Organizational Design Programs Analysis: Oldfields Holdings & Thrive

This report analyzes the organizational designs of two companies: Oldfields Holdings Limited and Thrive Refugee Enterprise. It begins by defining organizational design and its importance in improving efficiency and communication. The report then provides detailed overviews of both companies, discussing their operations, resources, and organizational structures. Thrive Refugee Enterprise, a not-for-profit organization, is presented as using a divisional structure to support its mission of providing financial and business support to refugee entrepreneurs. Oldfields Holdings Limited, a long-standing Australian company, is analyzed as employing a functional organizational structure, appropriate for its manufacturing and diverse product lines. The analysis includes a comparison of the two companies' structures, aligning them with relevant theories and highlighting how their designs match their business size, operations, and resources. The report concludes by summarizing the key differences and similarities in their approaches, emphasizing the importance of aligning organizational structure with business goals and operations. The report also includes appendices with organizational charts for each company.

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN PROGRAMS
ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN PROGRAMS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Organizational design is usually defined as the procedure of aligning structure of a
business or an organisation with their objectives aiming on improving the effectiveness and
efficiency of the organisation (Eriksson and Kadefors 2017). Work may be triggered by need
to make positive changes or improve specific process of a business or service delivery as a
result of a mandate which will be new. According to scholars, a good design of an
organisation helps in improving communication, increase innovation and productivity, build a
positive environment for employees to work efficiently (Nel and Little 2015). This paper is
going to create the organizational designs of two companies Oldfields Holdings Limited and
Thrive Refugee Enterprise.
Discussions
According to scholars, organizational structure is very essential for the activities of an
organisation of any business and the expediently chosen structure responds to the existing
issues or problems and meets the things that are required for the strategic view which highly
contributes to the success of a company (vom Brocke, Zelt and Schmiedel 2016). The
organizational designs of the companies will be discussed in the following:
Thrive Refugee Enterprise
Thrive Refugee Enterprise is a not-for-profit organisation, This organisation was
established by important financial banking provided by Westpac, some private donors and
support by major companies like Deloitte, KPMG, Equifax, Allianz and many more
(Thriverefugeeenterprise.org.au 2020). The company is registered as a charitable organisation
with tax-deductible status for the donations it gets.

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This organisation was set up with the aim of providing business support and microfinancing
to the refugee entrepreneurs to start and develop their businesses
(Thriverefugeeenterprise.org.au 2020). The asylum seekers and the refugees intend on
planning to start businesses and by supporting the enterprises established by them, the
company empowers and enables them to become financially independent companies, create
jobs and also to integrate faster in a successful manner and become contributors to the
economy and the society of the country.
The major resource the company, Thrive needs is funding and donations on which the
business usually depends. Without this resource, the company will face a huge loss in the
business as they provide financially help to start-ups and support the businesses to grow and
develop in the market.
Thrive provides loans and various other resources to entrepreneurs and owners who
are refuges or asylum seekers to help them in making their business work successfully in the
market. Many entrepreneurs might not have got the support if they would traditionally apply
for a loan however, Thrive makes their dream happen by providing them loans at a better
interest rate which becomes viable for them.
The resources and the processes are located in Australia and it can be seen from their
description that they are funded by one of the biggest banks, Westpac and from investors and
major organisations like Deloitte and KPMG and from equity investments which are basically
ownership stakes which help Thrive in earning a profit share.
The organizational structure of Thrive can be categorized as divisional structure.
According to scholars, divisional structure is a kind of structure in an organisation which
basically groups every function of the organisation into a division and every division contains
the necessary functions and resources within it which helps in supporting the company

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(Lange et al 2016). The resources of the company are generally managed by the Head of
Credit however the functioning of the company is usually divided into expertise and different
divisions thus the leaders or the managers of each division work independently and self-
sufficiently for the fruitful operations of the business.
Oldfields Holding Limited
Oldfields is considered to be one of the oldest, most trusted and an iconic brand in
Australia for about 100 years. The company was first established in the year, 1916. The
company is famous for manufacturing hand crafted brushes of premium quality however now
the operations of the company has changed and has become an innovative marketer,
manufacturer and innovator of a wide range of products that generally include painting
accessories and scaffolding (Oldfields 2020).
Oldfields is listed as one of the ASX companies and has been popular for their
products that they have been providing to their customers that are of high quality which has
helped in the construction of various buildings in Australia.
Oldfields Company need many resources to operate their business as they
manufacture paint brushes as well as provides scaffolding. The primary resources of the
company are quality craftsmen who produce quality work and other resources like twine,
yarn, horse hair for bristles and good quality wood. The company highly depends on their
suppliers and manufacturers as they are the ones who make these products for the company
which makes the company stand out operate in the country for more than 100 years.
Oldfields is a big company and import their products to other countries like China.
The size of the company suggests that the company follows the functional organizational
structure. According to scholars, functional organizational structure is basically defined as the
structure which is used to organize the employees in an organisation (San Cristóbal,

