Importance of Organizational Design & Structure

VALUE AND
CONTRIBUTION TO
ORGANIZATIONAL
SUCCESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1 Importance of organizational design theory and relation to organizational structure.......3
M1 Apply appropriate theories and concepts to evaluate importance...................................5
D1 Recommendations for improving sustainable performance.............................................5
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................5
P2 Different approaches and techniques used by HR for skilled and motivated workforce.. 5
M2 Different approaches and techniques for motivation.......................................................7
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................7
P3 Research to support emerging HR developments.............................................................7
M3 Effect of emerging HR practices on role of HR in the future..........................................9
D2 Judgement and conclusion supported by synthesis of knowledge and research information.
................................................................................................................................................9
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................9
P4 Change management and its adoption by the organization and the relation between two.9
M4 Different types of changes.............................................................................................10
D3 Evaluation of complex relation between organisational design and change management.10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
For an organisation to succeed, efficient mangers and leaders along with a sound
organizational structure is necessary for an organisation. This helps in successful execution of
the strategies formulated and it helps an organization in achieving success. Marks and Spencer,
which is a British MNC has been taken as a reference for understanding the importance of
organization structure. This report highlights the importance of organizational design and
structure and their relation to each other. Further, this report also highlights the change
management and how it impacts the HR department emphasizing their importance.
MAIN BODY
LO 1
P1 Importance of organizational design theory and relation to organizational structure.
Organizational design is a concept that goes beyond the decor and interior of an
organization. It can be defined as a process or plan whose purpose is to integrate people,
information and technology in the formal environment of business. The quantum of the tools
implemented along with their quality is also a major thing to be kept in mind while formulating
the organizational design (Ferenczi, 2018). This helps or assists the organization in achieving the
set targets and aims. Organizational structure on the other hand signifies the hierarchy of the
company i.e. the communication pattern that is adopted y the organization. An organization's
structure is formulated in synchronization with the working environment and the power
distribution i.e. authority levels. Two major types of organizational structure are functional
structure and divisional structure. The organizational design theory has extreme importance as it
helps the organizational structure in :-
Dealing with contingencies :- It helps in effectively controlling all the different factors relevant
for the organizational development like quantum of skilled employees, loyalty of customers etc.
so that the company can increase its control over market.
Gaining Competitive Advantage :- The management of every organization aims to create
competitive advantage and for this purpose, they try to design their organizational structure
accordingly to achieve this purpose by implementing organizational strategies.
Creating Diversified Workforce :- the higher the diversity level of employees in an organization,
higher is the level of planning that they require and thus organizational structure gets affected
accordingly.
3

To understand the importance of organizational design in reference to organizational structure,
observation of work environment and work culture of Marks and Spencer company can be taken
as an example.
Marks and Spencer Group Plc is a British multinational company having its
headquarters located in Westminster, London. It is an international retail giant and their
specialization is mainly in clothing of the premium sector, food products and home products.
Due to the global presence of organization in various countries across different markets, the
operations of the company are spread at a wide scale (Agrawal and Rahman, 2015). To manage
and integrate all such operations collectively, they have adopted Functional structure as their
organizational structure to maintain and run the business successfully. This helps the
organization in linking all the activities of entire organization as well its branches. The major
decision makers in the company are CEO, President, Vice President and Board of Directors.
At Marks and Spencer, all the departments are completely aware and have complete
knowledge regarding the activities and decisions made by them. This helps in taking decision
accordingly which support the activities of all the departments and avoids any clashes or
duplication of activities. Despite having stores internationally, the strong design along with the
structural balance that exists in the company can be observed by the level of satisfaction that the
employees of Marks and Spencer exhibit. This successful integration of technology along with
the structure i.e. hierarchy of the company has assisted decision making in the company at every
level (Song and Parola, 2015).
Some major factors which influence inter relationship of organizational design and
structure are as follows :-
Size of Organization :- The larger the operations of the businesses, the wider its size will be.
And the wider size requires an increased level of authority. The higher levels of authority might
bring redundancy in organization as involvement of employee in the decision making reduces
and thus innovation level also falls. To avoid this, the organization should decentralize the
authority levels so that the speed of work can be increased (Dale,Kingma and Wasserman, 2018).
Life cycle of Organization :- There are various stages in the life cycle of any organization. At
different stages, the tactics that need to be adopted to successfully deal with those challenges are
different. The management of the company need s to change its methods accordingly at regular
4

