Page 160 - Managing Change in Organizations

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Contingency, choice and organizational environments

Chairman
and chief
executive

Personnel Finance Director of Operations Director of Marketing
director director projects, director engineering director
including
legal
services Including
technical
department
and licensing

General manager General manager General manager General manager General manager
Southern region Northern region Scotland USA India

Figure 8.7 Regional decentralization, Post-change

Developing an organizational structure and an appropriate management style demands
attention to a range of issues, including technology. For example, typical ‘success’ criteria
for an organization such as International Engineering are listed as follows:
■ Control of factors critical to the successful penetration of existing and new markets,
including technology.
■ Clear sales accountability.
■ Quality control in clearly branded products and services.
■ First-class systems support.
■ Developing and retaining effective people.
■ Management development.
■ Effective market development.

These success criteria were developed for the company by the top management team.
I set out the existing structure and two new structures, one for the new regional struc-
ture and one for the new corporate structure. The new structures make technology eas-
ier to develop, partly because it is now to have board-level representation by having the
director of engineering no longer reporting to the overburdened operations director,
and partly through regional decentralization, which will allow a more effective market-
ing approach at regional level. More effective market intelligence from the marketplace,
combined with higher-level attention to the development of technology, will provide for
a more coordinated approach in this field. Moreover, decentralization will provide for
and encourage a more open management style, thus encouraging more initiative
throughout the organization.
All these changes require the development of new management styles and skills at
various levels and, indeed, many of the managers and engineers will need to develop ➔

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