Leading Change Analysis
University of Phoenix
Leading Change Analysis
Introduction
When it comes to diagnosing if a company succeeds or not, it takes more than their sales numbers, their stock price and new products. Sometimes it takes looking deeper into the heart of the corporation, and understanding the organizational structure and culture it represents, the difficult political standings of senior executives, the power structures that are set up to keep the company successful, the most effective way to lead the company and how it would deal with its several inevitable conflicts. In this analysis, the fictional corporation of Good Sport is examined and each of these topics is explained. …show more content…
"Organizational structure refers to the division of labor as well as the patterns of coordination, communication, work flow, and formal power that direct organizational activities."(Mcshane & Von Glinow, 2005, 446) What kind of structure does GS represent? When considering the structure of a particular company, there are several aspects at which to look. Is the structure formalized (where the product is adhered to based on exact standardizations, much like McDonald's) or non-formalized (where every product is made to specification at that time, or customized)? Does the company have centralized power (where the power and information is in the hands of few at the top of the hierarchy) or decentralized power (where the span of control is spread over many seniors and leaders)? How about a balance of both? Is the company mechanistic ("Some companies, such as McDonald's, have a mechanistic structure, which is characterized by a narrow span of control and high degree of formalization and centralization."(Mcshane & Von Glinow, 453-454)) or organic ("it has a wide span of control, decentralized decision making, and little formalization. Tasks are fluid, adjusting to new situations and organizational needs. The organic structure values knowledge and takes the view that information may be located anywhere in the organization rather than among senior executives."(Mcshane & Von Glinow, 454)? Further, how are the employees departmentalized? In the case of good sport, it is a mixture of many of the available options. Although the concepts did change throughout the simulation, the main structure of the company was a mixture of mechanistic and organic functional departmentalization. This means that there is standardization to the way things are, and while some of the power stays at the top, it is given out to distribute power. This increases morale and helps keep managers happy. This is