Week 2 Application Assignment: Nicole Palacios

The “Note on Organizational Design” article written by Lorsch provided an excellent background and description of organizational design despite having being written so long ago (over 35 years).  With this particular piece in mind, I decided to interview an executive magazine editor about her experiences with the designs of her current and former employers’ organizational design and the elements involved in each.  She indicated that the integration methods amongst organizational units differed greatly at the companies, and the descriptions of pooled integration, sequential integration, and reciprocal integration as described by Lorsch were consistent with her experiences (pp. 5).

She explained that at company “X,” the larger of the two, there was a distinct need for constant collaboration between specific units, such as: product or project manager, the art department, and editorial. She provided an example of creating and launching a newly designed website. They would begin with a meeting where everyone would share their ideas, comments, and concepts for the new site. From there, the project manager would devise a plan of action and dates of delivery from each team. At these meetings, the art department would present several mock-ups of the site’s design and functionality. Managers would then discuss the pros and cons, and settle on a layout. From that point, the project manager would work with designers, developers, and analysts to achieve the goals set forth by these other departments. The executive editor’s responsibility from that point was to have her editorial staff write new content for the site, update old articles, and then begin the rigorous and time-consuming process of tagging images, uploading content, etc.

Though the launch of the website was at times frustrating, it was a rewarding process to see transpire. The success usually depended on the project manager, and how well of a plan she had developed. The key to this organization was that the CEO and executives had a clear definition of each department, they knew their employees, and frequently tried to motivate them with simple incentives like nightly dinners, a stocked snack machine, and free soft drinks. They were effective in their work because of a well laid-out plan and the realization that constant integration amongst all units was important in their environment.

For the new design and launch of a website for company “Y,” her experience was much different. The CEO did not have a clear a vision of the direction he wanted to take his team, and the hesitance in each decision he made created insecurities within departments. Meeting after meeting would take place with tangents in conversation taking up too much time, the CEO interrogating the ideas of the group with a pretext that he was “merely trying to understand” the person’s point, and the inability to determine what task each unit should undertake. Thousands of dollars spent on these efforts and when it finally came time to launch, it was a disaster. Since the CEO would not delegate or take the reigns in the project of actually launching the site and creating a structure for it, the lack thereof created chaos. The executive editor, having had the most experience in this type of arena, ended up having to scramble to find temporary employees to help fulfill the high demand of the work required (i.e. tagging, uploading images, etc.).

It was clear by the end of the interview which of the two companies the woman felt had a better organizational design. Company “X” had a leader who trusted the ideas and work of his employees and believed they would carry out the goals of the company. The CEO understood that the “three-way fit between an individual’s psychological makeup, the nature of the task he or she is performing, and the organizational design, the individual will the motivated to perform that task effectively” (Lorsch, p. 3). He had devised a system of management hierarchy that worked, as the subunits all performed greatly when integrated.

Based on what was presented during the interview, it seems that the CEO of company “X” definitely had a better concept of the six organization shapers that Galibraith discusses in “Designing Organizations.” The shapers include: buyer power, variety and solutions, the internet, multiple dimensions, change, and speed – all of which apply to a website whose ultimate purpose is to be current, functional, appealing, and profitable. Furthermore, the CEO served as a guide to help the units make a decision, and he didn’t necessarily make the decision for them.

The metaphor that Morgan describes in “Nature Intervenes: Organization as Organisms” is substantial in the sense that it helps to illustrate that a business is more than just a business. The concepts of human resources, the needs of the employees, and outside forces are all major considerations in producing a thriving business.  It seems the CEO of company “Y” failed to recognize the need for processes that provided structure, make employees feel worthy, and to see the environment with which he had created wasn’t a positive one.

 References

Galbraith, J.R. (2002) Designing organizations: an executive guide to strategy, structure, and process. (pp. 1-8).

Lorsch, W. (1975) Note on Organizational Design. Harvard Educational Review. (pp. 1-21).

Morgan, G. (1998) Images of Organizations: Executive Edition. (pp. 35-67).