Organization Theory and DesignOrganization Analysis Proposal.docx

Organization Theory and Design
Organization Analysis Proposal
Due: Sunday February 7 End of day (via email)
Length: maximum 5 pages excluding appendices
IMPORTANT!!!
Saving your document: Please use YOUR CLASS SECTION
(e.g. 1pm, 2:30pm), GROUP ORGANIZATION NAME, AND
GROUP NUMBER as your file name. For example
1pm_companyname_group#.doc
(Att: 1pm section, you will be assigned a group number on
Tuesday January)
Also include your organization name, group number, and
section in the subject of your email.
Please note: I need to know and approve your organization of
study by Friday February 5.
Information your report should include:
1)The name of the organization the group proposes to study and
a list of group members.
2)Description of the organization
A brief description of the organization (i.e. product or service
that it provides, location, size, external environment (describe
the environmental sectors that have a direct impact on the
companies operations, and any other relevant information you
think would be appropriate).

3) Assignment of roles and responsibilities
Assignment of roles and responsibilitiesfor each group member,
identify task that need to be completed, and deadlines
associated with each task. This will clarify who is doing what
and timelines for various tasks.
My suggestion is to assign topics according to the chapters of
the text. For instance, you could assign each group member one
or more chapter(s). The most important or relevant chapters
are: structural and contextual variables (chapter #1), strategy
and goals (chapter #2), organization structure (chapter #3) ,
external environment (chapter #4), lifecycle and size (chapter
#9) and organizational culture (chapter #11). Other chapters
that are important and could be included are:
interorganizational relationships (chapter #5), international
challenges (chapter #6), mfg technology (chapter #7), (chapter
#10), innovation and change (chapter #11), and conflict, power,
and politics (chapter #13)
4) Problem Definition:
This section will require you to identify a possible problem,
issue, challenge that your organization is facing. If your
organization is a publicly traded company, you’ll be able to
look online for various problems/challenges facing the
company. Otherwise, you may need to contact someone at the
organization directly to identify a possible problem/issue facing
your organization. Please note that you’ll be able to change
your problem/issue at a later date. Provide a reference(s) and
citations to explain where you obtained this information.

An except from a previous proposal
There are several issues with UNB’s structure but the main
concern is that there is too much centralization and
concentration of power at the administration level (org. design
issue – relates back to what we’ve discussed in class). Some of
the organizational design issues have led to conflicting goals
and hinder the capability to meet the overarching strategic goal
of the organization. Conflict between the administration and
faculty, as was seen with the labour dispute in 2014, can have
long lasting issues of both employee satisfaction and cost
implications (Evidence used to support the issue/problem).
There has been a growth in administration and a decline in the
faculty numbers, ongoing concerns around decision-making
with non-confidence votes against the senior management by the
majority of faculties and concerns around the future direction of
the organization (Identifies several implications that have arisen
due to the degree of centralization and concentration of power .
Notice that the problem definition relates back to an
organization design issue. In UNB’s case, the high degree of
centralization and concentration of power within the
administrative leve has resulted in numerous issues that have
been outlined in the PD. Citations are missing in this problem
definition and please note that this PD is a summary of the
issues…further details could should have been included in the
PD but the analysis explained the points/issues above in further
detail.
5) Analysis:
This is the heart of your proposal and report. You will provide
a brief analysis about TWO course related concepts, models,
frameworks, or theories. Your final report is not limited to the

information contained in the text but it should reflect or support
areas related to OD. Although I mentioned that you should
chose one model/concept from a chapter we haven’t covered
yet, this is no longer a requirement for your proposal.
Your analysis should: identify the theory/concept you are
using, explain how the course concept/theory/model applies to
your organization, provide supporting evidence (this means you
need to find evidence from various sources) to demonstrate how
this course concept applies to your organization, and finally
explain the effect this has on the organization (does this
At the end of the assignment outline, I’ve provided a few topics,
but not limited to, that you could use for your report (you only
need to use TWO) and excerpts from previous reports to give
you an idea of how to write your analysis. Remember, evidence
must be provided to support your analysis.
Excerpt from proposals
6)Competitive Strategy
MAC uses an evident differentiation strategy to stay
ahead of their many competitors in the cosmetics industry.
MAC offers unique characteristics and techniques that appeal to
customers and set them apart from their competitors. One
example of this is the placement of their product. MAC
products are sold exclusively in department and online stores.
Customers will not find these products in any drug stores or
discount shops. They focus on a different market compared to
its many competitors in the industry. This strategy separates
their company from “easy to acquire makeup” and puts them in
a more “high-end” market. The value added from this
differentiation strategy allows MAC products to be sold at a
premium price. (Basnet, 2010)
When MAC first began, their goal was to make a more