interval so that the redundancy in the organization can be avoided. This also encourages smooth
flow of activities in the organization.
Strategy :- Strategy signifies the various plans and techniques formulated or devised to
implement the required changes in the organization. The strategy also affects the working of the
organization crucially as the design and the structure of any organization should be in proper
sync for implementation of any strategy successfully.
There are various theories which are applicable to implement the strategies such as classical and
neoclassical theories. Classical theory will help in integrating scientific aspects with
administration in the organisation and neoclassical will help in implementing authoritarian
structure by giving higher emphasis to human requirement.
Some other aspects that affect inter relationship of organizational structure and design are
environment and technology of the organization.
M1 Apply appropriate theories and concepts to evaluate importance.
The theories related to organizational design are many but the ones which can ensure
development along with sustainability are the important ones. The functional structure along
with different kinds of structure and their importance have been evaluated by taking example of
Marks and Spencer. Their functional structure is strongly backed up by the design of the
organisation which is in sync with the activities going on in the organisation.
D1 Recommendations for improving sustainable performance.
Some practices like giving training to the employees for accepting the changes which are
an inevitable part of the environment, regular development of their practices are certain steps
which an organisation can practice on regular basis.
LO 2
P2 Different approaches and techniques used by HR for skilled and motivated workforce.
Approaches and techniques used by human resources for skilled and dedicated workforce
are following below :
Attracting : For attracting the skilled and dedicated workforce in the Marks & Spencer, the
Human resources team organise the employee beneficial programmes. Through social media
skilled fresh blood would pull in towards the organisation and offering incentivize on employee
referrals to the employees may attract to the workforce in Marks and Spencer. Marks & Spencer
5

's HR team offers clarity, career opportunities and conviction to the workforce and the culture of
organisation is flexible and unique (Song and Parola, 2015).
Marks & Spencer demonstrates a huge Employee culture, whenever a skilled employee
go with the website of the organisation or any web page like Facebook page or any other online
presence the company want to make them think that " I wish to work for the company that
seems like as fun as that." Example : marks & Spencer one of the leading authority in retail
chain. Various approaches used are giving exciting job opportunities and work environment,
giving attracting offers and perks, developing a great company culture etc. which will help in
attracting the employees.
Maintaining: Marks & Spencer 's team create an environment that makes your employees feels
like an asset to the organisation and makes clarity with employee regarding goals and
expectations of company. To retaining the workforce management of Marks and Spencer create
an open environment, provide opportunities to learn and grow.
Marks & Spencer team concentrate on various mentorship programs and also satisfying
their relatability needs, sustainability needs and growth needs. Company also developing the
employee development plans through which employees of the organisation motivates to do their
effective and efficient performance (Dale,Kingma and Wasserman, 2018). Company provide
quality management or supervision to guide the workforce and making a platform for employees
to speak their thought and ideas to the organisation. Company may give bonus and extra money
offered to those who work extra hours. Marks &Spencer create a leadership ladder so employees
came to know what they need to do to move up. By adopting strategies like giving adequate job
security to the employees, personally acknowledging every employee, appreciating and
punishing them according to the work performed etc. are some aspects that help in maintaining a
satisfied employee base.
Developing : Every organisation needs to developing the skilled workforce in the organisation.
Marks & Spencer using the strategies to developing their employees are as follows :
Lateral move : It means an employee takes on different position with the same structured salary
and have similar responsibilities. It provides new skill development to the employee and helps to
developing the employee's skill and knowledge (Schaeffer and Matt, 2016). Some strategies for
development are:-
6

