Managing change

Question 1

How can a business manage change

Answer 1

• Restructuring = delayering, decentralised decision making,

Question 2

Benefits and drawbacks of delayering

Answer 2

+ improves communication
+ decrease costs
+good for dynamic environments as decision making is quicker
- leads to redundancies
- business risks loosing key skills and experience = reducing their flexibility
- demotivational as people fear job loss

Question 3

What is a mechanistic organisational structure

Answer 3

• centralised decision making
• well defined hierarchy
• tall structure= long time to communicate change
• suited to businesses which dont need to change very often
• easy to assign resources
• slow decision making/ changes
• specialised employees
• rigid

Question 4

What is an organic organisational structure

Answer 4

• flexible
• decentralised structure = employees have more say in decision making
• flat structure
• fast communication
• best suited for changing environments
• employees work in teams
• no strict single roles

Question 5

How can flexible employment contracts help manage change

Answer 5

• allows for allocation of more staff to help meet demand
• possibility of outsourcing work = reduces the level of control for which the business has over production
• easy to hold onto more skilled employees whilst also gaining new talent within the business
• Flexi-time contracts may lead to poor communication
• poor teamwork
• difficult to implement strategy