Leadership and Organizational Behavior
Smith & Falmouth is a television shopping and mail order network with operations in the United States and Canada. S& F. Online is the electronic commerce division of this corporation. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of S& F. Online is Irene Seagraves. I play the role of the newly selected Chief Operating Officer (COO) to Miss Seagroves. Reporting to the COO is James Argyle, Project Manager, Brian Kervor, Logistics Manager, and Adam Searle, Marketing Manager. A Web development team reports to James and a Logistics team reports to Brian.
The organizational structure of S& F. Online might be described as of a functional model, in the sense that it has a specific corporate structure, a regimented division of labor, and hierarchical paths of communication -- comparable, one might say to many large corporations in the military precision of its standard operating procedures, albeit on a much smaller scale.
Online is quite simple and logical in its standard operating procedures and organizational structures because the operation has a small number of employees and the need hierarchy is minimal. However, the organizational structure of S& F. Online does not perfectly fit what is known as a hierarchical or functional, model since the roles of the employees are extremely segmented and specialized by necessity.
Thus, one could also argue that the company's organizational structure is a team-based structure. S& F. Online uses two specialized work teams organized around specific work processes. However, both teams are not self-directed and report to separate managers (McShane & Von Glinow, 2004, pp. 455, 456, & 461.). Additionally, as an organization's informal culture can have an influence on how employees trust their managers, how managers trust managers, and how managers trust…
