Consulting Firm’s Lost Paradise

Scenario (fictional):

An industry consulting firm has the following structure and culture:
All the employees at this consulting firm work full-time. All the full-time consultants report to various industry directors, depending on the industry contract. The company employees work mostly from home, with directors or consultants renting temporary office space with or without videoconferencing when needed for either client meetings or vendor meetings. The company is very successful and has an expanding client base. There are very few rules or expectations at the company, as the CEO also believes in keeping processes very simple.

The previous president retired about 6 months ago, and the CEO, together with a human resources firm, hired a new president. The new company president they hired is extremely smart and expects everyone at the company to display an expert demeanor as well.

About 2 months ago, the company’s employees (i.e., consultants) started receiving emails from the new president putting pressure on all of them to produce results in less time but pressuring them to charge the clients higher fees without making any more money for themselves. In addition, the new president now wants the staff to come into the temporary office three times a week for meetings. Three months ago, the new president hired 30 new full-time consultants that seem more like salespersons than consultants to existing employees. A few of the long-time consultants have been emailing the CEO about these changes and suggesting they may go elsewhere. In the meantime, the finance director has detected several anomalies in the contract terms and financial results from some of the new consultants and one or two of the existing consultants.

Checklist:

-Describe the organizational structure at this consulting firm and how it affects employee behavior:
-Name the type of structure in the organization.
-Provide a definition of the type of structure in the organization.
-Explain how the structure affects employee behavior.
-Describe how the changes to the organization’s culture might affect employee behavior.
-Provide a recommendation for any adjustments you think need to be made at this organization based on the readings and explain why.

Post your minimum 250-word

ANSWER

Consulting Firm’s Lost Paradise

According to the scenario, the organizational structure used by the company is a functional organizational structure. This kind of organization structure is similar to the hierarchical structure, as responsibility starts at the highest level and goes down to the bottom (Ahmady et al., 2016). However, functional organizational structure organizes their employees according to their skills and may at times set up temporary workstations as in the scenario. The different departments are managed separately and independently. This kind of organizational structure is suitable for employee morale, as they focus specifically on their skills, which many employees tend to enjoy (Ahmady et al., 2016). Through specialization, they can air their concerns and new ideas, thus promoting initiative among employees. Since the separate departments are managed differently, employees have a closer relationship with the managers. They can air any concerns, thus giving them a sense of appreciation and belonging to the company.

However, with the new changes brought by the new CEO in the scenario, the organisation’s culture is set to change. According to the scenario, the employees are pressured to deliver work within less time, charge their clients higher fees but do not get any additional income. They are also expected to meet thrice a week, unlike before, where most of the employees met occasionally and worked from home. Having these sudden kinds of changes can be detrimental to the morale of the employees. This will hinder creativity, as the employee will feel more obliged to finish what they are instructed to do rather than present new ideas for the growth of the company (Dedahanov et al., 2017).

I would recommend that the CEO introduce changes gradually. Sudden changes may distract former employees as they may take a long time to adapt to them. The CEO should also practice transparency and open communication channels, as seen in the finance director finding loopholes in some of the new employee’s contracts. I would recommend a change and advise the CEO to be more transparent and explain why these changes are necessary.

References

Ahmady, G. A., Mehrpour, M., & Nikooravesh, A. (2016). Organizational structure. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 230, 455-462.

Dedahanov, A. T., Rhee, C., & Yoon, J. (2017). Organizational structure and innovation performance. Career Development International.