The advantages of a matrix structure are quite different to that of a hierarchy. Communication of knowledge is very simple and therefore quick and efficient. Another advantage is that the team resources are very flexible and specialists within this structure can be interchanged between roles very easily. This motivates and satisfies employees as it provides an opportunity for employees to pursue their skills. This advantage is also advantageous to the business because it maximises the usage of resources since changes can be incorporated quickly and effectively by simply regrouping the teams.
Disadvantages are also present in matrix structures. Matrix structures may sometimes be hard to manage as everybody in the matrix reports to two separate managers with roles that must work in balance for success; this can cause confusion on who to report to on particular matters. Another disadvantage is that there can be uncertainty on authority because the dual lines imply that the proposition must be approved by both of the separate managers of the two chains of commands- if this is not done then this defeats the whole object of this type of structure.
Flat Structures-
In contrast to a tall organisation, a flat organisation will have relatively few layers or just one layer of management. This means that the chain of command from top to bottom is short and the span of control is wide. Due to the small number of management layers, flat organisations are often small organisations that do not have many layers to share profit capital to.
For small businesses, flat structures can be quite advantageous- although the disadvantages of less structure still remain as will all sizes of business. There is usually better communication between workers as there are fewer layers to pass through. Another advantage is that, as result of the lack of bureaucracy, decision making is done much quicker than businesses with other structures. Costs will be lower than other organisational structures because there are fewer levels of management which are usually the roles that receive the highest salary. Team spirit is usually high in flat structures which motivates very effectively.
Disadvantages also arise in this type of structure. This type of structure may hinder the growth of the organisation as it in limited to only Partnerships, Co-operatives and some Private Limited Companies- therefore not letting the business grow into such larger ownership types as Public Limited Companies and Franchises. Confusion on who is responsible for a worker may arise also-this is because employees may have more than one manager. Ultimately, the greatest disadvantage of having a flat structure is that the role of each person or department can become indistinct and therefore cause confusion and indecisiveness on who is responsible for what role in the business.
Coca Cola – Wakefield Organisational Structure
Produce Full Organisational Structure:
Description of Structure-
Because there is one ‘Manufacturing Ops Manager’ with a very high span of control with many employees with smaller spans of control beneath, I can tell that the structure shown Coca-Cola Wakefield hierarchical, popular with many large businesses such as Coca-Cola. Also within the structure of Coca Cola Wakefield are very long chains of command. Although long chains of commands are almost always present in such large hierarchical organisations as this one, it is disadvantageous for the business because it can cause communication to be slow and inefficient within the business- sometimes causing it to be behind other businesses. Long chains of command may also cause conflict which can hinder team spirit and therefore hinder employee productivity. Another thing that I notice in Coca Cola Wakefield’s organisational structure is that the engineering manager has a very narrow span of control- just one. This allows the Engineering Manager to communicate quickly and effectively with the employees under him/her (or subordinates) and also control his/her subordinates much more simply than such managers as the Manufacturing Ops Manager- who has a span of control of three. Although this means that the Manufacturing Ops Manager has more responsibility
than the Engineering Manager, a wider span of control is advantageous to the business because wider spans of control are less costly to the business because Coca Cola Wakefield do not have to employ as many managers (a job with a higher salary than subordinates), and also because there are less layers of management for a message to cross which means that messages will be passed to the manager faster.
Over the years, because Coca Cola used to be a minute business in comparison to the huge transnational Limited Company that it is today, Coca Cola’s structure must have gone from a much flatter organisational structure and progressively grown until it developed into this grand company that it is today. This is because flat structures can work very well with small-time businesses, yet the bigger the company, the more beneficial it becomes for that company to become more hierarchical.
Chain of command-
A chain of command is the order that the more authoritative roles (in this case the ‘Manufacturing Mgr ‘Manuf Services’) pass instructions or notices down from managerial individuals to every employee in the business. To summarize, commands flow downward along the chain of command and responsibility flows upward. From what I can observe from Coca-Cola’s chain of command, as there seems to be many managers and leaders within this business, the chain of command is very long and therefore communication, particularly from the ‘Manufacturing Mgr ‘Manuf Services’ to less significant employees such as the ‘Raw Mat Admin’, will be slow and inefficient. Also, long chains of command may also cause conflict which can hinder team spirit and therefore hinder the productivity of such employees as the Technicians.
