Leadership in Action

The company S & F Online, organization filed with the simulation of "Leadership in Action", is a division of Smith & Falmouth, tele-sales company that opened this operation to enter the market through the Internet.

The organizational structure is planning systematic arrangement of work and consists of roles, relationships and responsibilities, authorities, and communications of individuals within the same department. The structure shows that S & F is high because it has a hierarchy divided into four levels, each with a level of well-delineated responsibilities.

Some companies, like McDonald's, have a mechanical structure. This structure is characterized by the high level of formalization and centralization. The mechanical structures have many rules and procedures, the decision-making levels is low but limited, and there is a vertical communication rather than horizontally. The tasks are well defined and are altered only when approved by the hierarchy at the highest level. This type of structure works best in stable environments because they rely on efficient and routine behavior.

Another structure that organizations have is organic, where, contrary to the mechanics, decision-making is decentralized and has little formality. The tasks have fluidity and conform to the new situations and needs of the organization. This structure rewards knowledge and recognizes that the information can be anywhere in the organization, not only in senior management. For this reason, communication flows in all directions without giving importance to a formal hierarchy. An example of this type of structure is presented in the company Cisco Systems. This is an organization that sell equipment and services communication networks. Over the years han ido acquiring different companies that have helped to maintain their competitiveness. Still have managed to maintain an organizational structure, and consequently have remained agility in decision-making to remain among the most important companies in the communications industry.

Although S & F is a medium-sized company in the industry tele-sales and on-line, it has its corporate culture, which impact the operations and performance of the business. In his book "Organizational Behavior Emerging Realities for the Workplace Revolution", McShane and Von Glinow defined organizational culture as "the basic pattern of assumptions, values and beliefs considered to be the correct way to think and act on the challenges and opportunities faced by the organization "(2005). The organizational culture operates behind racks and is not clearly visible in the demonstration on employee behavior.

However, the dominant culture rarely operates in single companies. Along with the dominant culture there are subcultures, which are across divisions, geographies, and occupational groups. The subcultures conducive to the organization if they are tied in parallel with the assumptions, values and beliefs of the dominant culture. This is a dynamic conducive to the formal structure in the sense that aligns the management and employees on common objectives and ways to achieve goals with minimal potential for conflict between the parties. The reality in the business world is operating the counter-cultures or cultures opponents, which are a form of subculture that is directly opposed to the intrinsic values of the organization. Every subculture, especially cultures opponents, has the potential to create conflict and dissension among employees.

While it may seem contradictory, it is important to recognize the value of subcultures in organizations. Employees who have counter-cultural values operate as vigilant and are more willing to provide the critical establishment. These individuals promote constructive conflict and creativity about how the company should interact with their environment both internally and externally. Being outstanding trends of customers, suppliers, society and other stakeholders in the company, these people who are usually alert and intend to cultivate new values that may emerge. The success of a company depends on how it can recognize that periodically need to adjust your set of values, adopting some that are more appropriate to a changing environment. Therefore, if restricted to subcultures, the organization will take risks in discovering and adjust values in line with the changes around them with the possibility of losing opportunities.

In the case of the company S & F, its CEO, Irene Reagraves, wants to align departments and formalize the dominant culture of the company to recruit the COO in order to improve efficiencies and improve financial performance. Both managers and teams of the Departments of Logistics and Design have managed to coordinate efforts, producing good results with a prospectus promising business future. However, until now have operated as bodies apart, each