Strategic Management: Structure, Culture & Corporate Strategy

Manager, Management, and Organization

In an organizational setting, strategy has always been more of a high-stakes game in which the management team identifies the company's mission and makes important decisions that focus all of the company's capital, resources, and energy toward its attainment. Given the dynamic nature of the current business environment, managers need to constantly analyze their internal and external environments to avoid losing customers to the competition and losing grip of their market share. This paper evaluates the importance of managers to an organization, the importance of organizational structure and culture, and the formulation of corporate strategies.

To understand the operations in any business environment, it is important to define a manager, management, and an organization. An organization can be defined as a group of people who work together in a coordinated and structured manner to achieve a set of goals, which may range from profits and knowledge to social satisfaction or even national defense. According to Griffin (2013), most people in the United States are born in an organization — a hospital — gain knowledge in an organization — a school — and depend on organizations for income and sustainability for the rest of their lives.

The Significance of Managers in Achieving Organizational Success

A manager is the individual in charge of a particular department or business, whose main function is to oversee the work of others and to make the necessary decisions to ensure that the organization runs smoothly. Management, on the other hand, is the function tasked with the responsibility of coordinating the efforts of all managers and employees in the organization, with the aim of accomplishing its set objectives and goals. Management activities include planning, leading, organizing, motivating, staffing, coordinating, controlling, and delegating duties to managers and employees accordingly (Montana and Charnov, 2008).

Managers are an indispensable part of any organization because they greatly contribute toward maximizing efficiency and achieving organizational goals. Consider Google, Inc. as an example. Google believes that its managers have the greatest impact on the performance of employees and on how satisfied those employees are with their work. The company even launched a project dubbed Project Oxygen in an attempt to establish what would have a greater impact on its future — not a new app or algorithm, but building better bosses. Some of the key ways managers contribute to organizational success are outlined below.

Managers get work done by communicating what needs to be accomplished and guiding employees in doing it. They identify new opportunities and put the necessary plans in place for their implementation. At Google, managers are expected to have a clear vision and strategy for their teams. They play a significant role in keeping teams focused on the main goals and helping them progress toward their attainment.

Problems are bound to occur in the day-to-day activities of any organization, and employees need people who will help them work through certain roadblocks. Managers are typically equipped with the required problem-solving skills, and they reduce time wastage that might otherwise affect the productivity of the organization. Google requires its managers to have the skills to help their teams when needed, and they are also expected to use their seniority to remove barriers that may arise.

When employees are motivated by their managers, they are more satisfied with their jobs. This satisfaction increases their performance and productivity, which ultimately leads to better organizational outcomes. Managers at Google make an effort to get to know their employees outside of work and often strive to make them feel appreciated. They hold regular one-on-one sessions with their teams and offer tailored solutions to individual problems, which also highlights each employee's strengths. This approach is a key reason why Google is recognized as one of the best employers in terms of employee satisfaction — a factor that has contributed greatly to its overall success.

How Company Size and Strategy Affect Organizational Structure

Every manager at Google is responsible for their team. They are expected to be results-oriented and productive at all times in order to channel employees' efforts toward the achievement of organizational goals. When managers reconcile the organization's interests with the personal interests of employees, the result is greater productivity and better performance overall.

A company's organizational structure identifies the levels of hierarchy within the organization and the systems put in place to ensure effective task allocation, supervision, and coordination. It also identifies formal reporting relationships (Daft, 2013). Organizational structure is typically represented in an organizational chart and is essential because it groups people into departments and establishes a clear chain of command.

The size of a company has a significant effect on its organizational structure. Small companies, such as sole proprietorships, do not require complex organizational structures because the owners often make most of the decisions and there are fewer employees who are relatively easy to manage. A larger organization needs a more clearly defined structure to allow all its components to communicate effectively and work in a coordinated manner. For example, due to its large size, Walmart employs a formal bureaucratic structure with three operating divisions: store operations, real estate, and logistics. The unified team of leaders overseeing these three divisions is further divided according to the geographic location of the business units — north, west, and south. The company utilizes both functional and geographic departmentalization, and the chain of command is clear, running from the top of the organization to the bottom.

The strategies an organization applies to outperform the competition and attain its goals also affect its organizational structure. A good example is BP, a key player in the oil industry. For a long time, BP's growth strategy had involved aggressive efforts such as drilling the deepest wells and exploring the toughest territories (Daft, 2013). However, these strategies eventually failed to deliver results. When the new CEO, Robert Dudley, took over in 2010, he first made structural changes in order to rebuild investor trust and change how the company operated. He split production and exploration into three separate divisions to make them more effective. To correct the corrupted chain of command, he then established a global safety division with the authority to challenge risky decisions made by management. These structural changes are credited with much of BP's subsequent recovery. Strategy and structure are therefore interdependent, and an organization must integrate its strategies with its structure in order to achieve its goals, objectives, and mission.

Conclusion

Management is more than the supervision and guidance of employees; it is most effective when it coordinates employee efforts and formulates strategies in line with an organization's vision, mission, and objectives. For better organizational performance, managers must be fully aware of the role they play in achieving organizational success and must determine the structure that is most appropriate and productive for their context. It is also essential that the organization follows the strategic management process when formulating strategies, and that its organizational culture genuinely reflects its core values.