Organizational Structure and Culture: Harrods Case Study Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of organizational structure and culture, exploring their significance and impact on organizational performance. It begins by defining organizational structure and its various types, such as hierarchical, functional, horizontal/flat, and divisional structures, along with their appropriateness for different organizations. The report then delves into organizational culture, including clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy cultures, and their relevance to various businesses. A key focus is the influence of organizational structure on performance, highlighting the benefits of specialization, operational speed, and clarity. The report also examines the impact of organizational culture on performance, emphasizing the importance of a positive culture. Finally, it identifies factors that influence individual behavior in the workplace, such as job responsibility, effective communication, work culture, and recognition.

Introducing the
Modern Workplace

Table of contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Organizational structure and the appropriateness with different organizations................3
Organizational culture and the appropriateness with different organizations...................5
Influence of organizational structure on organizational performances...............................6
Influence of organizational culture on organizational performance....................................6
Factors influencing the individual behavior at workplace....................................................7
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
Shannon Williams 2021. 7 types of organizational structures (+ org charts for implementation).
[Online]. Available through < https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/types-of-organizational-
structures>........................................................................................................................................9

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The importance of the organizational structure for the organization is discussed and the
appropriateness of the structure on the organization is explained. The benefits of the structures
are given for the organization. The organizational structure best suit for the chosen organization
is also discussed. Various structures like the hierarchical and the functional structures are given.
The importance if the organizational culture for the organization is discussed and the examples
of appropriate cultures are given with the organization. Various cultures followed by the
organization is given such as the clan and adhocracy culture. The organizational structure effect
the organizational performances by various factors such as specialization, operational speed and
the operational clarity, these factors positively increase the productivity. The impact of the
organizational culture on the organizational performance is given and the good culture can
effectively increase the performance is stated. There are factors that influence the individual
behaviors at the work place and some factors like job responsibility, effective communication,
work culture and the recognition and acknowledgement is given.
INTRODUCTION
Harrods limited is a departmental store and headquartered at the Brampton road in
Knightsbridge, London, England. The retail shop provide the customers with products like
clothing, electronics, jewelry and pet asseverates. It provides with the quality as well as luxury
goods. In 1824, Charles henry Harrod establish this business in Borough High Street. The report
consist of the organizational structure and its types. The report discuss about the appropriateness
of the organizational structure in various organizations. The organizational culture and its types
are discussed along with the appropriateness of it in different organizations. The influence of the
organizational structure on the organizational performance of Harrods is discussed. The
influence of the organizational culture on the organizational performance of Harrods is been
discussed. Different factors that can influence the individual behavior at the workplace is also
discussed.
MAIN BODY
Organizational structure and the appropriateness with different organizations
The organization structure of the organization provides a guide for the activities in the
organization that are required to be done for the growth and development of the company in the
direction of its aim and objectives (Appice, 2018). The structure includes assigning the roles of
the employees and how that will be beneficial for the functioning of the overall company.

The different types of organizational structures are followed by different organizations such as
the following ones:
Hierarchical organizational structure
It is followed by the software development and information technology. In this type of
structure the commands are followed from the higher authorities like the CEO as well as the
manger to the lower levels like the employees (Lee and Edmondson, 2017). This structure helps
he organization by:
 Defining the roles and responsibilities of the employees at each level.
 The employees are provided with supervisors that help them to coordinate with different
officials for different projects.
 Helps in motivating the employees for the better career path as well as career options.
 Improves the relationship between the employees in the departments.
Functional organizational structure
It is followed by the insurance companies and engineering firms. This structure is similar to
the hierarchical organizational structure. The responsibilities are distributed from the higher level
that goes down to lower level employees. The employees at the organization are set according to
their skills and the functioning if the company. The structure provide the company with:
 Helps the employees focusing on their job.
 The skills and the specialisation are encouraged.
 The teams of the departments are self-determined.
 Can be put in any size of the organisation.
Horizontal/flat organizational structure
It is followed by the Valve that is a gaming company, it is fit for the companies that have less
number of levels from the higher to the low level employees. This structure encourages the
involvement of the employees (Alsulami, Premnath and Aljaghtham, 2021). The structure
provides with:
 More responsibilities on the employees.
 Encourages open and clear communication.
 The coordination in the organisation in the company is increased and the new ideas are
implemented early.
Divisional organizational structure
It is followed by Samsung group. This structure involves the controlling of the resources by
the divisions of the company, the division work like a company of its own within the main
organization. Good for large organization. The divisions are provided with its own marketing
team, sales team and the IT team. The employees have to report few senior. Allows the company
to:
 Helps in being flexible.
 Give quick responses to the changes.
 Improve the customer services and independence.

