Organizational Analysis -- National Pesto an Organization

Organizational Analysis -- National Pesto

An organization is a structure that comes together for a collective goal. There are a variety of types of organizations, both public and private, but from a process perspective, and organization is something that focuses on an agreed upon set of tasks or actions. There are four major types of organizations, pyramids or hierarchies, committees or juries, matrix, and ecological organizations.

Pyramids/Hierarchies -- are organizations with a leader at the top and a support staff. This is the typical office bureaucracy, and it is very structured.

Committees/Juries -- committees and juries operate as a group of peers who make decisions collectively, perhaps by voting. Often these types of groups need some structure (e.g. Robert's Rules of Order) to prevent discussions from devolving into non-action.

Matrix Management -- matrix organizations has a functional hierarchy based on expertise. Thus, one individual might have two or more supervisors, and the reporting lines work in tandem to provide overall support to the organizations goals.

Ecological Organizations -- this type of organization is based on nature -- the strong survive, the weak die. Intense competiton is the operative; weak parts starve, strong parts are rewarded. These types of organizations tend to be more autonomous, but with the right leadership can thrive (Lester and Parnell, 2006).

Within each of these broad organizational types, of course, there are a large number of theoretical approaches that focus on why the organization is functional or not. Our analysis will focus on a single organization, National Pesto Industries, and will adopt the Open Systems approach, seeing National Pesto as a social system that is both dependent and interdependent within the environment (niche) of its market.

National Pesto- National Presto Industries was founded in 1905 in Eua Claire, Wisconsin. It was oringially called the Northwestern Stell and Iron Works, then the National Pressure Cooker Company, and by 1939 became National Presto and was admitted to the New York Stock Exchange in 1969. The present company is divided into three business segments: Housewares and Small Appliances that designed and markets small appliances including pressure cookers under the Presto brand; the Defense segment that produces ordnance and ammunition products, primarily for the U.S. Government; and the Absorbent segment, primarily engaged in the manufacture of private lable adult incontinence products. The company closed defense operations in 1992 but returned to that segment in 2001 and in 2009 obtained more than $650 million in U.S. government contracts. It was also in 2001 that the company acquired RMED International and created the Absorbant Products Division. Revenues for 2010 were $479 million with a net earnings statement of $63.5 million (gopresto.com). Forbes ranked the company as number seven in it Top 100 Best Small companies, showing a 27% sales growth and a 39% return on investment. The company's stock prices remain stable, showing a prift margin of almost 13%, and an employ base of just over 1,000. The company shows good cash flow, ending the 2010-year with about $50 million in cash, allowing investments of almost $25 million during 1Q 2011, but with a significant decrease in outstanding liabilities. The company remains well poised for growth and was able to weather the recession of 2006-2009 quite well and remain not only profitable, but a desirable investment (National Presto, Forbes, 2010).