The chain of command pictured left running from the Manufacturing Ops Manager down to the Manufacturing managers to the team leaders to the shift team leaders right the way down to the technicians is an example of a chain of command present in Coca-Cola Wakefield. As previously stated, the chain of command in this business is very long and could be improved by cutting out such people as the Shift Team Leaders
The chain of command in Coca Cola Wakefield is very important because it is through the chain of command that the ‘Manufacturing Ops Manager’ increases the responsibility of their subordinates such as the ‘Goods in Team Leader’ and ‘Process Shift Team Leaders’. The Chain of command is considered very important in organizations because it enhances the efficiency of the management. Ultimately, the chain of command clearly states the authoritative line from ‘Manufacturing Mgr Manuf Services’ right down to ‘Raw Mat Admin’. If this line of authority did not exist, communication would not have a set path to follow- which may cause confusion and messages not being delivered successfully. Also, the lack of a chain of command would mean that such employees as ‘Raw Mat Co-ord’ and the technicians would not know who has direct authority over them which could result in a lack of motivation, ultimately resulting in less employee productivity.
“The more clear cut the chain of command, the more effective the decision making process and greater the efficiency. Military forces are an example of straight chain of command that extends in unbroken line from the top brass to ranks. Also called line of command.”
Henri Fayol
Span of control-
A span of Control is the number of people that report to and are managed by one manager in a hierarchical structure. The more people controlled by one manager- the wider the span of control will be for that particular manager. The less people controlled by one manager- the narrower the span of control will be for that particular manager.
In the Organisational Chart of Coca Cola Wakefield shows many separate spans of control ranging from 1 to 4. The employee with the widest span of control in Coca Cola Wakefield is the Bulk Team Leader. Having a wide span of control can be very advantageous- especially in a business with competitiveness within such as this one. The manager generally has more of a say in how the businesses is run, therefore their decisions will be valued higher. Communication usually works better in a business with wide spans of control as wider spans of control are less costly to the business because Coca Cola Wakefield do not have to employ as many managers (a job with a higher salary than subordinates), and also because there are less layers of management for a message to cross which means that messages will be passed to the manager faster. There are also so drawbacks to having a wide span of control however- these are that one person may have authority over and give information to many subordinates which can be both stressful and time consuming, some subordinates may feel that they lack personal contact with their manager which could make them feel as if they are not guided enough- resulting in confusion over tasks that they have been given. The person with the narrowest span of control in Coca Cola Wakefield is the Engineering Manager- with a span of control of just one. There are some benefits and drawbacks of having such a narrow span of control. A benefit is that the Engineering Manager can communicate quickly and effectively with the employees under him/her (or subordinates) and also control his/her subordinates much more simply than such managers as the Manufacturing Ops Manager- who has a span of control of three. Drawbacks include such disadvantages as the narrower the span of control, the higher amount of subordinates- meaning that more money is spent on the employees’ wages. Also, a narrow span of control means that coordination between different managers such as the Manufacturing Ops Manager’ and ‘QSE Manager’ must occur- which can be quite difficult and time consuming. Although having larger spans of control would be beneficial to the Coca Cola Wakefield in that there would be less managers and therefore less salary to pay, if the span of control of the Engineering manager were to be increased to 10 for instance, the Engineering Manager may not have the capability to effectively supervise such a large number of direct subordinates- therefore may of the subordinates may have confusion over their tasks and the Engineering Manager would not be able to give them guidance in that task. Ultimately, this would result in lower employee productivity.
”One could argue that with larger spans, the costs of supervision would tend to be reduced, because a smaller percentage of the members of the organization are supervisors. On the other hand, if the span of control is too large, the supervisor may not have the capacity to supervise effectively such large numbers of immediate subordinates. Thus, there is a possible trade-off to be made in an attempt to balance these possibly opposing tendencies.”
Kenneth D. McKenzie
1978.
