Question 1: What organizational structure best describes Big Tech, Inc.?
Big Tech, Inc. uses a mechanistic structure as its organizational structure. The business is highly centralized and formalized, culminating in a bureaucratic atmosphere. Staff are offered detailed job descriptions that underline their responsibilities. Based on the description, my role is to gather, evaluate, and recommend based on my observations. The guidelines are precise and direct, leaving no space for creativity or innovation. The communication is formal because the staff is expected to generate a report for their supervisor, who then transmits them to her superiors. Formalization is shown in work hours, where the working time is so vigorously implemented that it is rare for a worker to remain later than the set regular hours. Formalization makes a staff predictable, so the company’s business is relatively routine and resistant to change. As a result, personnel are not authorized to socialize with their coworkers to focus on their positions. Daily meetings with the manager are held, as are weekly status updates.
The mechanistic structure is characterized by centralization, in which decision-making authority is confined at higher levels of the company. Decision-making in Big Tech is made at the company’s top hierarchy and conveyed to subordinate levels of the company. There is no communication between the upper and lower levels. The corporation discourages innovation by curtailing its workers’ autonomy and self-determination. To accomplish this, Big Tech dissuades employees from interacting directly with clients, but senior management oversees and directs lower-level management to ensure activities are appropriately conducted. Based on the Big Tech scenario, a mechanistic structure reduces costs. The corporation does not prioritize intrinsic employees’ motivation, which would involve the organization permitting autonomy and self-determination. Big Tech gives top executives preference since they are hard to replace.
Question 2: Based on your response to Question 1, how should you behave to gain the trust of your manager and advance your career? What does Big Tech’s structure tell you about what is expected of an early career Big Tech employee?
The mechanistic structure believes that employees will abide by the existing procedures. As a result, in an attempt to acquire my supervisor’s trust and develop my career in Big Tech, which has a mechanistic structure, I should learn everything expected of me in the company. Knowing my responsibilities is critical because the company is centralized and institutionalized. Moreover, I should adhere to the established communication protocols. Minimizing interruptions and internalizing the organization’s systems and processes would help me progress in my profession. If I have ideas or changes that will assist the organization in achieving the set objectives, I should work my way up the hierarchy using formal communication channels. Since I have specific job descriptions that underline my responsibilities, I should pursue them and succeed at them.
The mechanistic structure of Big Tech denies early-career staff autonomy and self-determination. Senior management is involved in making important decisions. Personnel at the lower level in a mechanistic structure are expected to execute their responsibilities as instructed by the supervisors and then submit their work for confirmation. They should not go far beyond what is required of them. As a result, as an early-career worker, I should carry out all duties assigned to me in the manner stipulated in the company’s contractual agreement. In addition, I should endeavour to be committed to my assigned mandates and accomplish them in the shortest possible time frame. My manager’s supervision will be reduced as a result. The manager would also have more confidence and trust in me, leading to a favourable recommendation within the company’s departments. A mechanistic structure rewards employees who can recognize and respect their supervisor and their determinations and follow communication channels.
Question 3: After one year at Big Tech, you feel that you have proven yourself. As an enthusiastic employee with energy, new ideas, and the desire to make an impact. You notice several areas for improvement and inefficiencies that can be remedied. You set up a meeting with your manager to make a formal presentation to communicate your ideas and suggestions for improvement. How is your manager likely to respond to your presentation? Was this a good idea om your part?
My supervisor at Big Tech, which has a centralized structure, is likely to be skeptical or dismissive of my propositions. This is attributed to the mechanistic structure’s rigidity and reluctance to changes. As a result, the framework dissuades individual initiative, especially among employees. Lack of sovereignty and self-determination would also have a major impact on the manager’s response. As a result, fresh ideas and suggestions are more likely to be ignored because they will likely trigger changes. Any alteration in a formalized establishment is likely to interrupt many things, which could be costly to a corporation. This is since processes, job descriptions, and other organizational functions centered on mechanistic structures are published.
Such proposals are likely to personify the staff as unforeseeable, resulting in inconsistent behavior and attitude. This is in contrast to a highly formalized mechanistic structure. Workers in such a company are expected to refer to protocol guidelines anytime they encounter problems while executing their mandate. This means that fresh ideas and suggestions are not authorized as they will interrupt normal operations. The behavior of offering recommendations could also be construed as a lack of awareness. The worker may emerge to be oblivious of their obligations. Change propositions in Big Tech, which has a mechanistic structure, will be construed as an infringement of the framework due to its centralized control. Because decision-making power is focused at the higher levels of a centralized system, recommendations from employees are unlikely to be considered literally (Ahmady, Mehrpour & Nikooravesh, 2016). It also might go unnoticed because decisions are made from top to bottom. Any recommendation that does not abide by the format might well be regarded as invalid and thus quashed by top leadership.
Question 4: What is likely to happen to Big Tech if smaller competitors with new technologies based on artificial intelligence enter the market so that they can do what Big Tech does faster, cheaper, and as accurately? How will Big Tech respond?
Big Tech is likely to shift from a mechanistic to an organic structure. Big Tech would need more innovations to achieve a competitive edge over smaller competitors with technological advances. Because technology is constantly changing, the corporation requires an organizational framework that enhances innovation and creativity. Because the mechanistic structure is rigid, it allows for transformation, independence, and self-determination, enabling development. The organic structure is less intricate, more flexible, decentralized, and formalized to a lower extent. The organic structure is less intricate, more versatile, decentralized, and formalized to a lesser extent. The structure is better suited to a dynamic market. The organic structure has features that enable a company to address previously unseen issues and concerns, which is not a highly formalized mechanistic framework. The framework encourages autonomy and self-determination, which facilitates decision-making at a most basic level. The organic structure has an informal communication system that allows more adaptable and fluid interaction to guarantee information sharing among different departments (Kessler Nixon & Nord, 2017). There is also an increase in employee relations, which leads to flat reporting.
Decision-making in flat reporting are mostly made by unanimous agreement among groups rather than by individual managers or a few individuals at a superior stage. As a result, the corporation will be able to respond to its clients’ demands.Employee job descriptions are broader in organic structures, allowing staff to execute their roles based on customer demand. The structure also encourages creativity because employees are urged to take on responsibilities and roles based on their skills and knowledge. Workers in an organic structural system collaborate in groups identified as action units. Units and personnel are interdependent, and they must work collaboratively to generate ideas to improve an organization. Personnel at that level can create innovations that resolve consumer demands. Employees are involved in decision-making both unofficially and officially.
