Organizational Behavior Case: The OutdatedStructure

Jake Harvey has a position on the corporate planning staff of alarge company in a high-technology industry. Although he has spentmost of his time on long-range, strategic planning for the company,he has been appointed to a task force to reorganize the company.The president and board of directors are concerned that they arelosing their competitive position in the industry because of anoutdated organization structure.

Being a planning expert, Jake convinced the task force that theyshould proceed by first determining exactly what type of structurethey have now, then determining what type of environment thecompany faces now and in the future, and then designing theorganization structure accordingly. In the first phase theydiscovered that the organization is currently along classicbureaucratic lines. In the second phase they found that they arecompeting in a highly dynamic, rapidly growing, and uncertainenvironment that requires a great deal of flexibility and responseto change.

Questions:

What type or types of organization design do you feel this taskforce should recommend in the third and final phase of the approachto their assignment? Justify your answer. (25 points)

Do you think Jake was correct in his suggestion of how the taskforce should proceed? What types of problems might develop asby-products of the recommendation you made in question 1. (25points)