- Published: June 6, 2022
- Updated: June 6, 2022
- Level: Undergraduate
- Language: English
- Downloads: 15
The paper ” Organizational Environment and Structure: West Midlands Designers and Architects Ltd” is an excellent example of a business research paper.
West Midlands Designers and Architects Ltd (WMDA) was a profitable business when it started. It registered steady growth but in the past 3 years, their growth has dipped. WMDA became a victim of mortgage and recession crisis. It is now struggling to make ends meet and to find a strategy that will help the company survive in the long run.
WMDA is run by its boss, Russell Quinn, who has developed a close-knit working atmosphere with his architects in the company. The work atmosphere is a very warm and friendly one. They work and they hang out together as well. This has helped a cultivate a sense of attachment within the employees for the organization. There is a sense of ownership for the organization in most of the employees and they are able to relate their goals with the goals of the organization at large.
Culture and Leadership Structure of the organization
In simple words, leadership is the ability to direct a group towards the accomplishment of goals. Leadership is a vital part of being a successful manager. Employees would tend to follow a good leader rather than a manager that does not possess leadership skills and will respond positively to their direction. A poor leader will often fail to win over staff and will have problems communicating with and organizing workers effectively. At WMDA, leadership rests under the hands of Russell Quinn. She had cultivated a close-knit working environment comprising of two teams and giving them enough autonomy to be able to think, rejuvenate and decide.
The organization does not have a huge reporting hierarchy. There are two teams and each with a team leader. The team leader then reports to Russell Quinn. They have cultivated a stress-free work environment at WMDA. The interiors are colorful and the employees not confined to desk spaces. They can roam around the way they do it at home, sit in circles, discuss what they want to inside cubicles and be at ease while at work. They have been given all other states of the art facilities. The idea is to help them own the organization they are working with.
Change process in the past:
With the company tossing in for a sudden decline, Russell was speculating on various options to resurrect it. Consistent losses meant that he could no longer keep everyone and had to cut down on his employees. He had to give away the eight-ten of his employees.
There were four options that Russell has zeroed down given the work environment, the job descriptions and the company’s profitability in the long run. They were last in – first out (LIFO) based downsizing-architects who have been with the company for the shortest period of time would be asked to leave. Then there is voluntary redundancy- a generous package would be offered to anyone who is interested in calling for early retirement. Selection on merit is another option -Russell decides which employees have been least useful to the company and makes them redundant. The last option is Peer selection wherein employees would meet and decide who should leave accordingly.
Russell opted for a mix of selection on merit and voluntary redundancy. Given the company’s dire circumstances it was important to have a workforce which is able to bring the company out of the crisis. This is only possible with employees who have the necessary drive, urge, and skill set to take the company forward. At the same time, employees in stiff personal circumstances can also opt out. This he thought would keep the overall morale of the organization adrift while retaining the right expertise. Thus eight to ten employees were made to move out in the process.
As a result of this change, the work environment at WMDA, once frivolous and colorful, became edgy and tense. Employees became increasingly insecure about their jobs and positions and the fear of being ousted from the organization took over. The tense air encapsulated the organization partly because of the way in which the change was communicated. There was no reasoning offered and the change was thrown abruptly in their faces. I feel that the leadership at WMDA should have communicated the change properly to their organization and explained them systematically why it had happened and how it can be avoided or accommodated for in future.