Good Sport Fitness Store

Good Sport Fitness Store

The Good Sport fitness company is based in Coral Springs, Florida and manufactures fitness equipment. Good Sport's equipment consists of treadmills, bikes, steppers' and rowers. The company was opened fifteen years ago by a former basketball professional, named Jason Poole, who is now the chairman of the board.

Marvin Wallace, Chief Executive Office (CEO) has been a driving force for four years, and has invested in sales performance, production and the research and development team. The CEO has also spearheaded and supported the use of fitness equipment in hospitals, this has proven to be an excellent strategy for profit development. The Good Sport management team also consists of Tamara Watkins, Vice President, Research and Development and Eartha Simpson, Vice President, Operations.

Good Sport is ready to expand its business and reaches out to states close in proximity such as Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina; in addition, the manufacturer sells its fitness products to clubs, hotels, and residential houses.

An ongoing business challenge for the manufacturer's management team is competing for the lead with other manufacturers in the development of the latest fitness equipment trends, which also influences the power structure and business politics of the company.

Good Sport Organizational Structure

Organizational structure is the division of labor among employees of a business and the patterns of coordination, communication, work flow, and formal power that direct organizational activities. The organizational structure reflects the organization's culture and power relationships (McShane & Von Glinow, 2005).

The Good Sport manufacturer used organizational structure as a tool for change. The management team has structured the organization to support communication and relationships, the team's structure has encouraged and enhanced initiatives and its communication patterns serve the company's employees with a foundation that promotes the Good Sport's vision (McShane & Von Glinow, 2005).

Good Sport restructured its business units so that employees are closer to specific types of customers such as XXX services and XXX.

The manufacturer initiated structural change by developing the concepts of (1) dividing labor into distinct tasks and (2) coordinating labor so employees are able to accomplish common goals. Organizations are groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose and efficiently accomplish work goals. The work is normally divided by the groups into tasks or responsibilities that can be completed in a manageable and efficient manner toward the same goal (McShane & Von Glinow, 2005).

Businesses are structured based on four basic elements of organizational structure: (1) span of control, which is the number of people directly reporting to the next level in the organizational hierarchy; (2) centralization, which is the formal decision-making authority that is held by a small group of people who are normally at the top of the organizational hierarchy; (3) decentralization, which larger organizations use to disperse decision authority and power throughout the organization, and; (4) formalization is the degree of which organizations standardize behavior through rules, procedures, formal training, and related mechanisms (McShane & Von Glinow, 2005).

Good Sport is structured with a span of control and departmentalized, which characterizes how employees and their activities are grouped together. Departmentalization represents which positions and units must share resources and forms interdependent groups of employees and subunits (McShane & Von Glinow, 2005).

Further, Good Sport structured based on divisional outputs XXX.

Figure I: Good Sport Organizational Structure

The Organizational Culture of Good Sport

The Power Structure and Politics of Good Sport

Power is considered the ability of a person, team, or organizational to influence others, it does not propose to change another person's or group attitude or behavior, but only has the potential to affect attitude or behavior of another. However, power can influence the attitude or belief of dependency on another