Organisations operating in different organisation structures tend to be distinct in regard to their structure, strategy adopted and products offered to distinct clients.

Functional Organisational Structure

Adopting the definition of Somov (2018) a functional organisation structure is a form of business structure which organise an organisation into distinct departments informed by areas of expertise. The different departments operate as functional units and operated by functional managers/departmental heads. An example of an organisation adopting the functional structure is Amazon.

amazon-organizational-structure

The reason underpinning the application of functional organisational structure is to assist an organisation run their operations and acquire profits by grouping their staff in terms of skills and expertise. According to niBusiness (2022) this is while minimizing the confusion amongst the employees who could lack awareness of who to report to. The advantages of this method include;

Specialisation- Through the adoption of functional organisation structure, specialization is attained. This is with the employees operating in different departments hence an increased customers satisfaction and services delivery.

Operational speed- Considering Amazon organisation which adopts this form of structure, their technology departments are prompt in handling all encountered issues promptly than individuals possessing limited experience. This is particularly important as McKinsey & Company (2020) note that post-pandemic, organisations will be leveraging on speedy execution of their roles for effectiveness in their operations.

Operation clarity- The departments with employees populations who specialize in particular job roles imply siloed teams. As evidenced in Hillmann and Guenther (2021) this is by eliminating any type of duplication of assignments which waste immense time and efforts and ensure an easy management of directing work to particular staff.

On the other hand, the disadvantages entail;

Lack of coordination- According to Fernández-Espejo et al. (2019) the lack of coordination is characterised by difficulties in the different units working in harmony with each other. Often, the functions would work to outshine each other hence causing acrimony in their operations.

Territorial Disputes- Often, there are conflicts which emerge downside of the functional organisation structure. As evidenced in Human Capital Hub (2022) these are as a result of objectives, budgetary competitiveness and other challenges arising from clash of egos occurring in departments having distinct functional organisation structure.

Hierarchical Organisation Structure

Adopting the definition of CIPD (2022) a hierarchical organisation structure focuses on exploiting distinct authority levels with a chain of command linking multiple levels within the same organisation. A formalised decision making is initiated flowing from top-down. For instance, Saudi Aramco adopts a hierarchical organisation structure (see figure 2);

Figure 2: Saudi Aramco Hierarchical Organisation Structure

The reasons underpinning the adoption of this structure is that it tend to rely on existence of distinct levels of authority with a chain of command which link multiple managerial levels. Considering an example of an organisation such as Saudi Aramco, as it grows opening new operations offshore and onshore, they tend to increase their levels hence the structure growing taller. Further, the advantages of this structure include;

Clear elaborated career path and promotion path– According to Indeed (2022) in an event an organisation have their employees with an easier capacity for ascertaining various chain of commands, it is possible to advance easily. For instance, in Saudi Aramco, employees have equal chances of ascending in their organisation structure. This is with an increased morale, motivation for improved performance hence surging an organisation productivity.

High levels of control– Through the adoption of hierarchical structure, the employees are in a position of appreciating distinct levels of leadership. the rationale of this is that their management roles are clearly identified in this form of pyramid structure. The organisation operations runs seamless with great outcomes attained.

On the other hand, their disadvantages include;

Immense costs of implementation– As evidenced in Le et al. (2018) there are immense costs incurred in the implementation of hierarchical structure. For instance, in Saudi Aramco, their multiple senior management roles imply that they have multiple employees in their annual salaries. This is evidenced by their yielded high wages of operations. The situation is complexed by having employees of higher education, immense knowledge possessed and experienced.

Slow action and decision-making– Since multiple managers are involved in a hierarchical organisation structure, a speedy decision making is affected. The rationale of this is that manager roles are actively engaged in entire organisation decisions. The higher the number of management roles, the challenging it would ensure all people are working collaboratively in making decisions.

1.2 Organisational Strategy, Products, Services and Customers

Organisation Strategy

Functional

Considering an organisation operating in different geo-locations, the functional organisation structure is dependent on the expected outcomes of an organisation operations. As evidenced in Small Business (2019) this is for assisting an organisation to operate a business and earn profits by categorising staff in line of their skills and expertise.

Hierarchical

In modern business environment, purpose of organisations is mainly to leverage on competitive advantage and achieve market dominance. Hence, by adopting hierarchical organisation structure, each department has its purpose and collaborate with others for an easier roles implementation. This has had long-term outcomes for the business operations.

Products and Services

Functional

In this type of organisation structure, the products and services are part of the functions of the organisation. This is by making sure that the products and services are of high-level quality and distinct from their competitors. This is since Indeed (2022a) noted that this structure minimise confusion in the products and services development and provision.

Hierarchical

This type of structure ensure that products and services are appropriately provided through embracing innovation and technology. According to Keum and See (2017), in organisations embracing hierarchical structures, they tend to be highly competitive and hence achieving market dominance in their respective areas of operation.

Customers

Hierarchical

This type of organisation structure is identified as having the capacity of attracting the best clients in new ventures or reloication which is the case in contemporary organisations using this structure. This is at the same time making sure change is in alignment with the way things are done in such an organisation.

Functional

The customers in a functional organisation structure are granted with a timely facilitation influenciung distinct interests and level of perceiving their practices for customers satisfaction. Since there is a specific department serviing all custoemrs, their interests are appropriately prioritised, put into account and effectively managed. This is for optimum satisfaction of all stakeholders.

Q2

1.3 External Factors and Trends which Impact Organisations in Identifying Current Organisational Priorities

As evidenced in Shtal et al. (2018) external factors and trends are important to recognise the necessity for changing organisation demands. This is relevant for people professionals in ensuring they put in place appropriate measures for integrating the business environment needs. Hence, they are passionate in making sure the employees are satisfied in their job functions.

