Behemoth Corporation Case Study

Behemoth Corporation Is a matrix a good choice for Behemoth? Advise Rawling on the possible advantages and disadvantages of adopting this organizational structure. The global environment for business is evolving rapidly in a dynamic and mostly unpredictable manner. It is difficult to predict many of the global trends because of the level of complexity that is involved in business. In this environment, there is one set of pressures that pushes organizations towards standardization of processes.

If an organization can standardize its business processes then it can maintain a largely centralized control structure, create quantities of scale, and reduce transaction costs. However, standardization fails in many applications. There are also different pressures that arise from regional preferences and cultural differences that often make standardization incredibly difficult. There are two basic approaches to management in international organizations as well as different combinations of these approaches as well.

Some organizations will operate international operations independently of the parent organization and the subsidiary may operate with a completely different operating structure. This is a fairly common practice because labor conditions and consumer preferences are often vastly different in foreign regions of the globe However, maintaining two sets of operating practices between the parent and the subsidiary does not effectively exploit quantities of scale. Whenever companies can use the same systems to manage their business operations they can often reduce things such as transaction costs and improve certain efficiencies.

For example, ERP software have been successfully used to redesign international operations and gain more efficiency; especially in regards to transaction costs. Behemoth considers some of its core competencies to be high quality technology, large but nimble production capabilities, and a large degree of decentralization that allows the company to be more innovative in design. The CEO, Rawling Dough, believes that a matrix structure would be the most ideal organizational structure to maintain these competencies in the international market.

The matrix structure offers many advantages by allowing the organization to group people and resources both by function and by product. The hierarchical structure in these organizations is relatively flat which can make it more responsive to its customers and changing market conditions. The matrix can be customized to be based off whatever products and functional divisions that the organization deems most relevant.

Members of such an organizational structure are often called "two-boss employees" because they have to report to not only their functional manager but their product team manager as well (Kubasek, Brennan, & Browne, 2015, p. 426). Despite technically having two bosses to report to, the team framework is the basic organizational framework for this design. Teams coordinate much of the daily activities themselves which would also allow the organization to stay nimble and flexible.

Since the structure is largely flat, this will improve the lines of communication by streamlining much of the hierarchy that would normally be found in such an international organization. 2) Assuming that Rawling decides to go ahead with a matrixed organization, describe to him, at a high level, what such an organization might look like in terms of business units and spans of control. The business units would likely be cross-functional in nature. Each team would have members from many different business functions represented.

For example, there may be one member from sales and marketing, another from accounting, another from research and development, and so forth. This would make individual team highly effective since they could operate semi-autonomously and still have all of the different functional business represented in some fashion. Each individual team would have a certain specialization or objective. For example, one matrix unit might be located in China and be responsible for manufacturing specific components for semi-finished products.

Another team might be in Germany and be responsible for engineering design, research, and development. The functional matrices could be designed in a way that could harness the individual competencies of the region or group of employees. This would allow the organization to take full advantage of its resources. Although the matrices could be spread out in diverse geographic regions, the relatively flat organizational structure would still allow for streamlined communications. This is one of the primary advantages of the matrix structure.

Given that the teams would have a cross-functional composition, it allows for quick communication and feedback which also allow the teams to quickly develop its members (Kubasek, Brennan, & Browne, 2015, p. 427). For example, a member within sales and/or marketing might be able to explain to an engineer how the end consumer would likely view their design. They could do this during a team meeting and provide the designer insights that could help shape the design early in the process. This can be a cost-effective way to design products.

For example, if an engineer can quickly gain feedback from a marketing professional, then they can eliminate many time consuming missteps in the process as well as save time. Although the matrix structure has many advantages, there are also risks associated with trying to implement this organizational structure. Although teams can.