Question 1
The current organizational structure of the City of Santa Monica is top-down with the citizens at the top of the structure. The citizens are accorded powers as the ultimate decision-makers concerning the management of affairs at the City of Santa Monica. While this could be seen as a democratic approach to managing issues, it has its set of challenges with the lengthy decision-making process. Most organizations' structures favor an executive director at the top to oversee the running of the city affairs and development process (Wachs, 2012). Having a democratically elected person to represent the citizens' views at the top of the organization would fasten the speed of implementation while at the same time lowering the degree of political interference and interests that are likely to come with such positions.
The organization structure has several loopholes that need to be sealed to fasten the airport development process. For instance, the human resources department should not fall under the city assistance manager (Pammer, 2015). The human resources manager who is tasked with the personnel management should have executive powers similar to records and election services as well as an attorney (Wachs, 2012). An independent human resources management will have the free will to make competent changes and adjustments within the various ranks depending on the levels of expertise, thus would speed the goal development at the airport.
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The department of Housing and Economic development should be expanded to manage and direct departmental sections such as the library, community, and cultural services, public works, and fire departments. The planning department with more powers will be tasked to oversee all the centralized operations, thus speeding up the airport development process ( Wachs, 2012) . The current organization's structure has roles split all over with the assistant City manager wielding too many responsibilities that she may not be able to supervise adequately.
Question 2
The new organizational structure seeks to reduce the overburdening of the assistant manager's office with many responsibilities beyond his control. The harmonization of responsibilities and duties towards the targeted individual will ease the process of management and responsibility taking. The new organization chart will also add additional liability to the inactive offices such as the Attorney general and police departments (Trigeorgis & Reuer, 2017). The new structure will allow the citizens to elect a city governor who acts as the chief executive officer and is mandated to manage and control the happenings in the city. As Pammer (2015) correctly identifies in his video most Records and elections services will hold more responsibility, such as managing the information systems and library services. The assistant manager will, however, retain the executive duties such as managing finance, housing, and economic developments. As discussed by Tolbert & Hall (2015), the new structure has clear reporting frameworks and avoidance of any confusion that was evident in the previous structure. The Assistant manager could easily bypass much information brought to his attention due to the high number of people reporting to his office. It will be easy to manage resources and time under the new structure.
Community & Cultural Services
Big Blue Bus
Fire
Police
Planning & Community Development
Library
Information Systems
Finance
Assistant City Manager
Attorney General
Human Resources
Records and Election Services
City Manager
City Council Board
Elected City Chief Executive Director
Public Works
Housing and Economic Development
Question 3
The new organization will have a significant impact on financial accountability at the organization. The harmonization of services and department will reduce the financial misappropriations in the departments. For instance, with a commanding chief executive officer at the help, answering if the questions will be made more accessible ( Wachs, 2012) . The audit report generated and shred by the finance department under the supervision of the assistant manager will be shared with the city council board members for verifications and appropriations. The placement of housing and community development and housing and economic development under public works will ease the burden of having to budget for the progress at the airport.
At the same time, the police department's positioning under the attorney general docket will allow for rhea use of implementation of law and order in a legal manner. The financial coordination between these departments will be improved through the observation of the legal, financial regulation mechanisms ( Tolbert & Hall, 2015) . The fire and big blue bus departments under the police department will ease the financial burden as they can share the fiscal allocations.
Question 4
The executive director has massive authority at hand. Being at the helm of the City of Santa Monica management, the director needs to exhibit a high level of analytical skills. The director needs to be able to examine situations and to make a proper decision concerning the organization's direction (Tompkins, 2005). In some cases, the director needs to have a prop understanding of financial and audit reports to enable him to commit more resources to the development or reduce the degree of expenditure.
Owing to the level of suspicion by the citizens towards the city council board, the leader needs to show the most significant level of charisma. The director needs to bridge the gap of understanding between the city and citizens and the management (Fernandez, Noble, Jensen & Steffen, 2015). Through strategic thinking, proper representation, experience, and organizational influence are some of the necessary skills that the director needs to exhibit in managing airport development ( Tompkins, 2005) . With the new structural changes, the director's work is well worked out for him with proper communication channels and accountability at all levels.
References
Fernandez, C. S., Noble, C. C., Jensen, E., & Steffen, D. (2015). Moving the needle: A retrospective pre-and post-analysis of improving perceived abilities across 20 leadership skills. Maternal and Child Health Journal , 19 (2), 343-352.
Pammer, W. (2015). Reforming organizational structure and leadership: The case of the airport. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggwVVzstJSs
Tolbert, P. S., & Hall, R. H. (2015). Organizations: Structures, processes, and outcomes . Routledge.
Tompkins, J. (2005). Organization theory and public management . Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Trigeorgis, L., & Reuer, J. J. (2017). Real options theory in strategic management. Strategic Management Journal , 38 (1), 42-63.
Wachs, M. (2012). Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO) Options for the Future.
