ORGANISATIONS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Organisations and the Environment

Organisations and the Environment

Answers to Reassessment questions

What is a hierarchical organisational structure?

A hierarchical organization is an organizational structure where every entity in the organization, except one, is subordinate to a single other entity. This arrangement is a form of a hierarchy. In an organization, the hierarchy usually consists of a singular/group of power at the top with subsequent levels of power beneath them. This is the dominant mode of organization among large organizations; most corporations, governments, and organized religions are hierarchical organizations with different levels of management, power or authority. For example, the broad, top-level overview of the general organization of the Catholic Church consists of the Pope, then the Cardinals, then the Archbishops, and so on.( Rogers, 1999, 127)

Members of hierarchical organizational structures chiefly communicate with their immediate superior and with their immediate subordinates. Structuring organizations in this way is useful partly because it can reduce the communication overhead by limiting information flow; this is also its major limitation.

All governments and most companies have similar structures. Traditionally, the monarch was the pinnacle of the state. In many countries, feudalism and manorialism provided a formal social structure that established hierarchical links at every level of society, with the monarch at the top.

In modern post-feudal states the nominal top of the hierarchy still remains the head of state, which may be a president or a constitutional monarch, although in many modern states the powers of the head of state are delegated among different bodies. Below the head, there is commonly a senate, parliament or congress, which in turn often delegate the day-to-day running of the country to a prime minister. In many democracies, the people are considered to be the notional top of the hierarchy, over the head of state; in reality, the people's power is restricted to voting in elections.( Havergal, 1999, 83)

(2)Describe the three levels of responsibility at Tarmac and the key roles for each.

Tarmac Operations has support services in:

(1)Human resources (HR) - This includes planning for and forecasting staff requirements, and managing recruitment and selection. The HR team ensures that managers apply HR policies and procedures consistently across the business. The development of staff is a key priority within Tarmac.( Berry, 1999, 38)

(2)Finance manages and monitors the flow of money across the business. The finance team produces financial and management accounts and supporting information. Financial accounts deal with financial transactions, such as profit and loss accounts. These satisfy the organisation's legal financial requirements. Management accounts look forward and contribute to the strategic decision making process by forecasting financial performance.

(3)Strategy, Marketing & Technical. By understanding customer needs, the marketing function can inform the overall business strategy. It also ensures that Tarmac's image and brand reflect its high quality and success. The technical team looks for innovative solutions to keep Tarmac's profile high in the market.

Within these functional areas, Tarmac has three main levels of staff:

Managers - organise and plan their departments to exceed the expectation of internal end external ...