Week6notes.docx

The concepts of organizational structure, organizational design, and culture should not be new to you. You will have most likely seen these concepts before in previous courses. However now it is time to understand these concepts in the framework of strategic management.
The key to understanding organizational design and organizational structures in strategic management is having a true understanding of what an organizational chart represents. To the layman, an organizational chart is a diagram that identifies the levels of management and who your boss is. From a strategic management point of view, the organizational chart answers the question:
What timeframe of decision-making occurs here?
For example, the lower you are on the organizational chart, the shorter your time frame of decision-making. If you are on the “bottom level”, your decisions could be weekly, daily, or even hourly, such as:
· How do I respond to this customer that is front of me right now?
· How long should I wait before paying this invoice?
· How long should I wait before following up with this lead?
Those in the middle ranks of the organizational chart would have medium-term decisions to make – perhaps quarterly or annual, such as:
· How do we renegotiate our shipping contract this year?
· How do I increase our division’s sales this quarter?
· Who should I hire or promote over the next six months to ensure we meet our goals next year?
Those in the upper echelons on the organizational chart have longer time frames to think about. This includes strategic management. Any of the strategy questions we’ve come to learn about in this course are questions facing those in the upper levels of the organizational chart. This is what we call working ON the business, instead of working IN the business. This is reflected in the article, “What is corporate strategy really?” (Raynor, 2007, para. 19).
Chapter 9 of the eBook (The Saylor Foundation, 2014, Chapter 9, Chapter 9.2 Creating an Organizational Structure) implies that the choice of organizational design impacts a firm’s future strategies. However, the lesson learned in all of the readings is that as strategies evolve, so too must the firm’s structure evolve, and vice-versa. Strategy should be dynamic and evolving. That may mean that a firm’s design is also evolving. These concepts are highlighted in this week’s course materials by Aronowitz, DeSmet, and McGinty (2015, para. 16).
Included in the balance of design and strategy is the assessment on whether or not the current leadership will be able to execute the strategy. This involves an assessment of the number of leaders available for such an execution and the quality of leadership available (Bersin, 2013, para. 3). The latter article stresses the importance of continuous leadership development and developing leaders at all levels (Bersin, 2013, para. 11)– themes consistent in other courses you may have completed at UMGC so far.
One final theme this week revolves around the power of culture. You may have heard this phrase in other courses: Culture eats strategy for breakfast. The fact of the matter is that strategy (consistent with Schein’s level 2 of espoused values) may easily go awry if negativity or claims like, “That’s the way it’s always been done around here” (consistent with Schein’s level 3 of basic assumptions and values) exist in an organization’s lower levels. If this concept is new to you, consider a review the course materials on culture.
Project #3
As warned last week, you’ll come to find this project is the most time-consuming so far. Wise students would have taken Dr. Kathy’s advice last week and started on Sections II and IV. That leaves you with Sections III and V (other than the intro and conclusion).
Section III – you should have a clear understanding of business level strategies and functional level strategies. These have been outlined in your eBook, as well as course materials like Raynor (2007) from this week, which defines competitive strategies and corporate strategies (para. 6). You will be expected to provide very robust support from course materials from multiple weeks to do well in this section.
Section V – you will complete a composite analysis. The composite analysis is basically a summary of all “high points” from all previous sections of this report. Be certain you provide a quantitative summary (from the ratios) as well as a qualitative summary. Support from research materials as well as course materials will be important here.
References
Aronowitz, S., DeSmet, A., & McGinty, D. (2015, June). Getting organizational redesign right. McKinsley & Company. Retrieved from 
Bersin, J. (2013, July). It’s not the CEO, it’s the leadership strategy that matters. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2012/07/30/its-not-the-ceo-its-the-leadership-strategy-that-matters/#5fe3de826db8
Raynor, M. (2007, Nov/Dec). What is corporate strategy really? Ivey Business Journal. Retrieved from https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/what-is-corporate-strategy-really/
The Saylor Foundation. (2014). Mastering Strategic Management. Retrieved from