One of the largest enterprises with increasing growth is the Swedish furniture manufacturing company IKEA. In the global economy large companies uses many different ways of organizational structures and types of operations through which they can maintain a stable interior environment. A basic conflict problem is to understand in what direction of management an organization is aiming to, what behavior of the workers wants, what attitudes it wants to encourage, and what goals want to accomplish. If a company explores all that kind of questions then it can design its structure and encourage the suitable development of the cultural values.
The type of organizational structure IKEA has adopted suits to the functional figure in which a company produce its goods or services at a large volume and with a relevant low cost. Moreover we should say that ikea company successfully uses the functional structure which has as main objective the development of appropriate attitudes to workers. The most important element is that on this type of structure we deal with grouping of various jobs into sections. If we want to sum up with the literature review we must mention that functional structure is the grouping of positions into departments based on similar skills, expertise, work activities, and resource use (Richard L. Daft).
We must also make a brief reference using the theory in the different ways of organizational structure which refers to the principles of administration. The divisional structure occurs when departments are grouped together based on similar organizational outputs in contrast to what we said before in the functional approach. (Richard L. Daft). A combination of the above structures is the basic idea of the meaning of the third figure. The matrix structure is a mixture of both functional and divisional forms which simultaneously take part in the same organization (Richard L. Daft). As we proceed in the literature we face the next type of structure which refers to the team approach. It’s helps managers in a way to representative authority, force responsibility to lower levels, and be more pliable and responsive in the competitive global environment (Richard L. Daft). At last but not least we deal with the virtual network approach in which the organization may be viewed as a central hub surrounded by a network of outside specialists (Richard L. Daft).
1.1.b) From an interview of Roberto Monti, the region manager, South and East Europe at IKEA we can understand how this organizational structure has allowed it to accomplish its primary goals and objectives. As we said before the key factor of the functional structure is that we deal with grouping of various jobs into sections based on the skills, experience, work activities, and the use of resources. The basic meaning from the interview is that ikea is creating a people and customer oriented focus and also is creating a structure with methods and tools in order to put it all together. They also have many people in their organization who are applying their structure and methods in the way that looks that they work with the local community. They take a lot of chances from the European crisis, creating a model structure that helps them to invest a lot in making room for young talent to grow quicker.
Ikea company has a process in the organization focusing in the right people that will help realize their vision and business ideas. Through the years, the main focus has been to find people with values that are close to the company and because of the European crisis the key role is to find and recruit the appropriate talent. Nowadays the European crisis open the market in a way that helps the organization find top talent in order to make the position and the dynamic of the company even stronger. In the last few years, the importance on employee competence and employer branding has been increasing. We can assume from the above results that the company’s accomplish its primary goals from the positive adaptation of the people with a similar culture or with evident talent or with the background and experience that can be applicable. For the entire organization the right move for successful results depends on how they recruit the right people and promote them on the right basis.
1.2) Company’s management systems are described by serious level of control. The basic framework of the organization is the trust and belief in the ability of the employees which is an important component of the successful route. The vision of the company is to make a better life for many people and to work under a certain value system, which requires a lot of improvement in order to fill the needs of the costumers. Also it makes the entire organization more responsible in the option of recruitment employees based on the right values in order to adapt with better results to the corporate culture.
The company of ikea was created with specific values, having as goal to give the opportunity to any individual worker to contribute something valuable and to strive under the same culture. In order to understand the notion of authority that applies in the context of IKEA, we must distinguish the basic terms of authority that are provided in different parts of the organization. From the top of the organization the people are working under the development of a common behavior, adapting the customer needs in order to solve every problem with innovative solutions. The key factor for the success of the company is that it has created a reputation of a low prices association without low costs with remarkable good results using small resources.
From IKEA’s website we noticed that the people work under the same ideas of how they can do things better and how they can make a contribution to the enterprise. The colleague share the same spirit, having a notable career and learning possibilities that the company is giving to them. They are encouraged to try different roles in order to give them the opportunity to design an own career path according to the development plan and the future goals of the company. Moreover the management helps the people to work in specific roles inside and outside of the stores and this is something that offers better business solutions but also it makes quick friendly services. The primary purpose is to build the IKEA brand and inspire people to come to the stores and find value in the products. No matter what position they hold at IKEA, everyone is important for a better and friendlier future of the company.
2.1) The basic problem for a manager is to make decisions about every part of an organization, including structure, control systems, reactions to the environment, and human resources (Richard L. Daft). When it comes to business organizations, decisions process systems helps them choosing between possible solutions to a problem. Every company need to have people with experience in dealing with the function of a decision making problem because nowadays it’s a vital part of good management how an enterprise solves its problems and achieves its goals.
Decision making processes are creating standards by which organizations operate in several stages. These types of forms guide an enterprise to set the direction in which managers should focus in order to make decisions based on reliable results of business activity. There are different types of control mechanisms, in which the key point is that the specialization of these factors helps us to understand how they could support the plan actions of a company. Apparently it is easier for an experience person to understand the appropriate pattern that will give him a particular course of action. The role of these processes is crucial for a company because it shows the level of adaptation and understanding that these kind of programs have in the development of the whole organization.
For an organization, even if it adapts the basic principles of the decision making process, it must also have a control system process which become a necessary tool in order to have a stage of analyzing, examining and at the end of process making the appropriate adjustments before the control period ends. Moreover for a company this stage depends in the motives that could give it to the employees in order to make the correct judgments based on their past experience. Although many enterprises are dealing with a problem based on how the control systems are measures, managers would make better choices if they establish a range value system which would help them to avoid wrong assumptions or prove false results.
At last but not least, in the evaluation stage of a decision process, enterprises gather information which helps them to organize and to evaluate which solution is more effective in achieving its goals (Richard L. Daft). Nowadays due to the fact that many decision making models exist, evaluation gives us a beneficial path to make a decision as to which one to use. Understanding the factors that influence decision making process is important for an organization in order to choose the right option from the alternatives solutions. From this point of view it’s important for a company in order to make a notable improvement to specialize at the factors that influence the process which may impact the results. The crucial factor of the evolution stage is that it shows us the necessary feedback which is valuable because decision making is a continuous process in a company’s role of activities. The key point that shows us the understanding of the decision processes from the manager’s is when they are running a course of action which is consciously chosen from among a set of alternatives to achieve the desired outcomes.
2.2) By reviewing the literature, we could say that the meaning of the leadership reflects in the impact that it could have it in the behavior of the people. From a business view, managers are trying to find the suitable factors in order to influence their employee’s attitude, achieving goals for the company’s growth. Leadership models are divided into three levels:
a) preconventional level relates with the rewards problems that concerns workers in a way that their behavior issues reflects to accomplishment of specific goals.
b) conventional level shows us the way of behavior that people must have in order full fit the expectations of their social and business background.
c) postconventional inform us the need of a supervisor in order to help employee’s understand the value system of the company and how they must operate based on the rules and the principles of management (Richard L. Daft).
While the leadership models are helping an organization to manage under guidance its personnel, at the same time managers must have the ability to take decisions under pressure for the good of the company. The principles of good management makes us believe that good leaders must have assimilate the impact of decision process in order to take the most effective and suitable choices for the organization. Everyday managers are dealing with many different types of models and because of that, they must be aware and make the decision based on critical evaluation of the aspects that affects the behavior of the individuals.