Organizational Context and Design in Al Mulla Group

Running page: HRM 1
Human Resource Management
Student’s Name
Professor
Course
Date

HRM 2
1. Organizational Context
Al Mulla Group is a group of companies with an interest in many different fields or areas and
each area forms a particular business line. The Al Mulla Group is divided into various
companies’ portfolios that represent a particular field of interest. Some of the areas that form
division of the company include engineering, insurance, manufacturing, automotive, financial,
education, and healthcare among many others. These fields of interest are further divided into
companies and are spread across 8 countries (Al Mulla Group 2019a).
The organizational element of Al Mulla Group is complex consisting of business lines
and companies or country levels. The company has business lines that represent various
portfolios such as engineering, finance, automotive, rental and leasing, and trading and
manufacturing lines. The company has seven executives that represent and manage various
organizational units. These include the chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief
administrative officer, chief strategy officer, managing director automotive, managing director
engineering and managing director trading, manufacturing, and financial service (Al Mulla
Group 2019).
External factors analysis (STEEPLE analysis)
The major dominant feature of the Kuwait economy is an industrial sector that
contributes a larger percentage of GDP. Firstly, political factors that affect the operation of Al
Mulla Group within Kuwait include freedom from Iraq that largely contributed to the instability
of the country. Secondly, the economy of the country heavily relays on oil production and this
has resulted in a growth rate of 3% from the previous 0.8%. Thirdly, the county is small in size
but due to oil available, many people from a developing country have contributed to its labor

HRM 3
market. Technological factors that determine the operation of Al Mulla Group include
continuous government support for the development of modern technologies in the country. Oil
production in the country is highly increasing environmental pollution to the point of raising
concerns and this was worse during the gulf war where many wells were set on fire. Legal
factors in Kuwait include not labor taxes through another legal requirement must be adhered to.
People in Kuwait uphold high ethical standards and this is evident through numerous ethical
standards practices for various industries (Research and Markets 2016).
The performance measures of the Al Mulla Group are based on the business line and the
management of each business line. Each business line is managed through an executive that is
responsible for the quality of the services provided at the unit. Moreover, executives periodically
report to the senior management formed by executives. According to various reports of the
company, each business line or department has been performing well as evidenced by numerous
MEP awards (Al Mulla 2019a).
2. The historical and theoretical perspective of organizational design
The historical development of the organizational design can be attributed to early
organizational structure theories such as Lawrence Mohr, Taylor, Fayol and Weber that indicated
the importance and effectiveness of organizational structure. These early organizational structure
theorists defined the importance of human relations and the need to recognize employees in an
organization. In addition, historically, by 1960s many theorists saw organization structure as an
outcome of relationship within an organization rather than the design itself. In the 21st century,
Lim Griffiths and Sambrook further proposed organizational structure as an expression of
management strategies and behavior of management joined by employees. All these factors are

HRM 4
influenced by the environment hence the outcome of the organization design. Historically the
organizational designs have changed with time as many theories currently focus on others factors
as determinants of the organizational design and structures. For instance, many contemporary
organizational theorists majorly focus on interaction between people and environment or people
and management (Weber 2012).
Organizational design from the theoretical perspective gives accounts of various theories
that explain the different organizational structures or designs. Firstly, Weber proposes the
Bureaucratic model where the organization is designed with formal rules and procedures that
control the organization or people working within the organization. Secondly, the M-form
organizational theory attempts to explain the various ways through which the organization
manages itself. Examples are U-form and Matrix form where U-form design from a single unit
hence centrally managed while the matrix form is based on combines both multidimensional and
unitary form of organizational design. Thirdly, the mechanistic and organic are two other
organizational theories where the organic form includes a few layers of the organization as
compared to mechanistic form with high organizational complexity. Lastly, hierarchy
organizational design involves many different people leading the organization with a single
leader at every level of management (Crozier 2010).
Various organizational design models show a diversified structure that can be compared
alongside other models. Two examples of organizational models that can be compared are a
mechanistic model and organic model. Firstly, the mechanistic organizational model is
characterized by a central authority as compared to the organic structure that is majorly
decentralized. Secondly, the organic structure shows lots of specialization in terms of the
knowledge sides that is important as compared to the mechanistic structure that highly