A summary of the trends are as represented is as illustrated in figure 2;

Figure 2: Summary of the Trends in KSA

in order to evaluate these factors and trends, it is relevant adopting the PESTEL Tools (Matovic, 2020). This is relevant in evaluating the level of impact and attainment of an entity practices. In the Appendices, considering the Ministry of Guard Affairs in Saudi Arabia (MNGHA) a summary of PESTLE analysis has been generated.

Therefore, a selected factors which impact MNGHA organisation and KSA are;

Political- Since MNGHA is involved in taking care of Military personnel health wellbeing and their families, it is largely impacted by the polticial factors. For instance, as evidenced in IEMed (2022) the past changes in the government in Saudi Arabia has changed the policies implementation and changes in the country. For instance, there are more frequent involvement in external wars increasing the demand of the generals being treated. Psychological challenges have also doubled amongst the populations served by MNGHA.

Economy- As evidenced in World Bank (2022) it is projkected that KSA economy would increase to 7% in year 2022 prior levelling out at 3.8% and 3.0% as at 2023 and 2024. The country has been gaining from an increasing with the oil and gas being the core driver to the recovery of the economy. Previously, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the investment of KSA government with the population has been declined. Nevertheless, the phenomenon is increasingly being improved hence promoting the ability of MNGHA in their operations. For instance, during COVID-19 pandemic, Yezli and Khan (2020) observe that the government investment in healthcare had declined with upto 7%.

Considering the trends, as a best practice, the different trends are;

COVID-19 pandemic- For MNGHA, being a healthcare sector organisation, it has increasingly bneen investing in future measures of mitigating prevalent of COVID-19 pandemic. As evidenced in AlFattani et al. (2021) KSA has been putting in place appropriate measures intended for ensuring they are successfully managing any future potential pandemic emergence. One of these measures that MNGHA has been investing on is putting in place people practice professionals systems for guaranteeing their success in their operations.

Green Policy- This is identified in Saudi Green Initiative (2022) as the strategy put in place for advancement of the fights against the climatic changes. As a best practice, for MNGHA, they have been investing in policies intended to ensure innovativeness in management of the climatic crisis. This is while acquiring the position of an international leader in the area of sustainability. KSA has managed to effectively pursue holistic measures in their business environment intended to harness future environmental changes.

Demographic Changes- in GMI (2022) report, it highlight that male population are currently at 20.70 million representing 58% of the entire population with 15.14 or 42% of the population being the females. This is with the millennials apecifically 94% of the 34% of millennials and generation Z being interested in ensuring Gig Economy is harnessed. This is with ambition to career and entrepreneurshiop opportunities for global relevance. For MNGHA, through holistic investment in innovation and creativity, they are able to integrate interests of all stakeholdsers.

Q3

1.4 Scale of Technology Within Organisations; How it Impacts Work

According to CIPD (2020) report, it evidence that issues linked with productivity, work-life balance, workforce engagement and wellbeing has had significant implication on introduction of technology in modern workplaces. Specifically, an increase in digitisation and technical advancements, entities and people practice professionals have been recognising the application of technology introduction in workplace. These technologies include;

Electronic Monitoring System (EMS)– As evidenced in Lester et al. (2019), this is a tool used by managers with the capacity of consistently evaluating and measuring of the performance of employees. Through this process, it is possible to identify the scope of the employees performance and evaluating the measures which need to be put in place for the organisation success. For MNGHA, the effectiveness of this strategy is noted to be improving the productivity of the employees, easing the employees performance management, corporate policiues and a olostioc return on investment (HR Advisor, 2019/). Conversely, the disadvantages of this include the employees assuming a feeling that their privacy is devaliued/violated and challenges in employees moniotoring.

Artificial Intelligence– As evidenced in Charlwood and Guenole (2022) this entail a process swhere the AI is adopted to save time and productivity while enhancing he overall employees experiences. For the new organisations, innovativeness in HR and digital technplogies has been in the rise holistically. As a best practice, it is possible for prediuction of the candidates performance. For instance, in MNGHA, the organisation ensures that they can match the HR data for calculating the potential of accepting the job offer, performance results and estimation of expected tenure. This is what CIPD (2022a) identify as increasiongt he job quality and employees wellbeing while increasing work intensity and reducing stress lefel. This is nevertheless costly, lead to unemployment anmd often impacted by ethical issues.

Robotics– As evidenced in MSG (2022) this represent the strategy adopted to automate multiple repetitive tasks in the organisation. As a best practice, in MNGHA, operating in health area, it has managed to advance and improving accuracies of the entire tools adoption.

The technologies identified scope of impact are;

Work– The identified technologies have a direct implication on work roles. This is through the functions implemented and holistically put in place. This is supported by TeamStage (2022) report which highlight that 50% of the entire jobs ought to be empoyees to have technology skills. As at 2030, 75% of all the job roles would be based on technology with COPVID-19 pandemic accelerating the phenomenon.

Working Practices– Owing to the increase in techjologies and embracing innovativeneess, work practices are influenced by success in communication and involvement of stakeholders relationship. Considering MNGHA organisation case, by using the different technology, it has been possible to achieve exponentially growth and performance with entire markets dominated. This is summarised by Deloitte (2022) report as leading to an increased technology spend on an average of 4.25% revenues leading to 80% of increase in performance and profitability.

Q4

2.1 Organisational Culture and Human Behaviours Theory/Model

Organisational Culture Model- Collegial Model

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