Collapse Subdiscussion William Yaw Adufutse William Yaw Adufutse XXXXXXXXXX:45pm Aug 12 at 12:45pm Thank you Marcus for the discussion. Your statement "A well-managed network that shapes and outlines...

William Yaw Adufutse

Thank you Marcus for the discussion. Your statement "A well-managed network that shapes and outlines how activities and operations are planned, directed, and implemented to attain the objective is known as organizational structure." That is a part of organizational structure. There are other complex ones but for now this definition is fine.

So then Marcus, and Class, what is job design?

Thanks,

Courtney Schoultz

To ensure the success of organizational change, flexibility and adaptation is necessary form all parties involved. The structure that is most conductive to organizational change is the business unit model. In this structure, the employees take ownership of performance results. If change is needed, the employees are do what is necessary to make the change happen. According to Lawler and Worley (2006), “Particularly when business units have considerable autonomy, employees take ownership for results and willing adapt to change” (pg. 97). When employees own performance, an organization can set whatever expectations necessary to achieve organizational goals. In some cases, external factors determine performance. The business unit model accounts for market changes which will lead to adjustments within the organization. Local changes or competition changes can trigger a need for organizational change. When factoring in environmental factors, employees will adapt to external changes as well in order meet established goals. To easily adapt to change in a business unit model structure, it is important to gain feedback from the employees managing performance. Since the employees are responsible for the performance, it is necessary to understand what trends they are seeing while being on the frontline, or what suggestions that they may have to improve performance. Gaining and implementing feedback from employees can make change more adaptable. If employees feel that that have a say so in how the organization is being managed, they are usually more bought into whatever changes are being implemented.

References

Lawler, E.E. & Worley, C.G. (2006).
Built to change: How to achieve sustained organizational effectiveness.
New York, NY: Jossey-Bass.

Courtney Schoultz

Melanie Pendleton

State which structure you feel is most conducive to organizational change and why. Reflect on the following questions to guide your discussion.

When starting up any organization, the leaders will pick need to pick a structure. When selecting a structure, the leaders will want to pick not only a structure that meets the organization's current needs but one that allows change (Lawler and Worley, 2006). If the leaders choose a structure that does not permit or foster organizational change when the need for change comes, the leader will have to not only come up with the change but will need to change the structure as well.

The structure that an organization uses will depend upon the type of company or industry. Another thing to consider aside from the industry will be does the organization focus on external customers like Walmart, internal customers, or both external and internal customers like HyVee (Lawler and Worley, 2006). Hy-Vee focuses on both the customers who buy the products but the employees and stockholders.

I am using my current organization of Liberty Tax Service, which focuses on both external and internal customers. The organization has an IT department that is used by both the customers who opt to use eSmart to prepare their taxes as well as the franchisee and tax professional in the office using the tax preparation software called Drake. The current structure of Liberty Tax Service appears to be the “front-back structure.” The front-back structure has the front, which would be the customer-facing or the tax professionals who focus on the tax preparation and offering of services like the best way to receive their tax refund. While the back produces the products and services, the preparers offer to the client (Lawler and Worley, 2006).

The options we offer are paying the fees upfront, and the IRS will send the money directly to the client via check in the mail or direct deposit into the client’s bank. If the client does not have the money to pay the fees upfront, we offer what is called a bank product. If the client picks a bank product, the client then has the option of waiting until the IRS processes their return to receive their refund, or they could apply for an advance. An advance is a loan and subject to bank approval to receive some of their tax refunds within 48 hours of filing and the remaining within 21 days when the IRS processes the client's return.

Each tax season, the advance changes what the amount that the clients can apply for. Several years ago, there was only one option of an advance of $750; the next year, the option changed to offering no less than $500 up to $3,000. Each season corporate tells us what the amounts are as well as what the finance charges will be to the client. One year the advances had no finance charges for the clients we as the franchise paid the finance charges, but the next year the bank changed to some amounts having no finance changes and the franchise paying them and some that the client paid the finance charges. Each year we have an organizational change that involves which services we as preparers offer to our clients. Because the organizations use the front back structure, the implementation of the organizational change goes relatively well. The corporate office trains the franchisees on the services; the franchise goes back to their locations and trains the employees. In my franchise, my owner is trained by corporate, then teaches myself, and then I train our preparers.

How does structure determine performance?

When I train the employees, I have the duty of explaining everything to the preparers, so they are fully informed. Having each of my preparers fully informed allows them to feel confident when sitting in front of a client and explaining all the services we offer for received a tax refund. When the preparer is confident and can explain the services adequately, the clients feel at ease and confident that they have chosen a well-informed and competent tax preparation company and preparer. Happy clients make for client retention as well as bringing in new clients from customer referrals.

How would each structure adapt to change?

When implementing changes, all employees must be on board for the changes to work. If one of our preparers is not on board to offer the clients the bank products because they felt the bank products were too hard to explain and did not fully understand how to disclose them to the client. So the preparer only offers the pay upfront option the clients at the beginning of tax season will be left out, and the organization risks losing customers and revenue. If a client comes into an office and I offer the bank product that customer tells their brother and refers them to our company. The brother comes in, and another preparer who does not want to deal with bank products clients says the client will have to pay the fees upfront the brother leaves without filing their taxes. The brother then goes to his sister, who referred him, and she is upset, then does not return the next year as well as tells all her friends and family not to come to the company. Having a sound training program that each employee attends when implementing organizational changes will help first identify those who object to change. Those individuals will need to be either moved to another area or terminate their employment.

What can be done to make it more adaptable?

Ensuring the employees understand what the changes are as well as why the changes are being implemented will help the employees understand. When leaders see that changes need to be made, the leaders could call a meeting with the employee to allow the employees to give their input about what changes need to happen, why they need to happen, or why they feel the changes do not need to happen. Employees that can have input are more likely to adapt to the changes and help make the company thriving for many years.

Lawler, E. E., & Worley, C. G. (2006).Built to change: How to achieve sustained organizational effectiveness.New York, NY: Jossey-Bass.