globe’s biggest traffic of student talents. Basically, the company was scouted by UK trade and investment and came to London as winners of the UK government Sirius Programme in November in the year 2014. After that, the start-up grew constantly to 100,000 registered users and 11,000 student programs. To attain its recruitment objectives and give jobs to its students, it has worked with 35 international Organisations, universities and companies.
Strategic objectives for HeySuccess may include:
- Develop and frame exposure to major global topics and perspectives throughout the curriculum across all the graduate colleges and programs.
- Foster the establishment of small workshop opportunities with the main aim to promote the formation of globally focused courses to encourage students to study abroad and polish their skills. This would become possible by increasing students’ competitiveness for international study scholarships (Sadler, 2003).
- Encourage language focused interaction between language students and students of English as a second language at UK. This would help to promote the hosting of co curricular events in languages other than English.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the concepts like structures and characteristics of Organisations have been discussed. In this regard, three kinds of Organisational structures have been elaborated to understand the importance of each structure. The above discussion has also recognized the principles of modern management by getting the better understanding of modern management. Apart from this, the above discussion is extremely helpful in identifying the relationship between strategic objectives, functional management and the business environment. On the other hand, the term strategic management has been discussed to get a broader understanding of effective strategies for the success of any Organisation.
In nutshell, the business start up plan of HeySuccess has been discussed which is a company that enable students to apply for international career formation opportunities to get better education and jobs. In order to understand the business tactic of company, some of the common strategic objectives have been recommended to help it to attain its business objectives in a better manner. The overall discussion has revealed the significance of effective management for the success of any Organisation and it has been given in the above section that how each management style is helpful in creating healthy workplace with an ease.
References
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