Organizational culture and the appropriateness with different organizations
The organizational culture is the values, beliefs, expectation, vision, customs and attitude
of the organization and the employees with the external environment and the future development
of the company. It impacts the employees and the groups communicate with one another,
customers and the stakeholders (Dubey and et.al, 2019).
Types of organizational culture:
Clan Culture
This culture is people focused and treats the employees like a family. The culture
promotes collaborative work and the employees are valued. Communication is kept at the top
priority. The culture welcome changes and is action oriented. Blue Cloud Ventures follow clan
culture. This culture helps in improving the employment engagement. This culture increases the
market growth of the organization. Helps in flexible working at the work place (Zhang, 2017).
Adhocracy Culture
This culture is focused in the innovation. This culture helps in high profit of margins and
promotes the individuality of the employee. The creative ideas of the employees are encouraged
and made to bring at the table. The culture involves the risk taking. The companies following this
culture need to think of the idea that are rare and innovative. The culture focus externally and
differentiation category. The ideas are allows made in alignment to the market growth along with
the company success. The employees stay motivated and the professional growth is improved in
this culture. Companies like Google follow this culture.
Market Culture
This culture in the company focuses on the profitability. The employees are provided
with the roles and responsibilities that align with the growth of the company. The company have
different levels between the employees and the seniors. The culture is result oriented and the
external success is prioritized more than the interior satisfaction. The culture gives importance to
meet the goal and targets of the company for the results. This culture are able to again profit due
to market culture. The companies like Bluecore follows this culture (Zhang, 2017).
Hierarchy Culture
The hierarchy culture follow the traditional corporate culture. The culture focus the
internal organization and provide the company with a clear command chain. The culture consist
of the multiple management levels between the employees and the leaders of the company. The
culture provide the employees with the ways of particularly doing things and that leads to the
stable environment. The clear process is followed that directed towards the main objective of the
company. The companies like Amazon follows this culture.
Influence of organizational structure on organizational performances
Adopting an effective organizational structure for the company is a necessity for the
success and development (Muthuveloo, Shanmugam and Teoh, 2017). The functional
organizational structure of Harrods affects the performance in many ways:

Specialization
This structure allows the employees to be grouped in a department according to their
skills and the specialization this helps the company to attain the competence. This helps the
organization to maintain the several functions within a single department. The structure ensures
that the issues are handled and resolved by the highly expert professionals that help in the
satisfaction of the customers and their retention. This helps in improving the performance of the
organization and help in the growth.
Operational speed
The benefit related to the specialization in the organization is the process of doing the
work. The specialized employee is able to perform the specific role in less time than the ones
with less experience and skills. The specialized employees of the company are able to train the
new employees at the faster rate too, this help in the faster productivity rate and improved
performance.
Operational clarity
The division of the employees according to the skills and specialization helps the
employees to have clarity about the work they need to complete. The tasks and the
responsibilities are divided in the functional structure, this helps in eliminating the
misunderstanding among the staff members. The duplication of the assignments can be avoided
that waste the time and the money. The efforts are directed in meeting the company’s goals and
objectives. This helps the management to use the appropriate employees in their best positions
for the work. The clarity in the work helps in modifying the performance better (Kurstak, Wilber
and D’Souza, 2018, June).
Influence of organizational culture on organizational performance
In Harrods, the culture of organization have varying impacts on organizational performance.
Organizational culture plays primary function in modelling the behavior and performance of the
firm through the collective efforts of individual members of the organization. The culture of
Harrods is well maintained by superiors that it helps in achieving the goals of organization in
better way. In organizational culture of Harrods, the training courses are included which are very
good for management staff and due to this, each and every employee feel confident and motived
which impacts positively on organization. The organization has dynamic and flexible culture
which influences the organizational performances. The organization provides good benefit
packages including health cover for seniors and job security and some rewards and
compensations for subordinates to influence them towards organization goals (Nikpour, 2017).
Organizational culture greatly influences employee behavior. Organizational culture mainly
impacts motivation, promote individual learning, affects communication, and improves
organizational values, group decision making and solving conflicts and issues. Strong
organizational culture means better retention. The culture creates the environment in the
organization and influences the nature of the long term plans that move the organization towards