Job rotation : It is the one of the developing strategy in which company provides an opportunity
to move and rotate through various positions. Rotations can be for a day month or may be for a
year.
Promotions : To promote an employee into a new designation is a way to rewarding there
performance and it also develops skills and motivate the employees.
Training and development programmes: Through organising such personal development
programmes can helps to developing skills of the employee's. Programmes like reinforcement,
soft skill development etc.
Rewarding : Rewarding or recognizing the employees for their efforts plays a keen role to the
maintaining a good retention rate (Maskun and Nor, 2018). Some of rewarding methods used by
Marks & Spencer are following below :
Acknowledge great performance : Human tendency have an innate desire to appreciated.
Understanding it and fulfilling this is necessary if you want long lasting relationships .
Token of appreciation : Through providing gift cards like movie tickets, sports event or
concert tickets helps to motivating an employee and performing well effectively manner.
Car rental, Extra holiday time etc are the ways of rewarding an employee. When a
employee's work are valuable and satisfaction and effective productivity rises and employees are
motivated to maintain their motivation or improve their efforts in effective & efficient manner
rewarding or recognition system is essentials. Peoples wants to be respected and valued by their
superior for their contribution towards achieving organisational goals (Vaes,Van Ongevalle, and
Fonteneau,2016).
M2 Different approaches and techniques for motivation.
Some motivation techniques that can be implemented in the organisation are creation of a
positive work environment, recognition of achievements of employees and their performance
improvement. Sharing the profits with them, providing professional improvement are a few more
practices that can be implemented (Banciu and Florea, 2016).
LO 3
P3 Research to support emerging HR developments.
As per the view point of North and Kumta (2018), Human Resource is the key
department in any organization and its formulation and maintenance in the company is very
crucial as it ensures the availability of good and efficient personnel thus keeping the efficiency of
7

the organization at par. Recently there have been many developments in the HR practices and
some of them have been revolutionary in assisting the growth of the organization. The key
developments mainly includes the shift in the perception of the hiring process and also the
mentality regarding activities and functions of HR department and the importance that they have
in the company.
However, Bdewi (2016), criticizes that such trends have led to development of employees
and contributed in overall organizational development but they have also reduced the number of
skilled work force in the company due to adopting outsourcing technique whenever need arises
or other similar practices which are making an increasingly relaxed environment for the
employees which can be detrimental in their overall development.
Some major new trends that have emerged are :-
Outsourcing of Human Resource :- Cheap availability of labour in the countries with high
population rate has given evolution to this concept. Here, a company appoints a third party I.e. an
external party who is assigned with the task of maintaining and managing the entire department
pertaining to a particular set of activities or just a segment of any department (Ferenczi, 2018).
When the activities such outsourced are related to the HR management, it is called outsourcing
of human resource. Theses are usually done in offshore countries like India, China etc. the
readily available labour working at cheap rates helps in saving the cost and increasing
profitability.
Six Sigma Practice :- This technique is very similar to the six sigma technique used in
operational management to reduce the number of defects in the production. Just like that, in six
sigma practice related to the HR department focus is on selection of that personnel which is very
efficient and fulfils the responsibilities of the job role for which he or she is hired. The HR also
needs to identify the fake personification of qualities that any candidate might display to get
selected. This helps in saving the training cost as well as the expenditure incurred in the
recruitment process that is carried out (Mohd-Zainal.and et.al., 2016).
Work life balance :- The recent developments in employee friendly trends like the work form
home facility or the flexi timing option that is given to the employees helps in creating a satisfied
and motivated personnel which is dedicated tower's achieving the organizational goals. The other
trends which have developed like maternity leaves and paternity leaves are also very attractive
for the employees. The organizations adopting such trends become key attraction points for the
8