durable, reliable makeup that could withstand the heat and
sweat of photo shoots and the runway. They have accomplished
this goal as MAC is a commonly used product line in fashion
shows and many other celebrity events. Recently, MAC signed
contracts with two of the most “A-List” pops stars: Nicki Minaj
and Rhianna. MAC uses every differentiation strategy it
possibly can from its competitors from its location, products,
image and its price point. They want to make their products
stand out above the rest and have been very successful in doing
so. (Basnet, 2010)
MAC continues to use a focused differentiation strategy in their
advertising techniques. They concentrate on customer loyalty
and satisfaction. The only marketing technique used is simply
through “word of mouth” advertising and have very little help
from large advertising companies. They want their products to
be sold based on quality, and they expect that if they keep on
top of their product line and continuously stay loyal to their
customers, that customers will continue to return to their
stores. MAC is known to be an honest, caring company, whose
goal is to make the customer happy and satisfied while still
remaining concerned with its social responsibility. (Basnet,
2010)
Notice that the above excerpt identifies the course concept
(focused differentiation strategy – unique products (high
quality) and focused customer base) and provide appropriate
evidence (with references) of how MAC’s positions its products
compared to its competitors, which support the analysis that
MAC does indeed use a focused differentiation strategy (though
they could have argued that the strategy could be a
differentiation strategy rather than a focus differentiation
strategy. This is important to identify the strategy used by the
organization since the structure of the organization must
support the strategy.

Structural dimensions (Formalization, Profesionalism,
Specialization) – other structural dimensions omitted but can be
included in your analysis
Structural dimensions provide labels to describe the
internal characteristics of an organization. They help create the
basis for measuring and comparing organizations (Daft &
Armstrong, 2009, p. 17) In the next section of this analysis, a
break-down of the structural dimensions of Skillsoft will be
presented in order to get a better understanding of what it takes
to make Skillsoft a leading provider of e-learning and
performance support solutions.
Formalization pertains to the amount of written documentation
in the organization. Documentation includes procedures, job
descriptions, regulations, and policy manuals (Daft &
Armstrong, 2009, p. 15) Skillsoft has a lot of written
documentation that describes aspects of the job such as job
descriptions and procedures. It’s all online because they are a
global company with a lot of virtual employees. Every employee
has access to all of this information and many employees need
to reference it often to make sure they are following all rules
and regulations properly. Kelly stated that with her type of job
she references and accesses the online information almost daily
to help guide her in maintaining and assisting clients. (K.
Stainforth, personal communication, 2013) Clients themselves
also have the opportunity to access internal and external
information sites to help them with any situation they encounter
with Skillsoft’s products.
.
Centralization refers to the hierarchical level that has authority
to make decisions (Daft & Armstrong, 2009, p. 305) Skillsoft
would be considered a flat organization, meaning there are not a
lot of layers. Most decisions come from the local levels. So
the general manager of the Fredericton location would make
decisions for the Fredericton branch. (K. Stainforth, personal
communication, 2013) Some roles within the Fredericton branch

are more autonomous than others. The first level of technical
support for clients is very structured and they have little
autonomy. Some jobs are seen as a bit more autonomous. For
example, as a consultant, Kelly does not get to pick and choose
her own clients but she does get to manage her clients in
whatever way she feels is necessary and she works closely with
the Sales Executive who originally sold the client their program
(K. Stainforth, personal communication, 2013) Overall Skillsoft
is more of a collaborative organization than a centralized one.
Professionalism is the level of formal education and training of
employees. Professionalism is considered high when employees
require long periods of training to hold jobs in the organization
(Daft & Armstrong, 2009, p. 305) Most of the jobs at Skillsoft
require more training/education than others plus Skillsoft values
experience. This information only pertains to the North
American offices because other offices in the US and Europe
might be a little different in what they require from their
employees and their education. Most of the technical jobs at
Skillsoft do require specific education and they receive ongoing
training. Kelly’s job as a consultant requires a degree or
experience equivalent (K. Stainforth, personal communication,
2013) Skillsoft also offers all employees up to $1500/year for
schooling through an accredited institute plus employees have
access to all of Skillsoft resources; many of which can be used
for specific certifications (ex. Project Management, HR,
Accounting, Etc) (K. Stainforth, personal communication, 2013)
Overall, Skillsoft enables business organizations to maximize
business performance through a combination of comprehensive
e-learning content, online information resources, flexible
learning technologies and support services. (Skillsoft, 2012)
With the high degree of professionalism and specialization
within their organization, Skillsoft has the resources and
technology available to adapt to any changes in the external
environment. With these skills and resources as an organization,
Skillsoft will continue to distinguish itself as a cutting edge