its vision. Often times, employees work harder to achieve organizational goals if they consider
themselves to be a part of the corporate environment.
The organizational culture and organizational performance have been interrelated to each other
because a good culture effects positively on performance and a bad organizational culture effects
badly on performance of employees. Because of good organizational culture Harrods achieve the
goal through employees best performance in completing their works in effective manner and also
efficiently. Harrods good organizational culture influences in achieving employees productivity.
The positive association between culture and performance helps in improving results of
organization.
Factors influencing the individual behavior at workplace
There are some factors which can influence on individual behavior at Harrods which are as
follows:
 Job Responsibility: In Harrods, the superior distribute some authorities and
responsibilities, so that employees feel motivated and encourage to do their work with
more creativity. Through giving job responsibility the employees motivate to upgrade his
skills time to time
 Effective communication: In Harrods, the process of communication is very good.
Because of this, employees and employers are easily connected with each other and do
not lose interest in work and through effective communication the employees are not
going to do mistake and this attitude will bring change towards job in a positive manner
(Moussa, McMurray and Muenjohn, 2018).
 Work culture: An individual need to feel comfortable at workplace for them to stay
positive and happy. In Harrods the work culture is well maintained by superiors, so that
the employees feel safe. In Harrods, the mangers maintain good environment around
employees so that they influence to do their job efficiently.
 Recognition and Acknowledgement: In Harrods, the superiors appreciate the employees
if they do their job properly and give those rewards and perks so that they positively
attached with the organizational goals. Recognition gives positive influence on
employees because they feel motivated.
RECOMMENDATION
Harrods Company can develop a good organisational structure for the company for
making the operation at the workplace, easy and smooth. The managers can handle the big firm

like this with ease and the employees are treated with equality. The structure that can provide the
employees with opportunities where they can showcase their talent and skills, and can improve
their personal performance and keep motivated. The organisation can opt from an effective
organisational culture for the company like the clan culture, where the employees are treated like
a family and collaborative working is promoted. The company should always consider the
factors at the workplace that impact the individual behaviour like the job responsibility, effective
communication and work culture.
CONCLUSION
The report concludes that different organizations require different organizational structure.
Organizational structure is considered the guide for all the activities happening in the company.
Different organizational structure are included such as hierarchical, functional and horizontal
organizational structures. The organizational culture at the work place is also included in the
report and various culture are described with the best suited organizations with them. The
cultures discussed in the report consist of clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy culture. The
impact of organizational structure on the organizational performance is given along with the
impact of organizational culture on the organizational performance. The factors that impact the
individual behavior at the work place is given.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Muthuveloo, Shanmugam and Teoh, 2017. The impact of tacit knowledge management on
organizational performance: Evidence from Malaysia. Asia Pacific Management
Review. 22(4). pp.192-201.
Kurstak, Wilber and D’Souza, 2018, June. Parametric reduced order models for bladed disks
with mistuning and varying operational speed. In Turbo Expo: Power for Land, Sea, and
Air (Vol. 51159, p. V07CT35A012). American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Dubey and et.al, 2019. Big data analytics and organizational culture as complements to swift
trust and collaborative performance in the humanitarian supply chain. International
Journal of Production Economics. 210. pp.120-136.
Zhang, 2017. Culture and the economy: Clan, entrepreneurship, and development of the private
sector in China. Entrepreneurship, and Development of the Private Sector in China
(October 22, 2017).
Madhani, 2018. Enhancing Customer Value Creation with Market Culture: Developing 7Cs
Framework. IUP Journal of Management Research. 17(3).
Appice, 2018. Towards mining the organizational structure of a dynamic event scenario. Journal
of Intelligent Information Systems. 50(1). pp.165-193.
Lee and Edmondson, 2017. Self-managing organizations: Exploring the limits of less-
hierarchical organizing. Research in organizational behavior. 37. pp.35-58.
Alsulami, Premnath and Aljaghtham, 2021. Effects of Navier Slip on Film Condensation Heat
Transfer over Upward Facing Horizontal Flat Surfaces with Free Edges. arXiv preprint
arXiv:2103.11236.
Nikpour, 2017. The impact of organizational culture on organizational performance: The
mediating role of employee’s organizational commitment. International Journal of
Organizational Leadership. 6. pp.65-72.
Moussa, McMurray and Muenjohn, 2018. A conceptual framework of the factors influencing
innovation in public sector organizations. The Journal of Developing Areas. 52(3).
pp.231-240.
Online references

Shannon Williams 2021. 7 types of organizational structures (+ org charts for implementation).
[Online]. Available through < https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/types-of-organizational-
structures>