Authority and responsibility-
Authority, in business terms, means the right that a person working within a business has to both make decisions and give orders to the subordinates below them. There are three main types of authority in business- line, staff and functional. Represented by the chain of command, the higher up in a hierarchical structure a person is, the more line authority that person has. In Coca Cola Wakefield’s Organisational structure, the Operations Director has the most line authority because he/she is above everybody else in the hierarchy and has nobody with responsibility for them in terms of the chain of command. The people in Coca Cola Wakefield with the least line authority are the ‘Raw Mat Admin’, ‘Environ and Systems Technician’, ‘W/House Ops’, ‘LTS’ and ‘bulk Planners’. I know this because on the Organisational chart, these subordinates are all at the bottom and therefore have the most people with authority over them, in terms of the chain of command, than all other subordinates.
Staff authority on the other hand is not authority to directly order or make decisions above another subordinate, but is in fact is the authority to advise or suggest to subordinates with line authority. Because this type of authority is not viewable on organisational charts, a theoretical example of Staff authority could be that, although at the same level in the hierarchy, the ‘Manufacturing Ops Manager’ could have staff authority over the ‘Engineering Manager’ to suggest new engineering ideas that could profit the business.
Functional authority again cannot be viewed on an organisational chart because the authority is not permanent. Functional authority is the authority given to an employee to do a specific task. During the time in which that task is being partaken, the employee that has been given functional authority has direct authority over the other subordinates completing the task, but once the task has been completed- the authority is taken from them. A theoretical example of this is that the ‘Goods in Team Leader’ could be given functional authority over the ‘Productivity Team Leader’ to complete a task- after this task has been completed, they will go back to having the same authority.
Responsibility in business terms is the duty and accountability for outcomes associated with a particular occupation or position. Employees should always be aware that responsibility also entails that a consequent penalty will be in order if a subordinate fails to complete a task to a satisfactory standard. . In Coca Cola’s organisational structure, the operations director has the most responsibility because he is at the top of the hierarchical organisational chart and therefore has the most subordinates to have responsibility or accountability for. The people with the least responsibility are yet again the people at the bottom of the organisational structure- the ‘Raw Mat Admin’, ‘Environ and Systems Technician’, ‘W/House Ops’, ‘LTS’ and ‘bulk Planners’.
Restructure:
Coca Cola could consider changing its organisational structure to a slightly flatter structure as this would both increase the business’ profitability by paying less employees’ wages and also make communication quicker and more efficient. I would not however recommend that Coca Cola should make the business a completely flat structure because there are too many subordinates at very low levels of the hierarchy which are vital for the running of the business- this means that these employees must be kept and would make a single manager’s span of control far too large for his/her capacities to have direct authority over.
If changing to any other type of structure is unlikely state why.
What could Coca Cola Wakefield consider doing in order to save costs? What would this be doing to the structure?
To save costs, Coca Cola may wish to follow my idea of making the business flatter- this could be done by delayering one layer of Coca Cola Wakefield which they consequently would, of course, not have to pay the salaries for anymore.
Another, more drastic, approach to the altering of Coca Cola Wakefield’s structure could be the matrix structure pictured above. The workload is shared much more evenly in this new restructure which means that, due to the fact that I have removed some roles from the structure, it is not only the Shift Team Leaders that have to work harder (unlike the flatter hierarchical restructure). The ‘Manufacturing Manager Large PET’ now has responsibility for just one ‘Productivity Team Leader’ as oppose to eight- lowering both his responsibility and authority. This now means that he/she can now focus all of his/her capacity onto that one employee because The benefits of this new structure are that both the span of control and chain of command are smaller meaning that managers can be more personal to their subordinates and orders and messages can be delivered much more simply, effectively and quicker.
Nevertheless, there are some drawbacks to this new matrix structure. Because each team has more freedom in a matrix structure, the teams can be less controlled and more difficult to supervise. Also- because there is more of a focus on project teams in this type of structure, costs for new managers may have to be put in place.
Ultimately, I believe that my first restructure- the flatter, hierarchical one is the most profitable to Coca Cola Wakefield as matrix structures have been known to fail in businesses smaller than Coca Cola Wakefield due to the fact that matrix structures are not capable of structuring large businesses.
