Ethics and Organizational Structure

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Please read previous paper that is attached to understand what new assignment is asking. I’m tryin to keep the same element and company and just apply the key terms of this weeks paper into the format.

HW#2: Ethics and Organizational Culture

1. Provide an introduction that 1) explains the purpose of the paper and 2) briefly (one succinct paragraph) introduces your current (or a recent) work organization: major product/service, approximate number of employees, and sector: government/forprofit/non-profit.

2. Culture Description - Apply concepts from the readings, your library research, and the lecture modules to describe the informal “structure” of this organization – its culture.

 Focus on its artifacts (for example, Edgar Schein’s ways of identifying it as described in Lecture Module 3) to identify what is valued.(Be careful that you analyze it for yourself; company marketing and dogma often do not reflect the true values and culture.)Provide very brief examples as necessary to illustrate.

3. Analysis of Culture’s Impact on Ethics – Examine and discuss how the culture in the organization influences the ethics and ethical (or unethical) behavior of its members.

 Does its current culture support it being highly ethical?Be sure to tell – on the basis of course concepts, your research, and logic – why this is so: What is the rationale for your conclusion?

4. Conclusions

5. Reference the course readings, scholarly sources from the UMUC online library, and/or weekly modules to support your work.IMPORTANT NOTE:The articles you obtain from the library should not focus on your organization but instead should focus on and help you better understand course concepts such as organizational culture and ethical perspectives.You are not researching the organization but instead you are researching course concepts.

6. The body of the paper, including an abstract on a separate page, should be no more than three pages. NOTE: The page count includes an abstract but excludes the title page and references. Follow APA style guidelines. Be sure to use headings/subheadings for different sections.