possible candidates and help in attracting a larger number of them which gives the HR
department a wider option to select from and thus creating a more efficient personnel base.
Talent Management :- This is another key field which has recently emerged and is developing
at a very fast pace (Agrawal and Rahman, 2015). The talent management involves the
identification of the key capability of every employee and thus assigning in the job roles which
are suitable to them and in sync with their abilities. This helps the HR in managing their
capabilities of its employees and thus enhancing the motivation level of the employees and
increasing the retention level. This also reduces the employee turnover rate. The organizations
who know the talent existing in the organization and are capable of tapping the potential in their
employees can excel at very high levels as compared to their competitors (Dale, and et..al.,
2018).
The HR department and its operations also affects the internal as well as external
environment surrounding the business ans help in managing those factors like satisfaction levels
of employees, legal compliance, technological advancement, healthy working environment ,
peaceful and healthy environment etc. This helps in avoiding the dirty politics and biasness that
might creep up in the functioning of the organization.
M3 Effect of emerging HR practices on role of HR in the future.
HR department has various roles like Providing learning and training, support, motivation
and healthy communication to the employees of their organisation. However, the role of the
employees has expanded over time and now they are required to identify the key talents or
competencies of each individual and maintain the talent on the organisation. Also, they need to
regularly update the practices in the organization with changing trends.
D2 Judgement and conclusion supported by synthesis of knowledge and research information.
After going through the above facts, it can be concluded that the role of HR department is
crucial in maintaining any organisation and its employees (Bdewi, 2016). They need to be
properly credited and their importance needs to be realised and they enhance the smooth
functioning of the organisational activities.
LO 4
P4 Change management and its adoption by the organization and the relation between two.
(covered in poster)
9

M4 Different types of changes.
(covered in poster)
D3 Evaluation of complex relation between organisational design and change management.
(covered in poster)
CONCLUSION
After going through the research conducted in the above report it can be concluded that
the design and structure of an organisation are important element s in determining the success of
an organisation. Also, the HR department has evolved over time and their importance has risen
in implementing the organisational practices successfully. Lastly, the Change management, its
various models like Kurt Lewin Model were studied so that their implementation can be made.
10

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Banciu, D. and Florea, M., 2016. Contributions to the Evaluation of e-Learning Processes in
Higher Education. In Challenges, Performances and Tendencies in Organisation Management.
(pp. 117-123).
North, K. and Kumta, G. 2018. Knowledge management: Value creation through organizational
learning. Springer.
Ferenczi, S. 2018. Further contributions to the theory and technique of psycho-analysis.
Routledge.
Mohd-Zainal.and et.al., 2016. VALIDITY AND RELIABILTY STUDY OF LEARNING
ORGANISATION IN NEW ZEALAND MANUFACTURING COMPANIES. Jurnal
Mekanikal. 39(2).
Agrawal, A.K. and Rahman, Z. 2015. Roles and resource contributions of customers in value co-
creation. International Strategic Management Review. 3(1-2). pp.144-160.
Bdewi, aA. 2016. The impact of project management (PM) and benefits management (BM)
practices on project success: Towards developing a project benefits governance framework.
International Journal of Project Management.34(4). pp.761-778.
Dale, K., and et.al., 2018. Organisational space and beyond: the significance of Henri Lefebvre
for organisation studies. Routledge.
Vaes, S., Van Ongevalle, J. and Fonteneau, B., 2016. Civil society contributions to strong social
protection. The role of civil society organisation in developing and maintaining strong national
social protection systems.
Maskun, R. and Nor, N.M., 2018. Digitalisation success in learning organisation: preliminary
outlook. Social and Management Research Journal. 15(2), pp.133-143.
Schaeffer, V. and Matt, M., 2016. Development of academic entrepreneurship in a non-mature
context: the role of the university as a hub-organisation. Entrepreneurship & Regional
Development. 28(9-10), pp.724-745.
Dale, K., Kingma, S.F. and Wasserman, V. eds., 2018.Organisational space and beyond: the
significance of Henri Lefebvre for organisation studies. Routledge.
Song, D.W. and Parola, F., 2015. Strategising port logistics management and operations for
value creation in global supply chains.
11

Online
12

13

14