Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: The Organizational Structure of Our Growing Business

This article relates to the organizational structure competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. It shows how structural concerns can affect the typical employee workday, as well as feelings towards your organization's management hierarchy and reporting structure. A healthy organizational structure is one that arranges the activities of the enterprise in such a way that they contribute to the goals of the organization. Specifically, this competency looks to see if your employees clearly understand who they report to, as well as measure their sense of accountability to the organization. Evaluating this competency can be especially useful if your organization has recently experienced an organizational restructuring or might be considering one in the future.

This short story, The Organizational Structure of our Growing Business, is part of AlphaMeasure's compilation, Tales From the Corporate Frontlines. It illustrates how business growth affects every employee in the organization and lists some signals that a review and revision of organizational structure is necessary.

Anonymous Submission

My brother and I own and operate a mid sized manufacturing business that was passed down to us by our elderly uncles. Over the years, the business has experienced significant growth. The workforce alone has doubled since we added four new production lines just a few years ago.

At that time, we hired a group of consultants to help us analyze and optimize the flow of work through the facility. The new processes and employees were integrated quite easily, and the production areas of the plant ran smoothly.

Looking back, we see now that more attention should have been focused on the fulfillment and shipping areas of the business, as well as the HR and office functions. Several signs have appeared over the past year or so to tell us that we need to seriously consider rearranging our organizational structure:

* Morale in the above areas has deteriorated measurably.
* Paperwork, reporting, forms and correspondence are often late and incomplete.
* Turnover rates in the affected departments are rising.
* Certain areas are often severely understaffed, especially during popular vacation and holiday periods.
* The reporting structures in these areas have become confusing, some employees express concern about vague accountability.

Although productivity in our shop area remains high, it does appear to be limited by the dysfunctions occurring in other integral areas of the business. We decided that now is the time to conduct a thorough evaluation of our organizational structure and develop a plan to adapt and change it to more closely fit the needs of our growing business.

If we need outside help, we'll engage it. But the time has definitely come to address the effects of expansion on our entire organization and act accordingly to preserve and grow the business we've inherited. It's more than just a business to us---it's a family tradition.

© 2005 AlphaMeasure, Inc. - All Rights Reserved

This article may be reprinted, provided it is published in its entirety, includes the author bio information, and all links remain active.

Measure. Report. Improve your organization with AlphaMeasure employee satisfaction surveys.

Josh Greenberg is President of AlphaMeasure, Inc.

AlphaMeasure provides organizations of all sizes a powerful web based method for measuring employee satisfaction, determining employee engagement, and increasing employee retention.

Launch your employee satisfaction surveys with AlphaMeasure.

Top 7 Methods to Empower Employees

How many times have you asked someone to do something... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - The 6th C: Changing Vision

A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that... Read More

Hire Winners: Ask the Right Questions

How do you as a manager, supervisor or team leader... Read More

Be a Leader - The Importance of Going Home Early!

How you run your business is, of course your business.... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Money Doesnt Do It

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Management Training: Are You Satisfied With The Results?

If you're not satfied with the results of your management... Read More

Five Habits of Highly Effective Conflict Resolvers

Steven Covey had the right idea. There are discreet skills... Read More

Prioritise Your Day - Keep Focus - Win!

Whether you run your own business or manage a team,... Read More

Business & Family Safety and Health Rating

For good reason, practically every endeavor in life is rated.... Read More

5 Ideas To Leverage The 3 Stages Of Career Development In Your Organization

In most industrialized nations, the average age a student graduates... Read More

Effective Email Communication

Email, when used properly, can generate additional direct sales and... Read More

Three Ways to Transmit Loud and Clear

The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but... Read More

Talent Recruitment Challenges of High Technology Companies

As a result of the dot com meltdown and the... Read More

Turbo Charge Your Career With The Most Powerful Leadership Tool Of All: The Leadership Talk: Part 1

Leaders speak 15 to 20 times daily. You speak at... Read More

Communicating Effectively In The Workplace: Four Vital Steps

Ineffective communication is a major, yet avoidable, obstacle to business... Read More

Minimising Conflict With Effective Communication

Did you know there are 5 types of... Read More

Business Innovation ? Tacit Knowledge

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Business Intelligence & Data Warehousing in a Business Perspective

Business IntelligenceBusiness Intelligence has become a very important activity in... Read More

The New Economy

This technological revolution has organization, efficiency and productivity requirements well... Read More

Action Learning: Its More Than OJT

For centuries companies have used on-the-job training (OJT). OJT works... Read More

Knowing versus Doing - Execution In The Workplace

Have you ever worked with someone who always seemed to... Read More

The 5 Obsessions of a Passionate Employee

A recent report entitled "How Google Grows?and Grows?and Grows" stated... Read More

The Challenges of Human Resource Management

IntroductionThe role of the Human Resource Manager is evolving with... Read More

So, You Want to be in Management? Five Essential Factors that Will Determine Your Chances

The following information is based upon over 500 interviews with... Read More

Take Control of Your Paper in 3 Easy Steps

Do you have piles of paper on your desk. Many... Read More