Hypothetical – Case study for a service business, service plan.

Structure

The most appropriate organization structure, which takes into account rapidly changing the external environment and strategic objectives of the organization, is hybrid structure. 

The benefits of hybrid structure can be reflected through the greater flexibility of the organization as it combines elements of functional, geographic, horizontal or network structure and uses their main advantages.

Daft (2010) emphasizes the critical importance of structural alignment in the organization. The main task of the manager is “to find the right balance between vertical control and horizontal coordination, depending on the needs of the organization” (Daft, 2010, p.125). Vertical control has relation to efficiency and stability, while horizontal control is responsible for learning, innovation, and flexibility. It would benefit Service Plan to become more horizontally focused and increase the level of creativity, learning and innovation within the business in order to help their employees thrive and provide them with more symbolic experiences.

Boundary-crossing

It is highly unlikely that there is no collaboration taking place in any organisation at present – employees are always talking to each other in the office or on the phone, sitting in meetings to discuss particular activities or events, or working together on particular projects or documents. 

However, evidence of subjective collaboration such as this is not the same as being a collaborative organisation; this suggests an underlying culture of collaboration which drives all activity within the organisation. There are three important characteristics that help to define a collaborative organisation, a networked and non-hierarchical organisation structure, A culture of openness, honesty and trust, an engaged and valued workforce. (Caruso, Rogers and Bazerman, 2007).

The collaborative organizational form is the most relevant for Service Plan among other new organizational forms. These types of organizations are focused on collaboration to achieve organizational goals. They are usually based on team-based structure, which provides free flow of information between teams vertically and horizontally. Boundaries between organization units are widened, and they are used for value creation and innovation. a continuous improvement and verification of SERVICE PLAN organization structure leads to agility and achieving the higher level of customer satisfaction.

In a collaborative organisation, personnel are given greater accountability, and are given the opportunity to voice their opinion, to engage with peers and managers and – in so doing – have a say in the way things are done and the direction the company is taking. The result is a workforce that is much more interested in the organisation’s fortunes, that cares whether or not the company achieves its goals, and that feels a collective sense of ownership and involvement in the process of achieving those goals. This empowered workforce has much greater loyalty to the organisation as a result, and so is less likely to churn frequently as individuals seek to gain greater levels of responsibility, or find an employer who better values their commitment.

The current function division of Service Plan is built accordingly to its mission. However, it is necessary to enable the organization to be flexible and innovative with its employees. Elements of the horizontal organization structure may bring flexibility, creativity, and innovations into Service Plan, promote employees’ development and learning. This is very important for the organization as this aspect creates added value for it and increases its performance outcome exponentially and employee’s satisfaction and engagement which in return will benefit clients.

Networking and Outsourcing

Over the last period, the development of international businesses has gradually taken a new course. On the one part, the increase of mergers, and agreements of various types, has commanded the rise of separated firms of knowledge globally. Furthermore, the expansion of new information and technology of communication that “makes it possible to increase the separability, tradability, divisibility and transportability of information” (Antonelli, 1995), has enabled the prospective progress of new modes of structuring and functioning for the firm-network. 

Alliances

Service Plan can benefit by creating a network of firms in the middle east that they can provide mutual benefit with their expertise and implement their organizational culture in the Middle East region and also benefit from talent in the region that is able to advise on rituals and symbolic reframing of change in order to help employees become more engaged with the management (Bolman, 2017). These firms that maybe outsourced or part of a partnerships can provide learning and development, guidance and a network of vast clients to the business in order to promote the culture of collaboration.

Virtual Organization

It is not recommended for Service Plan to move to a completely Virtual Organization as Service Plan needs to have a more traditional approach to handling their clients in terms of selling and media buying and traditional client meeting space in order to present to clients, which is also a traditional approach in the middle eastern culture. activations and touch points that the clients require in order to be engaged with the agency, and because Service Plan is a creative communication agency it will be rather difficult to depend entirely on an E-commerce platform to manage client’s expectations (Kalliny and Ghanem, 2009). Every organization must have some form of virtuality, as it simply cannot rely soley upon it’s tangible assets, and its daily routines. It has to rely upon the people within the organization; their own experiences, knowledge and their own informal communication networks (Shekhar, 2016).

Organizing across borders

It is recommended for Service Plan to invest in an extensive and robust intranet platform and technology in order to promote information sharing, and improve the spread of informal and formal networks within the business and increased internal communication. This innovative practice in the modern world helps reduce overcrowding in the offices, and reduce expenditure, and increase productivity of employees and efficiency. Service Plan may also look at teleworking, where employees have the ability to work in any location with internet connection, hence breaking the temporal and geographical boundaries within an organization reducing the costs of the traditional office space of the business.

References

• Antonelli, C. (1995). The Economics of Localized Technological Change and Industrial Dynamics. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.
• BOLMAN, L. (2017). REFRAMING ORGANIZATIONS. [S.l.]: JOHN WILEY & SONS.
• Caruso, H., Rogers, T. and Bazerman, M. (2007). Boundaries Need Not Be Barriers: Leading and Creating Collaboration in Decentralized Organizations. SSRN Electronic Journal.
• Daft, R. (2010). Organization theory and design. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.
• Kalliny, M. and Ghanem, S. (2009). The Role of the Advertising Agency in the Cultural Message Content of Advertisements: A Comparison of the Middle East and the United States. Journal of Global Marketing, 22(4), pp.313-328.

• Shekhar, S. (2016). Managing the Reality of Virtual Organizations. New Delhi: Springer.