MHE503/MIH523 MODULE 2 - CASE ASSIGNMENT

MHE503/MIH523- Case Assignment:

Response to Hurricane Katrina

Question 1:

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of a Bureaucratic/ Hierarchical model vs. Network model for organizational change.

The rapidly changing environment requires communication with the internal and external stakeholders of organization who may accept or can show resistance to change. The two important models that are a part of organizational change include the hierarchical model and the network model.

Hierarchical Model: In an organization that uses this model, the employees are ranked at differing levels. At each level, a person has some subordinates working under him, depending upon the span of control. An extended hierarchy indicates the organization has multiple levels. On the contrary, the few levels indicate that the organization has flat hierarchy. Advantages and disadvantages of this model are as follows.

Advantages of Hierarchical Model

Properly defined standards of authority and responsibility.

Promotion path is easily identifiable because of a number of levels

Specialist managers' role is encouraged by the hierarchical environment.

As employees belong to a specific department, their loyalty to the organization and their work is increased.

Disadvantages of Hierarchical Model

Hierarchical levels make the organization bureaucratic, leading them to respond slowly towards the changing market demands in which an organization operates.

Problems of poor coordination across various sections or levels.

In case of inter departments conflicts, departments go for making decisions that are in their best interest, ignoring the achievement of the organizational objectives.

Network Model: A recent trend among organizations is to move towards the flatten organization structure so as to encourage horizontal communication among workers. Such organizations, in other words, are using the network model facilitating the workers to communicate directly. Network model is also used by organizations to have coordination and sound relations with other organizations.

Advantages of Network Model

Networked organizations have flexibility making them able to become competitive in the global marketplace.

Organizations so as to start a new business ventures will not require many sources such as employee benefits or office space.

Disadvantages of Network Model

Organizations might face difficulty in maintaining the quality of products as they are now more dependable on the partners in networks to deliver the desired quality.

Alternative forms of control and coordination mechanisms need to be developed to manage the activities.

Question 2:

Create a hypothetical response scenario for the Hurricane Katrina disaster in which an “adaptive management” approach is utilized. 

The most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history is Hurricane Katrina. The damage that was being caused was far more than any other Earthquake or natural disaster took place in the past. (Vale & Campanella, 2005)

Hypothetical response scenario

A hurricane hits the American community and has become popular with the name of Hurricane Katrina. It is a catastrophic hurricane that had brought about a lot of damages, and thus poses great challenges in front of the concerned authorities. It resulted in a significant number of deaths and injuries, hundreds of thousands of people were trapped in the flooded areas, thus, making millions of people ...