pioneer in the field of learning.
Notice how the group identifies the OD concept (i.e.
formalization), then provides evidence of the degree of
formalization within the organization and ends the analysis by
explaining how these structural dimensions impact the overall
organizations performance.
7) FEEDBACK QUESTIONS
Please prepare a list of questions based on the
requirements/expectations regarding the final report and any
other relevant questions. You will have an opportunity to ask
me these questions and other during our meeting (TBD). Feel
free to list as many questions as you like.
8) CITATIONS AND REFERENCES
You must have citations and references for your report and you
must us APA format. Failure to cite and reference your work
will result in a mark of zero for the proposal.
9) Any other information you think is appropriate.
Final Note:
This report is worth 5% of your overall grade. This report will
provide your group with valuable feedback to help you write
your final report. If there are significant issues with your
proposal, there will be an opportunity to improve your mark by
resubmit your proposal.
Analysis Topics (provide appropriate evidence with references).
Do not use the questions in your analysis, they are just for
guidance purposes.

Chapter #1
Describe the structural characters of your organizations such as
degree of formulization, centralization, specialization,
professionalism, etc.
Chapter #2 (Choose one or more)
Identify the official and operative goals of your organization
and supporting evidence.
Describe the strategy of the organization according to Porter’s
Competitive Strategy and/or Miles and Snow Typography.
Provide supporting evidence.
What Organization structure does your organization incorporate
(functional, divisional, horizontal, geographical, matrix, or a
hybrid/combination)? How do you know (it would be
advantages to provide an organization chart)? Why is the
organization structured this way? What advantages
and/disadvantages does the organization experience as a result
of having this organization structure?
Describe the communication/coordination that takes place
within your organization using vertical and horizontal
coordination mechanisms. Why do the use them? Are they
effective?
Describe the various task sectors that have a direct impact on
the organization (e.g. competition/industry, market/customers,
technology, suppliers, etc.) Explain whether they each sector
provides an opportunity or threat to your organization.
Describe the degree of complexity and stability in the
environment and explain the degree of environmental

uncertainty.
Describe how the organization responds to the environment
(creating departments, the use of boundary spanning roles
and/or buffering, forecasting and planning, adopting an
organic/mechanistic organization form)?
Describe the degree of dependency on the environment and the
strategies used to reduce these dependencies?
Chapter #9
Describe the size of the organization and how it impacts its
operations?
What stage in the lifecycle process is your organization in and
what is the crisis it faces? How is it able to overcome this
crisis?
Is your organization in the decline stage? Which one and why?
What control systems are in place within the organization?
Why?
Other areas you may want to explore for your proposal:
Chapter #5
Describe the interorganizational relationship(s) of your
organization with its competitors (collaborative networks,
institutionalism, resources dependency, and population
ecology). How does the relationship your organization have
with other organizations affect its operations (does it present
your organization is with opportunities or threats)?
Chapter #7
Describe how the organization structure supports the core
technology within your organization?
What type of non core service technology is primarily used

within your organization according to Perrow’s model?
Chapter #10
What type of culture is in place in your organization and how
does it impact its operations
Chapter #11
How does your organization respond to innovation in the
external environment?
Does your organization use an ambidextrous approach? How is
it implemented?
Describe how the structure of the organization supports new
product/service innovation (horizontal linkage model)
How is innovation promoted in the organization? Does it use a
technical or administrative core approach or both?
Is your organization open/readily respond to change? Why or
why not?
Chapter #13
Is conflict a serious issue within your organization? What are
the sources of conflict?
Further Excerpt from past proposals:
Chapter #9 Lifecycle
In analyzing MAC Cosmetics, it was determined that
the company is in stage four of the life cycle - the elaboration
stage. This stage is where the organization must get past the
“need to deal with too much red tape” by developing teamwork
(Daft R. , 2009). MAC has passed this need and is a strong
example of using teamwork and collaborations to continue their

