As noted in the chapter, firms can have very distinctive cultures. Recall that Zappos has a standing offer to pay any new hire one month’s salary to quit the company after orientation. Zappos makes this offer to help ensure that those who stay with the company are comfortable in its “create fun and a little weirdness” environment. You may have taken a personality test such as Myers-Briggs or The Big Five. These tests may be useful in gauging compatibility of career and personality types. They are often available for both graduate and undergraduate students at university career placement centers. In considering the following questions, think about your next job and your longer-term career plans.

1. Review Exhibit 11.11 and circle the organizational characteristics you find appealing. Cross out those factors you think you would not like. Do you find a trend toward either the mechanistic or organic organization?

Exhibit 11.11

2. Have you been in school or work situations in which your values did not align with those of your peers or colleagues? How did you handle the situation? Are there certain values or norms important enough for you to consider as you look for a new job?

3. As you consider your career after graduation, which control-and-reward system would you find most motivating? Is this different from the controls used at some jobs you have had in the past? How do you think you would perform in a holacracy such as Zappos?

Transcribed Image Text:

Simple Structure Functional Structure Multidivisional Structure (M-Form) Matrix Structure Advantages • Fast decision-making • Nimble and responsive organization • Integration of expertise across areas • Given low bandwidth, organizations with simple structures are easily pushed into "crisis mode," requiring "all hands on deck" (i.e., everyone working long hours until project is completed) Clear, top-down lines of authority and decision making Deeper domain expertise • Higher productivity due to specialization and division of labor . • Responsive organization Accommodates growth (horizontal, vertical, and geographic) • Clear profit & loss responsibilities at SBU level, run by CEO or equivalent • Efficient processing of information • Allows for different competitive strategies at SBU-level, while integration takes place at corporate level • Accommodates growth (horizontal, vertical, and geographic) • Combines advantages of functional structure with M-Form Disadvantages • CEO overload • Lack of domain expertise in distinct business functions (e.g., accounting, finance, marketing. etc.) • Unable to accommodate growth No separation of strategic and day-to-day decision making Emergence of silos (i.e., no effective communication across different departments) • Growth is limited Employee alienation, especially in startups that move from simple structure to functional one • Additional layer of corporate hierarchy (i.e., corporate headquarters) when moving from functional to M-Form structure • SBUS stand in competition to one another • Political infighting Opportunistic behavior by SBUS Two layers of organizational structure create multiple principal-agent relationships Slow in decision making Potentially inaccurate performance appraisals Quite difficult to implement