Leadership in Action

Running head: LEADERSHIP IN ACTION

Leadership in Action

Jenita McClay

University of Phoenix

ORG 502

Organizational Behavior 503

Ms. Jeanne Wilson

February 5, 2005

Leadership in Action

The formal organizational structure of S and F Company consists of a formal hierarchy. It has a web development team, logistics team, project manager, logistics manager, marketing manager, COO, and a CEO. The web development team reports to the project manager. The logistics team reports to the logistics manager. The project manager also works closely with the logistics manager. The logistics manager and his team report to the marketing manager. The marketing manager reports to the COO and COO ultimately reports to the CEO.

Comparably, the Navy operates as a formal hierarchy. It has a very extensive chain of command that starts at the President and ends at the lowest raking individual. It also has a simpler chain of command that is broken down into geographical regions, echelons, units, and commands that allows it to operate daily at a lower level and without the need to report everything directly to the President.

S and F Company in contrast to Microsoft is structured differently. Microsoft has applied decentralisation principles to align its flatter and scattered self-managed team concept even in areas of feedback and inputs. This has given autonomy to the individuals on how to manage themselves which is different from Classical Management. They are now able to contribute and participate in policy making. The result is flexible and responsive workforces of specialists who drive themselves and rely on the core group for direction and leadership only.

Informal culture is embedded within any formal organizational structures. Although informal culture emerges spontaneously among participants themselves, it is shaped by the formal structure of the organization. While leadership, culture, and norms strongly affect possibilities for cooperation, they are inherently unstable. The formal property rights and decision-making structure of an organization have durable effects on the level of trust members place in one another and in the organization as a whole. Structural design is therefore a crucial element affecting the building of credible commitment among organizational members.

S and F Company's informal structure consists of teams that are closely aligned with their leaders, who are not yet influenced by the COO. The COO only has influence over the marketing manager because the other employees restrict themselves to official interaction with the COO and do not have complete trust in the new COO because they feel as if the position he fills in unnecessary especially from an outsider. The marketing manager influences the logistics manager. The project manager has dual influence and interacts with the marketing manager and the logistics manager. The web team influences the logistics team. The logistics team influences the project manager and the marketing manager. S and F Company's informal structure is affecting the formal structure because the employees are not utilizing the chain of command effectively and efficiently. Everyone is still resisting the change of the new COO and the new changes he has been directed to implement.

Power within an organization is very important because it is the capacity that a person has to influence others that are in a state of dependence (McShane-VonGlinow, 2002). Power can flow in any direction in an organization (Robertson & Tang, 1995). Often, members at higher organizational levels have more power than those at lower levels, however, in specific cases, reversals can occur. Organizational politics are the attempts to influence others using discretionary behaviors to promote personal objectives (Robertson & Tang). Organizational politics always have been and always will be an important by-product of the corporate world, as people continue with the pursuit of moving-up in the workplace. Corporate politics and personal management play important roles in how we perform, how much we are paid, whether we will advance upward, and whether or not we will keep our jobs (Robertson & Tang). Office politics have become an important part of the business world, and it has manifested itself as one of most prominent activities of modern business. In a narrower sense, politics comes down to personalities, which encompasses differences of opinions, different working