growth.
This is clearly evident in their countless collaboration, with
well-known brands, celebrities, and designers. Some brand that
MAC has collaborated with include: Barbie, Hello Kitty, Disney
Villains, and Wonder Woman (Ashley, 2012). In addition to
these, MAC recently teamed up with Archie Comics for their
new “Archie’s Girls” collection (CBR News Team, 2013).
MAC’s newest celebrity team-up is with Rhianna for four
collections under the name “RiRi (Hearts) MAC” (Sciarretto,
2013). In the past, MAC has also teamed up with other
celebrities, such as Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj (Sciarretto,
2013). MAC frequently sponsors fashion shows; a recent
example of this is their sponsorship of MADE Fashion Week in
Paris. They have sponsored MADE Fashion Week in New York
for eight consecutive years, but this year, in Paris, MADE will
feature an impressive lineup of designers (PR Newswire, 2013).
MAC’s partnerships have been a constant success and are an
extremely important part in revitalizing the company and
keeping it out of the “need for revitalization” crisis faced in the
elaboration stage of the life cycle. It does this by effectively
offering new product lines to MAC customers in a unique
fashion, relating the MAC products to well-known and likeable
organizations, brands or persons.
Notice the supporting evidence to demonstrate what MAC is
doing to help itself revitalize itself (the major issue that
organizations face in the elaboration stage)
External Environment (Chapter #4)
Since Boeing is such a large company operating in an
environment that is heavily regulated, the environment is a huge
influence on Boeing’s operations. When evaluating the
environmental impact on Boeing, you have to look at Boeing’s
two main divisions, Commercial Airplane and Defence, Space &

Security, and determine what environmental forces affect each
individually. The environmental forces we consider are the
consumers, competition, contracts, outsourcing, technology, and
regulations.
Boeing has an extensive list of clientele, as they sell their
airplanes to customers in over 150 countries. (“Boeing in
Brief,” 2013) The customers have various needs, and Boeing
offers customization packages to all of their aircrafts so as to
attract a larger target market. (“Commercial Airplanes,” 2013)
Boeing’s largest customers include Air China, Europa Airways,
Turkish Airways, both the Canadian and American airlines, and
many more. (“Boeing Company: Orders and Deliveries,” 2013)
The Defence, Space & Security division’s customers are also
from all corners of the globe. The division has had and
continues to work in conjunction with both the Canadian and
American Militaries, and a plethora of other militaries around
the world. The most notable success of the division in relation
to its efforts in the space exploration industry would be that of
the assembly and maintenance of the International Space
Station. (“Defence, Space & Security,” 2013)
Boeing’s Commercial Airplane division only has one true
competitor in the industry, the European aircraft manufacturing
company Airbus. The recent release of the Airbus A380 is
providing direct competition to Boeing’s newly released 787
Dreamliner. The A380 is similar to the Dreamliner as they are
both capable of travelling around the same distance, and can be
used for the same purposes. The major difference between the
two products is the capacity as the Boeing 787 offers less seats
than the A380, however the lack of seats in the Dreamliner is
due to increased comfort and legroom. (Coburn, 2010)
When we look at the Defence, Space & Security division of
Boeing it is clear to see they operate in a much more
competitive market. Their main competitors include Lockheed
Martin, EADS, General Dynamics, and BAE Systems. (“The
World's Top 100,” 2012) However Boeing has a slight
advantage on gaining U.S. Military contracts because they are

an organization operating out of the United States. In a diverse
and forever evolving market it is not uncommon for competitors
to work together in joint ventures to create new, innovative
products. Boeing has been a part of joint ventures throughout its
history and they have recently joined Lockheed Martin in a
contract with NASA. This joint venture is known as the Launch
Alliance, as the two companies joined forces to win a military
contract to launch satellites into orbit, using rockets developed
by the two companies. (“Lockheed-Boeing Joint Venture”)
Boeing is dependent on suppliers for lots of essential materials,
like aluminum, titanium and other composites like carbon and
boron. However it is only recently that suppliers became
responsible for 70% of the 787 Dreamliner’s components,
compared to previous aircraft built by Boeing with about 35%
outsourced components. (Denning, 2013) Boeing predicted that
outsourcing could save costs and that it was necessary
“…simply because the firm lacks the necessary expertise in
some areas.” (Denning, 2013) Boeing experienced discrepancies
between it’s predictions and actual results due to the fact that
many of the firms they contracted to construct components to
the 787 Dreamliner were simply not ready to handle such a
large, continuous project. (Denning, 2013)
The United States government’s second largest contract is with
the Boeing Company. (“The 10 Biggest”) Recently, Boeing has
signed a contract to develop a fixed-wing aircraft and airframe
structural components for military aircrafts. Boeing is currently
working with two other companies to develop a seven-person
spaceship, which should be ready for test flights in 2016.
(Hennigan, 2012) The Commercial Airplane division of Boeing,
which makes up 60% of the company’s total revenues, also has
a multitude of large contracts with governments and airways all
over the globe.
Although this is a good analysis of the ext environment, for the
final report, it could also touch upon other sectors that impact
Boeing operations such as technology and the government. In

addition, this except doesn’t mention if the organization
structure of Boeing is appropriate for the environment it
operates in (the degree of environmental uncertainty).
Otherwise, it is thorough and provides appropriate evidence to
explain how these sectors impact Boeing’s operations.
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