Balancing differentiation & Integration
Bebbington Industries operates out of one sole location, located in the Burnside Business Park in Dartmouth Nova Scotia. Prior to operating out of the current location, Tony had a small warehouse set up in the Bedford area of Halifax Regional Municipality, where he and his employees would physically undergo the entire conversion process of the products. Due to the growth of the business, Tony purchased a much larger location (current location) where he could hire on a few more employees and begin to divide the labor and create functions.
Bebbington Industries being a small/medium sized business, their resources are financially limited and therefore as a manager Tony has several constraints to implementing an effective design. The functions that Tony has divided the operations into consist of shipping & receiving, packaging & labeling, Inventory management, account manager, general administration, mixing of chemicals (manufacturing), and operations/sales (Tony). Generally, one person takes care of each function on a full time basis with the support of temporary workers (exception being the manufacturing). The functions at Bebbington Industries operate in sequential task interdependence, as once the chemicals are mixed into large quantities; they are forwarded along to packaging and labeling, which then forward the products along to shipping and the excess going into inventory etc. (See Appendix 1). The ‘front of house’ operations are responsible to document operations in order to determine a budget for salaries and business operations, as well as organizing pay roll and finances.
Tony, being a hands-on type manager and owner, assumes the role of marketing, promotions and securing new contracts- while trying to manage and oversee day-to-day operations. Currently, there is high task interdependence at Bebbington Industries, as one function cannot operate with out the function prior completing their tasks. For a small/medium-sized business operating out of a single location, the integration of functions is minimal, unless an issue occurs. According to Tony, the direct contact between employees of different functions is minimal and efficiency would be drastically improved if integration increased. Besides the Chemist’s that are in charge of following the chemical recipes to convert the raw materials (chemicals) into finished product, the other functions do not require specialized education or work experience. Tony believes that units such a task force or specified liaison roles (floor managers) would help over see efficient operations but also believes that he doesn’t have the available time to act as an integrating role and can not quantify the additional expense in outsourcing such roles. Since each function is self-managed to a certain extent, Tony has had problems emphasizing the importance of integration between said functions. For example, at times, shipping and receiving may not have much work at hand- yet packaging and labeling is overwhelmed with products to prepare for sale, slowing the entire conversion process.
Tony believes that the integration issues that occur can be attributed to poor job design and job description. When hiring, Tony is very specific about the job tasks that he is hiring for and doesn’t mention that there may be some cross-functional work involved, therefore the employees generally expect to only be responsible for their specific function as opposed to the overall performance of the organization and are reluctant to communicate with the other functions unless an issue occurs. This has caused a dilemma in the form of subunit orientation.
Going forward, Tony has plans to re-design the organization in order to integrate cross-functional employees. Tony believes that since the few employees he has have been with the organization for a majority of its existence, that they will be highly resistant to changing their current job designs, disrupting operations, which are already at capacity.
Balancing Centralization & Decentralization
Bebbington Industries employs a decentralized structure. The organizational structure is only three levels vertically at most (see Appendix 2), as Tony delegates each function power to make important decisions regarding their tasks. The average employee at Bebbington Industries has spent 7.5 years with the organization that has only been established for 23 years and Tony has found that empowering the employees has been a successful strategy thus far. Tony assumes responsibility and risk of the final say of major decisions that affect the company as a whole, but will allow each function to make day-to-day decisions that affect their own unit with out having to consult with him. Tony believes that his decentralized approach has been a factor in the subunit orientation of the employees, and believes that in order to increase integration, he may need to balance more towards centralization in the redesigning phase, to minimize resistance.
According to Tony, operations at Bebbington Industries have plateaued as of recent years due to the organization operating at/near full capacity. In order for the organization to grow, Tony wants Bebbington Industries to either expand and open up another location or move into a larger location. Either route will require the organization to restructure, more than likely becoming more vertical as new employees will need to be hired and trained. Tony expressed that he has interests in growing the organization, but does not want to jeopardize the existing culture by redesigning jobs and restructuring the hierarchy.
Balancing Standardization & Mutual Adjustment
According to Tony there is a fair balance of standardization and mutual adjustment at Bebbington Industries. Although Tony allows for each function head to make decisions affecting their unit, a majority of the functions are objectively standardized meaning that the actions and outcomes are predictable (Jones, 2010). The manufacturing (main function) would not be considered standardized and involves high mutual adjustment. Bebbington’s generally has 2-4 chemists that are in charge of mixing the required ingredients to create the products that the company sells. Large portions of these raw materials are dangerous to handle unless one possesses a degree in the field combined with lab experience. The chemists often run into issues with certain ingredients (chemicals) having short shelf life, or only being available in certain quantities so therefore will alter what products are to be produced on any given day. This often modifies expected inventory levels and product availability. A large aspect of the chemists jobs rely on them using their judgment in determining what needs to be prepared, when, and how much of it, which is very important as it is the first step of the conversion process at Bebbington Industries.
The mutual adjustment of the other functions is very low compared to the manufacturing department. Bebbington Industries relies on programmed technological equipment in the packaging, shipping/receiving, inventory management, and manufacturing departments, which increases standardization. The manufacturing department has several other variable tasks that machines cannot standardize at Bebbington’s.
