LDR 535 Wk 4 – Practice: Organizational Structure—Merging Corporate Differences

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1. Manager’s Hot Seat: Organizational Structure—Merging Corporate Differences

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Manager’s Hot Seat: Organizational Structure—Merging Corporate Differences

An organization needs a sound structure to coordinate its actions so that strategic goals can be achieved. Different companies and industries organize differently in order to meet the needs of their stakeholders. Though an organization’s structure is meant to facilitate operations and communications, there are times that it can actually impede its success.

National Bank and First American Bank merged to form First National Bank. The Vice President of Retail Banking comes from First American Bank while the Chief Operations Officer comes from National Bank. The COO and VP are meeting with First National Bank’s new President & CEO, who comes from neither predecessor bank.  The new bank is facing quite a few challenges including a decrease in the number of clients and deposits, and an increase in employee turnover. How is the leadership team handling this challenge? How would you?

Click the ► button to watch the video. Then, answer the questions that follow.

Charlotte complains that a lot of turnover is coming from branches that used to be First American before the merger. She claims that the employees there were not used to so much oversight. Based on this information, First American was most likely a(n) ______ organization.

Multiple Choice

organic

modular

integrated

mechanistic

high-context

Branch managers at First National Bank report to both a retail banking manager and a central operations officer. One of the managers is focused on sales and the other on control measures. What type of organizational structure does this most closely resemble?

Multiple Choice

horizontal

divisional

hollow

matrix

functional

Francisco’s subordinates are clashing over the fact that Dean believes in ______ authority while Charlotte is advocating for ______ authority.

Multiple Choice

decentralized; centralized

divisional; functional

• centralized; decentralized
• organic; mechanistic

matrix; functional

What can Francisco do to possibly solve the issue at hand?

Multiple Choice

Develop First National Bank into an integrated organization.

Develop First National Bank into a differentiated organization.

Mandate that transaction authority is fully centralized and that tellers cannot handle transactions over $5,000 without approval from central operations.

Turn First National Bank into a fully boundaryless organization.

Mandate that transaction authority is fully decentralized so tellers can handle transactions of any amount.

Dean brings up the ambiguity branch managers at First National Bank face. He believes senior leadership needs to make it clear what managers’ most important priorities are. This thinking most closely resembles which of the following principles?

Multiple Choice

In order for a company to be successful, there needs to be a coordinated effort.

Spans of about 7 to 10 subordinates are considered to be ideal.

If coordinated effort is to be achieved, some people—namely, managers—need to have more authority, or the right to direct the work of others.

There needs to be a link among strategy, culture, and structure.

Top managers need to first create structure, then develop a culture around that structure.