Analyzing Pfizer's Organizational Design and Culture for Productivity

This case study examines Pfizer's approach to organizational design and culture, focusing on the implementation of 'PfizerWorks' and the 'Office of the Future (OOF)' button to improve employee productivity. It highlights how Pfizer addressed the issue of employees spending excessive time on support tasks rather than core intellectual work by selectively outsourcing tasks to companies in India. The analysis delves into the structural implications of PfizerWorks, considering elements such as departmentalization, chain of command, centralization/decentralization, work specialization, formalization, and span of control. Furthermore, the study explores the impact of Pfizer's organizational structure on its culture, emphasizing the importance of clear HR policies, balanced activity management, and adaptability to challenges. The case concludes that Pfizer's organizational structure is particularly effective for large, globally operating companies that require efficient time management and coordination across multiple offices.

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND CULTURE 1
Organizational Design and Culture
Student’s Name
Institution of Affiliation

ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND CULTURE 2
How Pfizer Allow Employees to be more Productive with its Works
As an international pharmaceutical company, Pfizer solely depends on innovations, building
strategies, and researchers. Based on the case study by Robbins, De Cenzo & Coulter (2017)
Pfizer is seeking ways to become more resourceful and successful. The company realized that
more time is spent by their employees on conducting company researchers, analyzing data and
performing other things like making slides on PowerPoint and also Googling. This implies that
employees are consuming more time on basic duties rather than tasks that require mental power.
It is evident in the case study they spend 20% to 40% of their time on support tasks and only
60% to 80% on intellect works (Robbins, De Cenzo & Coulter, 2017). The crisis as mentioned
above impinged on both low and highest level employees in the company. As a result, Pfizer
looked for ways to find remarkable solutions for the company's effectiveness.
Pfizer chose ‘magic button’ initially called the Office of the Future (OOF) button which
enables employees to shift long and tiresome tasks and to selectively outsource from companies
based in India (Robbins, De Cenzo & Coulter, 2017). Upon receiving the request, a team
manager in these firms makes a call to the Pfizer worker for clear clarifications. For this reason,
the number 66,500 shows the importance of the OOF button solution for Pfizer. This shows the
total work hours approximated to have been saved by Pfizer employees who have used OOF
button (Robbins, De Cenzo & Coulter, 2017). Employees are now able to better focus their
attention and time on more tactical outlooks of their work instead of wasting effort and time on
more tedious work.
Structural Implications of PfizerWorks Considering Organizational Design Elements

ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND CULTURE 3
Organizational design is a process of changing and developing the structure of the
organization by its managers (Robbins, 2015). Organizations have explicit goals and objectives
for their missions and operations. They divide responsibilities, tasks, and projects in ways that
are most successful in realizing these objectives. As a result, specific workers should manage and
control the workflow to meet critical deadlines of the project (Dugdale & Lyne, 2010).
Organizations typically identify six strategic organizational elements when determining how to
design their industry. The elements include a chain of command, a span of control,
departmentalization, formalization, and centralization/decentralization and work specialization
(Cichocki & Irwin, 2011). Evident from the case study, the PfizerWorks was a successful choice
and had immense benefits of making employees it more productive.
Using the OOF button, the company was able to connect with its headquarters worldwide
automatically. The PfizerWorks also allows easy communication between employees and also to
easily share information with colleagues in the relevant offices (Robbins, De Cenzo & Coulter,
2017). As noted earlier, the organization follows different design elements for productivity. An
element of departmentalization is a fundamental element where organizations typically group
their firms into various departments that usually concentrate in certain fields to provide different
proficiency to the company.
Chain of command- in an organization, it is expected that each employee should report to one
executive (Cichocki & Irwin, 2011). In this case, managers are liable for allocating tasks,
notifying employees of deadlines and expectations of the organization and also motivating them.
Thus, the duty and authority are higher in upper-level employees compared to those at the lowest
level in the company. Employees are accountable for completing tasks allocated to them

ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND CULTURE 4
perfectly and promptly (Dugdale & Lyne, 2010). PfizerWorks allows employees to save more
time when coordinating with different departments around the world.
Centralization and decentralization- in a centralized firm such as Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, all
decisions are made by the senior executive. The system of centralization is common in larger,
business organizations (Robbins, 2015). Pfizer, for instance, is more decentralized particularly
by using the OOF button which allows the employees to connect with their colleagues globally
easily. Lastly, work specialization ensures that every worker is assigned specific tasks that they
are expected to be based on their skills, education level, and work experience. The company can
prevent workers from being expected to carry out tasks there have limited or no experience at all
(Robbins, 2015).
An element of formalization allows an organization to outline the roles and duties of
employees in a place of work (Kesler & Kates, 2011). Using this element, an organization can
determine whether employees should register and sign out upon landing and leaving the office,
regularity, and span of breaks, use of computers and the mode of dressing. Lastly, the span of
control involves the combination of activities from different offices to effectively attain the goals
and objectives of an organization (Kesler & Kates, 2011). The case study shows that Pfizer
workers can coordinate by far upon using PfizerWorks method that enabled the company to
connect with its outsourcing companies in India.
The organizational structure implemented by Pfizer would work for companies that do a lot of
records and conduct lots of researchers like Pfizer pharmaceuticals. Therefore, this above-
discussed arrangement would be effective for large organizations that have offices all over the
world. This is because these companies are performing their operations internationally and that

ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND CULTURE 5
they should have a way to moderate time wastage. For instance, Pfizer adopted OOF method to
connect with different offices around the world easily; the method also allows the company to
consistently handle tasks and of course save time for a higher added extra job. Thus, this
arrangement is certainly not suitable for small companies because they do not have many offices
globally to get in touch with (Tschirthart & Bielefeld, 2012).
Impact of Adopting Organizational Structure
Organizational culture is defined as a system of beliefs, mutual assumptions, and values that
governs individual behaviors in companies. It is important for any growing organizations to offer
guidance and transparency on certain HR issues, such as management power (Suttle, 2018).
Based on organizational purpose, it guides all workers by drafting the official coverage
relationships that manage the workflow of the organization. An official outline of an
organization's structure makes it easier to affix new positions in the organization (Morgan,
2014). It also provides a compliant and prompt means for development.
Organizational structure also creates a good balance and importance of activities (Suttle,
2018). For instance, in a pharmaceutical company like Pfizer might be isolated for reporting to
the administrative manager or the director of the organization. Besides, it provides the basis
within which an organization functions. If the structure is flexible, it will aid in encountering
challenges and also to create opportunities for development of the organization. A good structure
facilitates the development of the organization by increasing its ability to cope with increased
activity levels (Robbins, 2015).

ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND CULTURE 6
References
Cichocki, P., & Irwin, C. (2011). Organization design: A guide to building effective
organizations. London: Kogan Page.
Dugdale, D., & Lyne, S. (2010). Budgeting Practice and Organisational Structure. Burlington:
Elsevier Science.
Kesler, G., & Kates, A. (2011). Leading organization design: How to make organization design
decisions to drive the results you want. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Morgan, J. (2014). The Future of Work: Attract New Talent, Build Better Leaders, and Create a
Competitive Organization. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
Robbins, De Cenzo & Coulter. (2017). A New Kind of Structure. Case study about Pfizer in the
course textbook. P.192.
Robbins, S. (2015). Management. Pearson Australia Pty Ltd.
Suttle, R. (2018). The Importance of Organizational Structure. Retrieved from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-organizational-structure-2783.html
Tschirhart, M., & Bielefeld, W. (2012). Managing nonprofit organizations. Hoboken, N.J:
Jossey-Bass.