Bebbington Industries operates out of one sole location, located in the Burnside Business Park in Dartmouth Nova Scotia. Prior to operating out of the current location, Tony had a small warehouse set up in the Bedford area of Halifax Regional Municipality, where he and his employees would physically undergo the entire conversion process of the products. Due to the growth of the business, Tony purchased a much larger location (current location) where he could hire on a few more employees and begin to divide the labor and create functions.
Bebbington Industries being a small/medium sized business, their resources are financially limited and therefore as a manager Tony has several constraints to implementing an effective design. The functions that Tony has divided the operations into consist of shipping & receiving, packaging & labeling, Inventory management, account manager, general administration, mixing of chemicals (manufacturing), and operations/sales (Tony). Generally, one person takes care of each function on a full time basis with the support of temporary workers (exception being the manufacturing). The functions at Bebbington Industries operate in sequential task interdependence, as once the chemicals are mixed into large quantities; they are forwarded along to packaging and labeling, which then forward the products along to shipping and the excess going into inventory etc. (See Appendix 1). The ‘front of house’ operations are responsible to document operations in order to determine a budget for salaries and business operations, as well as organizing pay roll and finances.
Tony, being a hands-on type manager and owner, assumes the role of marketing, promotions and securing new contracts- while trying to manage and oversee day-to-day operations. Currently, there is high task interdependence at Bebbington Industries, as one function cannot operate with out the function prior completing their tasks. For a small/medium-sized business operating out of a single location, the integration of functions is minimal, unless an issue occurs. According to Tony, the direct contact between employees of different functions is minimal and efficiency would be drastically improved if integration increased. Besides the Chemist’s that are in charge of following the chemical recipes to convert the raw materials (chemicals) into finished product, the other functions do not require specialized education or work experience. Tony believes that units such a task force or specified liaison roles (floor managers) would help over see efficient operations but also believes that he doesn’t have the available time to act as an integrating role and can not quantify the additional expense in outsourcing such roles. Since each function is self-managed to a certain extent, Tony has had problems emphasizing the importance of integration between said functions. For example, at times, shipping and receiving may not have much work at hand- yet packaging and labeling is overwhelmed with products to prepare for sale, slowing the entire conversion process.
Tony believes that the integration issues that occur can be attributed to poor job design and job description. When hiring, Tony is very specific about the job tasks that he is hiring for and doesn’t mention that there may be some cross-functional work involved, therefore the employees generally expect to only be responsible for their specific function as opposed to the overall performance of the organization and are reluctant to communicate with the other functions unless an issue occurs. This has caused a dilemma in the form of subunit orientation.
Going forward, Tony has plans to re-design the organization in order to integrate cross-functional employees. Tony believes that since the few employees he has have been with the organization for a majority of its existence, that they will be highly resistant to changing their current job designs, disrupting operations, which are already at capacity.
Balancing Centralization & Decentralization
Bebbington Industries employs a decentralized structure. The organizational structure is only three levels vertically at most (see Appendix 2), as Tony delegates each function power to make important decisions regarding their tasks. The average employee at Bebbington Industries has spent 7.5 years with the organization that has only been established for 23 years and Tony has found that empowering the employees has been a successful strategy thus far. Tony assumes responsibility and risk of the final say of major decisions that affect the company as a whole, but will allow each function to make day-to-day decisions that affect their own unit with out having to consult with him. Tony believes that his decentralized approach has been a factor in the subunit orientation of the employees, and believes that in order to increase integration, he may need to balance more towards centralization in the redesigning phase, to minimize resistance.
According to Tony, operations at Bebbington Industries have plateaued as of recent years due to the organization operating at/near full capacity. In order for the organization to grow, Tony wants Bebbington Industries to either expand and open up another location or move into a larger location. Either route will require the organization to restructure, more than likely becoming more vertical as new employees will need to be hired and trained. Tony expressed that he has interests in growing the organization, but does not want to jeopardize the existing culture by redesigning jobs and restructuring the hierarchy.
Balancing Standardization & Mutual Adjustment
According to Tony there is a fair balance of standardization and mutual adjustment at Bebbington Industries. Although Tony allows for each function head to make decisions affecting their unit, a majority of the functions are objectively standardized meaning that the actions and outcomes are predictable (Jones, 2010). The manufacturing (main function) would not be considered standardized and involves high mutual adjustment. Bebbington’s generally has 2-4 chemists that are in charge of mixing the required ingredients to create the products that the company sells. Large portions of these raw materials are dangerous to handle unless one possesses a degree in the field combined with lab experience. The chemists often run into issues with certain ingredients (chemicals) having short shelf life, or only being available in certain quantities so therefore will alter what products are to be produced on any given day. This often modifies expected inventory levels and product availability. A large aspect of the chemists jobs rely on them using their judgment in determining what needs to be prepared, when, and how much of it, which is very important as it is the first step of the conversion process at Bebbington Industries.
The mutual adjustment of the other functions is very low compared to the manufacturing department. Bebbington Industries relies on programmed technological equipment in the packaging, shipping/receiving, inventory management, and manufacturing departments, which increases standardization. The manufacturing department has several other variable tasks that machines cannot standardize at Bebbington’s.