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Fernández and Diaz 2018). The workers in the organisation are grouped on the basis of the
knowledge and the skills of the employees. The structures of department are usually present
in a verticular order from finance and other departments and these departments individually
help in controlling the resources and the functioning of Oldfields.
Analysis of Oldfields and Thrive
From the information about both the organisations it can be seen that the both the
companies have a different organizational structure and are different in terms of their
operations as well. Thrive is a charitable organisation which has established themselves
successfully in the market however they depend highly on their investors and their donations
in order to generate some amount for the overall operations of the business. It can be seen
that the company follows a divisional structure. Ajagbe (2016) states divisional structure in
organizational structures generally creates a hierarchy in order to increase the effectiveness
and the efficiency of business operations of an organisation. Thrive is seen to operate in this
manner as this company has become a relatively large organisation which engages with many
clients and one of the major and primary resources of the company is funding and donations
by people and thus, it is important for the company to successfully manage the assets and
make sure that the business provides opportunity to people in an efficient manner which will
not only help the business of Thrive grow but also help in developing the business that are
established by refugees and asylums.
On the other hand, it can be seen that Oldfields follows a functional organizational
structure. Oldfields in comparison to Thrive is a bigger company and operates their business
in China as well. The company focuses on manufacturing, exporting and scaffolding which
are important and need different divisions to operate each of the functions carried out by the
company in an effective and in an efficient manner. According to the contingency theory, that

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the company does not have a proper way of managing a company however need to have
optimal course of action based on the external and the internal situation (Grabara and
Siswanti 2019). Aligning the function of this company with the contingency theory, it can be
seen that company follows the management structure proposed in the theory which suggest
that an organisation should have the basic structure which is the size of the company,
technology employed and leadership at every level of the organisation and work according to
the situations that arise.
Conclusion
It can be seen that both the companies Oldfields and Thrive have a different
organizational culture and operate in different ways. It has been seen that the organizational
structure that has been adopted by the companies match the size of the business and the way
the business works. Thrive has a more divisional approach whereas Oldfields is seen to have
a more functional approach because of the different functions and products the company
manufactures which has made the company to create different divisions to effectively manage
the work efficiently. The similarity of both the companies is however that they have
appointed people with efficient knowledge and expertise to monitor the functions of each
department so that the company provides fruitful results to business of both the companies
which will help them in the growth and the development of these companies.

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Reference
Ajagbe, M.A., 2016. Which Precedes the other? Organizational Strategy or Organizational
Structure. International Journal of Economics and Business Management, 2(6), pp.50-66.
Eriksson, T. and Kadefors, A., 2017. Organisational design and development in a large rail
tunnel project—Influence of heuristics and mantras. International Journal of Project
Management, 35(3), pp.492-503.
Grabara, J. and Siswanti, Y., 2019. Business strategy, organizational structure, work
processes: are the alignment?. Calitatea, 20(S1), p.399.
Lange, S., Tăchiciu, L., Pirnea, I.C. and Maier, A., 2016. A case study on effectiveness of
organisational structures under the effect of globalization.
Nel, P. and Little, G., 2015. The future of organisational design.
Oldfields, 2020. More About Oldfields - Proudly Australian Since 1916. [online] Oldfields.
Available at: <https://oldfields.com.au/about/> [Accessed 17 March 2020].
San Cristóbal, J.R., Fernández, V. and Diaz, E., 2018. An analysis of the main project
organizational structures: Advantages, disadvantages, and factors affecting their
selection. Procedia computer science, 138, pp.791-798.
Thriverefugeeenterprise.org.au, 2020. About Thrive Refugee Enterprise | Not For Profit
Organization | Thrive Refugee Enterprise. [online] Thriverefugeeenterprise.org.au. Available
at: <https://thriverefugeeenterprise.org.au/about-us/> [Accessed 17 March 2020].
vom Brocke, J., Zelt, S. and Schmiedel, T., 2016. On the role of context in business process
management. International Journal of Information Management, 36(3), pp.486-495.

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Appendices
Appendix 1
Organisation structure of Thrive
Board of Directors
Victorian
manager
Marketing
manager
Head of
Credit
Business
Development
Officer
Operation
and Risk
manager
Business
Development
Administrator
NSW State
manager
Small Business
analysis manager

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Appendix 2
Organizational structure of Oldfields Holding Limited.
Board of Directors
Technical
Manager
Supply
Chain
Manager
Marketing
Sales and
Manager
Corporate HR
Manager
Finance Control
Manager
Corporate Manager
Distribution
Services
Demand and
Supply Planning
Distribution
Operations
Finance
Controller
Quality Assurance
Manager