Report: Organizational Design and Strategy for Seasons Woolen Products

This report presents an organizational design for Seasons, a long-established producer of fine knitted woolen products. It analyzes the company's current state and proposes strategies for expansion and improved efficiency. The report emphasizes the importance of resource management, including financial, physical, human, and informational resources, and suggests expanding physical resources by establishing a base in Sydney, increasing the workforce, and implementing advanced IT databases. It outlines four key organizational processes: identification and division of work responsibilities, departmentalization, assignment of duties, and establishment of a reporting relationship. The report suggests that by implementing these strategies, Seasons can enhance its manufacturing capabilities, cater to a larger clientele, and establish a stronger presence in both domestic and international markets. The report also highlights the need for skilled manpower, quality control measures, and a well-defined organizational structure to ensure the production of high-quality woolen products. The recommendations aim to improve production efficiency, enhance product quality, and facilitate business growth, ultimately leading to a stronger market position for Seasons.

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND STRATEGY
Organizational Design and Strategy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND STRATEGY
Organizational design refers to the step by step design or methodology that is made use
of in order to identify dysfunctional aspects of an organization, such as problems related to
workflow, structures, systems, procedures after which these are realigned in order to fit present
day business goals and realities, and plans are then developed for implementing the new changes
(Buys et al. 2017). There are six important elements of organizational design namely chain of
command, decentralization or centralization, departmentalization, work specialization as well as
degree of formalization (Bovee and Thill 2017). This essay prepares an organizational design for
a company known as Seasons which is an iconic and long established producer of fine knitted
woolen products. The organizational design for Seasons is created by taking into account the
resources that are needed by the organization and the processes that are needed by the
organization.
There are different types of resources that are utilized by an organization in order
for it to be able to accomplish its goals and objectives. Some of the major resources that are
made use of by an organization in this respect are financial resources, physical resources, human
resources, as well as information resources (Chen and Schaffer 2017). It is the managers of the
organization who are entrusted with the responsibility of acquiring as well as managing all of the
resources that are needed in order to be able to run the organization in an effective manner
(Appuhami and Bhuvan 2015). Seasons is a family owned business that is currently based in
Mittagong in New South Wales from where it produces and distributes woolen products to
several parts of Australia and also to select retail outlets that are located in America and in the
United States of America. The range of products manufactured by Seasons is quite extensive,

2ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND STRATEGY
starting with cardigans, sweaters, hats, socks, gloves, underwear for women, men and children,
scarves, and jumpers (Fineman et al. 2010).
Given the fact that it is responsible for producing such a wide range of products, the fact
that it distributes not only to retail outlets within Australia but also to outlets outside of the
country such as in the UK and the USA and the fact that it also now has a prominent online
presence, the company needs to set up base in more than one location in Sydney in order to be
able to expand its manufacturing activities and cater to its vast clientele more effectively than it
is able to do from a single location (Kuhn 2009). In other words, the physical resources of the
organization must be expanded and Seasons must consider purchasing property or
physical assets in another strategic location in New South Wales, a good example in this respect
being the city of Sydney, given that it’s the capital of the state and it can connect the
organization to more suppliers, distributors and facilitate its manufacturing activities by making
better infrastructural support available. By increasing physical resources, Seasons can definitely
provide an edge to its manufacturing activities than it could have when confined to just one
place, Mittagong in NSW (Bovee and Thill 2017).
The financial and human resources of the Seasons company also need to be expanded
if it is to give its already thriving manufacturing process a significant boost. At present Seasons
is an organization that is serviced by a committed staff comprising of seventy members, who
work tirelessly to ensure that the goals and the objectives of the organization are suitably met
(Grey 2005). The organization should recruit or select more skilled manpower to help it carry out
its manufacture and distribution activities to retail outlets situated not only in New South Wales
and other parts of Australia but also in the USA and the UK. The human resource base of the
organization must be expanded to at least 140 staff members to better run the operations of the

3ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND STRATEGY
organization, while financial resources in the form of loan capital must be obtained from reputed
financial institutions in Australia to finance the work of the organization, without investing all of
its cash assets (revenue obtained from the sale proceeds of manufactured fine knit woolen
products). Special care needs to be taken by the organization when hiring manpower, given that
Seasons is a company which takes pride in the quality of its woolen products and the fact that it
caters to an esteemed clientele in Australia and other parts of the world (Hobfoll et al. 2018).
Human resources recruited by Seasons to service the organization need to be skilled and
competent individuals who are adept at performing the manufacturing processes that the
organization has to engage in, in order to launch its goods in the market. It is not merely enough
for the organization to expand its manpower base, it must ensure that it hires also, the right
people to do the job rather than the wrong ones, ensuring quality manufacture and production in
the bargain (Hussein et al. 2016).
Additionally, Seasons is a company that needs to take care with how it makes use of
information resources particularly the way by which the company manages customer
information. Advanced IT databases ought to be set up with the help of expert professionals, that
allows the organization to access customer information with regard to purchase preference, likes
and dislikes, negative or positive feedback etc. which it can fall back on to understand how it can
improve upon the quality of the fine knit woolen products that it is currently engaged in the
manufacturing of (Lee et al. 2016)
When it comes to organizational processes, there are four key processes that a well-
established company like Seasons must follow to ensure that it caters to client needs and do good
business in the areas of its operation in Australia, and in select parts of the United Kingdom and
United States of America. The first important process is this respect is the identification and

4ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND STRATEGY
division of work responsibilities. Once the organization hires more skilled and competent
personnel for its manufacturing and production activities, it needs to allocate the right work to
the right professionals so that tasks get underway in a timely and efficient manner, allowing no
delay to occur where production is concerned (Osterreider and Friedli 2018).
Grouping jobs and engaging in departmentalization activities is the next important
step that needs to be performed by Seasons in order to get its production process off the ground
in the desired manner. For this purpose, the tasks or work of the organization must be sub
divided into functional departments and divisional departments. Jobs that are seen to perform
more or less the same type of function such as thread spinning or knitting need to be placed
under one specific department and jobs which are related to specific products like cardigans or
scarves for instance, can be placed under a single division or department (Russell et al. 2016).
The third crucial organizational process that an organization like Seasons must carry out
to ensure that it makes a name in Australia and other parts of the world for the manufacture of
high quality and fine knit woolen products like scarves, cardigans, sweaters, shawls and gloves
among others, is to engage in the proper assignment of duties. For this purpose, the managers of
the organization must be well acquainted with the manpower that is being used for
manufacturing activities (Saadat and Saadat 2016). The right jobs need to be designated to the
right people. Given the fact that Seasons is an organization which has stringent quality control
measures in place and that it takes immense pride in the quality of the fine knit woolen products
which it makes available in the market, care must be taken on the part of the managers of the
organization to recruit skilled and well trained professionals in the quality control department,
who will make sure that all loop holes in the manufacturing process are amended or addressed

5ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND STRATEGY
and that manufacturing activities take off in a timely manner, ensuring great precision and detail
with regard to the work that is done (Tatli et al. 2015).
Finally, a reporting relationship needs to be established by an organization like Seasons
if it is to ensure the manufacture of top notch woolen products for sale in Australian and
international markets. A proper system of mangers, supervisors and subordinates must be created
and established in the organization so that workers have a sense of the type of activities that they
are engaging in, how they should go about their duties, the targets or goals they are supposed to
meet at the end of every week or at the end of every month and the standards that qualify as good
or competent work (Winnubst 2017). Workers should also be entrusted under the care and
supervision of junior managers who will guide them in the rendition of their duties, who will
encourage them to do good work and who will give them a clear idea of what is expected from
them and what is not. Additionally, over and above recruiting managers and supervisors to
oversee the operational processes, the organization Seasons must also have a good HR
department or division in place to look into the needs and requirements of employees and to
address employee grievances as and when these arise (Zhang et al. 2018).
Thus, by implementing the organizational design that has been discussed in detail above
and by putting in place the production mechanisms and resource utilization strategies which have
been described, Seasons as an organization can make considerable headway in its manufacture of
fine knit woolen products for Australian and international customers. It will be able to create a
good name for itself in both the domestic and international market, by ensuring the provision and
distribution of fine knit woolen products of high quality and of a diverse range, that are produced
by an efficient and competent organizational set up.

6ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND STRATEGY
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