Reorganization at Jackson Company

Case Analysis: Case 5 - Reorganization at Jackson Company

Case Questions:

1. Describe the original organization at Jackson Company. How appropriate was it? Evaluate its effects on communication.

In the original organization at Jackson company, the plant chemists for domestic and international operations should be under the director of R&D, so that centralized decisions will be followed and observed. As sited in the case, there were ingredients used which is not approved by the central laboratory, this should have been avoided if plant chemists are directly reporting to R&D director and not to plant managers. Thus, communication is affected because director of R&D cannot directly give orders and procedures to plant chemists because he has to pass to operations managers and plant managers, this will slow down the flow of orders/procedures.

2. Describe the new structure and evaluate its appropriateness.

The new organizational structure of Jackson company is more appropriate than the original one because a proper department was created - Technical Services department to oversee the centralized technical activities of the company, this means that equal application of approved ingredients will be followed. To reiterate, technical services would include R&D, quality assurance and quality control which are considered essential in bringing best outputs or product to the market. It is therefore the new move of Jackson company to form a centralized technical service department was indeed proper and correct.

3. How do you explain the reactions of some of the employees to the new structure?

Dissension was felt among the international division, as they were concerned with problems on correspondence. It is inevitable that the members of the organization would resist to change, however, the change in organization is beneficial for the whole company. Certain plant managers were unhappy with the new organization like in Brazil, as they were accustomed to the procedures and traditions they followed in their job.

4. Does it appear that the changes in the formal structure resulted in changes in the informal structure?

It is normal that transition period has to be observed in relation to the change in structure. The informal structure have been reformatted to a formal structure of organization, however, the formal structure was adopted for a quite number of months.

5. In what way could Jackson company's reorganization have been accomplished more effectively? What should be done now and by whom?

The reorganization could have been accomplished more effectively