Designing Adaptive organizations

Abstract

The entire organizational process is geared towards transforming a given input into a productive output that clients can value. A core element of this process is departmentalization. It helps define the exact role each employee in an organization by subdividing the work into well defined communicating units like customer, product, functional, geographic and matrix. This paper answers the three questions related to a specific business scenario of departmentalization that involves a manager and a prospective employee in a fast-food restaurant.

Spade describes the role of a cashier as a demanding one that involves multi-tasking, quick analytical skills, attention to detail and customer focus. The cashier needs to ensure that the customers get their chosen order on time and have the ability and presence of mind to deal with various kinds of customers. So, it is an amalgamation of the three major techniques of ‘combining tasks’ into ‘natural work units’ with an end goal of ‘establishing client relationships.’ In the video, Spade says it involves ‘juggling’ that is considered to be metaphorical by the college graduate Lelaine Pierce (Winona Ryder). He not only talks about the job role clearly but also describes the various challenges in simple and straightforward terms. The cashier needs to have a ‘strategy’ that incorporates the essential qualities of ‘persistence’ and’ intensified effort.’ An action plan that uses the correct people and available resources in the correct time period is the main challenge a cashier faces. The plan falls under the broad realm of planning and decision making. According to Koontz and Weihrich (2006),” Aspiring managers should carefully analyze their strengths, weaknesses, and motivations before choosing their career paths.” (p. 182).

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The cashier’s position is a line position. They are directly involved in maintaining the brand value and the client base of the food-food restaurant through the sale of the product, which is food here. Unlike a staff position, where the employee is viewed as a mere business expense, in the line position, they are an asset to the organization they work for. In the video, Spade instructs the cleaner to work faster. It is only in a line position that an employee has the authority and power to instruct workers. They ‘run the entire show’ and get paid more than their counterparts.

Therefore, in the context of business, in a staff management position, the employee is expected to play a support role and be a good resource for someone in the higher chain of authority and command. By contrast, in line authority, the employee themselves are a part of and form the chain of command. Keeping in view the ‘proximal’ and ‘distal’ goals of the organization, they are primarily involved in goal setting and achieving these long term and short term goals by giving their subordinates needed orders and advice to run the organization efficiently and profitably.

The atmosphere in the restaurant is one of organized chaos. Prioritization of work, keeping customers happy by ensuring the quality of food is good and the service is prompt irrespective of the type of customer like the drive through kinds or the kids on bikes are the main challenges in this specified example. Three departmental subunits are working together to ensure the business succeeds. They are the ‘function,’’ customer,’ and ‘product’ units. It involves executing quick decisions, motivating coworkers to keep the momentum going and prioritize work goals. The atmosphere is characteristic of a well-balanced business model that involves multiple departmental units constituting the staff personnel reporting to a single line authority. A specified horizontal and vertical organizational structure with clearly defined goals will always run smoothly.

There is an organizational process that has been developed and worked on, for example in this case, over a period of six months, to establish an organizational structure that suits all the employees in a particular business unit or organization, irrespective of them holding line or staff positions.

Reference

Koontz & Weihrich (2006). Essentials of management, 182.

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