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HW 1 Paper Abstract The type of organizational structure used by a particular company helps to determine various aspects such as culture, ease of operation, and effectiveness. The organizational structure can be centralized or decentralized based on the needs of the company. How formalized or informal the organizational structure is also has a bearing on the company’s function. In addition, in the organizational structure there might be levels of specialization depending on the different functions being carried out. The various modes of organizational structure will determine the effectiveness and how appropriate they are to the modern world. In this paper the organizational structure of Ray’s Contracting Company will be evaluated and discussed. The extent to which it is centralized and formalized will be analysed. Furthermore, the structure’s impact on effectiveness will also be discussed. Introduction For just over the last two years I have been working at Rays Contracting, a logistics company contracted by the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). In this paper, I will measure the organization’s structure and effectiveness based on the various class readings and research to draw a conclusion on strengths, weaknesses and how it can be improved. Although the organization is a large company, I plan to focus on the dozen employees that are assigned to the CBP contract. The section that I am contracted under primarily handles the labor within the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) headquarters. They also deal with deliveries of furniture and supplies, installation and warehouse management. Structure Description The culture within our office at Rays Contracting seems to be split between formal and informal, neither seem to determine work effectiveness. I would categorize the style of this culture to be in a medium to high range. This is greatly attributed to employees being content with how the balance works great in the workplace although there can always be improvements (Gale, 2009). The company contracts groups of employees to be stationed at various locations although they still report to headquarters. This helps to maximize production from the total amount of employees. For example including my contract, Rays Contracting currently has two other long term contracts (2 years or longer) as well as casual day to day requests or short term contracts handled by another branch within the organization. The head boss of the site reports to the President and other levels of management at the warehouse. The next level of superiority is the supervisor who deals with clients, delegates work, and coordinates job execution, while also serving as the point of contact on site. The Encyclopaedia of Business and Finance describes a component of centralization as “a limited number of employees report to a manager, who then reports to the next management level, and so on up the ladder to the CEO (p.21Gale, 2009).” I believe the structure of Rays Contracting for the CBP sector is more centralized with a top downward management approach. The orders and answers are given from one level of the chain of command to the next. In my opinion the efficiency of the centralized structured approach in this workplace is moderate. The system is simple for workers to successfully complete goals and task but there could be more implementations to improve efficiency. The managers delegate tasks to employees instead of taking a hands on approach, which in turn makes the employees knowledgeable of how to handle circumstances after processes and procedures have been authorized. The goal of the organization is to satisfy the customer and increase efficiency (Lim, 2017). The organizational structure employed at Rays Contracting is more mechanistic than organic. The flow of management is not as smooth as it should be. The structures are in place where the cooperation of the workers is based only on the hierarchy. The hierarchy is highly centralized and this ensures the managers have full power in decision making while the subordinate staff have little say (Lim, 2017). Structure’s Impact on Effectiveness The centralized organizational structure, which is highly based on hierarchy, has a huge impact on the effectiveness. The employees’ effectiveness is measured by their capability to solve daily problems that arise in the workplace while at the same time coming up with new innovative ideas. For the company to be effective and profitable, it has to be highly productive and have more impact than its competitors (Jacobides, 2007). In the organizational structure employed by Ray’s Contracting, the subordinate employees do not have input in the decision making process. “Lower level managers and employees simply follow procedures, and while this may have the side effect of stifling creativity, it also increases efficiency of established processes” (Encyclopaedia of Management. 6th Ed.) Employees do not get a chance to think on the spot and make decisions that may be more creative and relevant. The centralized organizational structure decreases the level of effectiveness of the employees and makes it hard for them to take pride in applying themselves to increasing work ethic. The level of competition and demand in today’s workplace is very high and continually growing. Thus I feel the centralized organizational structure used at Ray’s is not very appropriate in achieving maximum effectiveness. There are many challenges to the organizational structure since the decision making process is elongated and this makes it difficult for employees to perform their best. The system should be adjusted to allow employees to be more independent (Jahn, 2007). An open style of management should be employed that will decrease the hierarchy approach. This will allow a more competitive mode of operation that will spur growth in the company. In the organization there is no specialization in the work units which means the job details are designed around the task or goal rather than being centred on an individual. Positions are inner changeable because the end result remains the same and decisions are still passed down through the hierarchy of leadership. According to job design theories, increased autonomy should make employees feel a greater responsibility for the outcomes of their work, and therefore have increased work motivation. Research indicates that when employees have greater levels of autonomy, their personality traits (specifically conscientiousness and extroversion) have a stronger impact on job performance. (Gale, 2009). Conclusions Rays Contracting has employed a centralized organizational structure that is not too formalized. However, the organizational structure is mainly hierarchical hence decision making is reliant on superiors. The subordinate employees have little say in the decision making process and this has a huge bearing on the effectiveness of the organizational structure and time that decisions are made in the field. The form of management reduces the employees’ creativity and opportunities to bring about new ideas that might help improve the company’s workability. The advantage of informal working conditions is the fact that workers can enjoy the camaraderie of work. Satisfied employees tend to be more productive and the company ends up being more profitable. The organizational structure employed by any company is very important since it determines how the company fares in the marketplace in comparison to its competitors. A good organizational structure in this environment should be organic and not mechanistic. It should put all the factors in the working environment into consideration and it should be specifically tailored for the business. References "Autonomy." Encyclopedia of Management, 6th ed., Gale, 2009, pp. 19-21. Gale Virtual Reference Library, Jacobides. M. G. (2007). The inherent limits of organizational structure and the unfulfilled role of hierarchy: Lessons from a near-war. Organization Science Jahn, C. (2007). "Organizational Structure." Encyclopedia of Business and Finance, edited by Burton S. Kaliski, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 568-572. Gale Virtual Reference Library Lim, M. (2017). Examining the literature on organizational structure and success. College Mirror, 43, 1, 16-18. http://www.cfps.org.sg/publications/the-college-mirror/article/1098 "Mechanistic Organizations." Encyclopedia of Management, 6th ed., Gale, 2009, pp. 565566. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/apps/doc/CX3273100183/GVRL?u=umd_umuc&si d=GVRL&xid=f5ed4ae0.
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Running head: ETHICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Ethics and Organizational Structure
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ETHICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Abstract
The type of organizational structure a company employs helps in determining the
various aspects of the company including culture, ethics, and effectiveness. The
organizational structure of a company can be either formal or informal depending on its
operation and locations. Moreover, the leadership of the organization influences the
development of organizational culture within a company as well as its effectiveness. Ethical
leadership in particular and the setting of the organizational culture starts from the leadership
of the organization and flows down to the employees. The set organizational structure
influences the ethical behavior of the employees within the organization. This paper evaluates
the organizational culture of Ray's Contracting Company and discusses how it influences the
ethical behavior of its employees. Additionally, the paper analyses the structure of the
company and its impact on effectiveness.

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ETHICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Ethics and Organizational Structure
Introduction
Ethical le...


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