The organizational analysis is a process of reviewing the work environment, development, operation of the business, personnel, or any other form of association. In essence, a fundamental theory that addresses or supports organizational analysis is the Five Competitive Forces theory by Michael Porter (Kumar, 2018). According to the theorist, the five competing forces include competition, customers, suppliers, substitute products, and potential new entrants. In the current business environment, any idea can be copied, mimicked, or improved. For instance, Instagram copied the face filter initially developed by Snapchat. To this end, good management or organization has to be competent in coping with competition as part of the organization’s strategy.
The theory can be applied in any industry be it consumer-based or service industry since the five forces mentioned above are relevant to any business. However, the theory can best be applied in a consumer product industry such as the electronics industry or even the social media industry as alluded to above. The theory’s central focus is competition and how the five forces shape the nature and structure of competitive interaction within a specific industry. Porter asserted that for the best practice to succeed and gain a substantial competitive advantage, organizations have to preserve and maintain what is distinctive about them or to them. Indeed, this can be construed to mean that an organization has to maintain its culture which is significantly kept alive by the organization’s design. As such, this would mean to redesign and perform similar activities and tasks in a different way or incorporate a new model that will ensure that the organization performs different activities from its rival. Nonetheless, the organizational structure has to be in tandem with the organization’s strategies, values, objectives, and processes.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
At the core of enhancing industry performance is making use of knowledge as intellectual capital. In essence, knowledge is the central source of wealth and power in business and society in general. Knowledge management has thus become a common aspect in the local and global environments. This is achieved through the market and financial analyses such as the balance of trade that determines economic performance based on the difference between the value of exports and imports. This has been observed in the trade war between the US and China where Trump’s administration has used the balance of trade statistics to justify the Trump protective tariffs as a protectionist approach.
Another best practice for industries to bolster their performance is the incorporation of communication technologies such as emails, chatting platforms, and visual media. According to Capella University (2001), new business realities such as net communications provide extensive networked communications not only in the businesses but also the society thereby forming new forms of communities. Furthermore, these new and emergent communications are transforming both the messages and messengers in the newly developed communities. This phenomenon is epitomized by the social media and the pertinent platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn among others where communication to the customers and the suppliers has become easier. Through these platforms, a brand community can easily be created to market the organization’s brand.
A shift in business mindset such as through a redesign of the organizational structure could bolster the performance of the organization. In essence, the change can be in the form of adopting new communication techniques. According to Thinking Habits of Mind, Heart, and Imagination (2018), effective communication, especially in a teamwork environment can fundamentally create new understandings, new realities, and new possibilities. Every organization desires to develop a culture of teamwork and cohesion among its employees. However, this may not happen as initially intended. To this end, an organization could decide to enforce this concept through a redesign that allows for collaborative competition among its employees, which subsequently improves performance. Collaborative competition thus culminates in collaborative teamwork, an aspect that refers to collaborating as a single unit to achieve common purpose or objective by integrating personal initiative and group cooperation (Thinking Habits of Mind, Heart, and Imagination, 2018).
Also, a mindset change can be in the form of system dynamics which results in transformative change. The business environment in any industry is constantly changing with new system dynamics that are speeded up or disrupted time and again. An organization in such an industry might decide to undertake transformative change as part of its strategy. The rationale behind such a shift in mindset is the new realization or understanding that change as a process is constant as the new sciences of chaos and complexity develop (Acapella University, 2012). Therefore, businesses and industries need to adapt to new changes in the development of business concepts and new definitions of preexisting concepts.
Also, a mindset shift to meet new socio-cultural expectations could result in a transformative change culminating in the acquisition of new stakeholders. In essence, new stakeholders could have new and better information on how the organization should conduct and perform to positively impact the society. Managers, therefore, need to realize such opportunities for new stakeholders as a means of providing wise management and leadership within the organization.
Redesigning an existing organization means that the organization’s culture and business strategies do not change. While undertaking a redesign, it is prudent to maintain the employees’ culture within the organization. After the analysis that identifies the dysfunctional or faltering systems or structures of the organization, the most prudent and essential subsequent step is informing the employees about the redesign. Ideally, this would be done by conducting an organization-wide staff meeting graced by junior and senior management. The senior management, through the HR, will explain to the employees why the redesign is taking place, the objectives of the redesign, and the expected outcomes. The point of this meeting and subsequent updates it to maintain calm and inspire positivity among the employees to support the restructuring. In essence, for the redesign to work, the entire organization has to be on the same page and move in the same direction as a single unit. The best way is to psych up the employees to support the process and ultimately gravitate towards its success.
The purpose of the redesign as explained to the employees is to realign the dysfunctional or failing systems rather than repealing them to fit the new business realities and goals. A task force would be put in place to implement the redesign based on the gapping or failing systems of the organization. Other than defining the strategies needed to ensure the success of the redesign, assessing the talents of every employee within the organization would be pivotal in determining whether a new organizational structure is required or layoffs are necessary to fit the new realities. Alternatively, assessing the skill gap could also determine whether a training program is needed to fill the gap or to hire new employees. As such, new roles will be highlighted and new communication channels will be defined.
Notably, if a new organizational structure is required, then new managerial positions have to be defined thereby enabling better communication between the employees and the management. Nevertheless, since the aim of the organization is to promote collaborative teamwork and competition, horizontal communication will be essential. This can be achieved by implementing the Flatarchy organizational structure that not only opens up channels of communication both horizontally and vertically but also promotes collaboration within the organization. Additionally, this structure beneficially allows for the learning process or continuous learning to take place whereby the partnership enables employees to gain experience and skills from their peers. Ultimately, evaluating the success of the redesign is necessary. Achieving this could be accomplished through employee surveys that inquire about the new design in relation to its merits and drawbacks. Furthermore, ROI could be notable in demonstrating the success of the redesign. If the ROI is higher than before, it means the performance has increased, and the redesign was a success.
References
Capella University. (2018). New Business Realities of the 21st Century.
Kumar, V. (2018). 8 Famous Theories Every CEO Should Know About How to Manage a Company. Entrepreneur’s Handbook . Retrieved from https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/8-famous-theories-every-ceo-should-know-about-how-to-manage-a-company-c4e3eda1192
Thinking Habits of Mind, Heart, and Imagination. (2018).
