Appex Corporation

Group 7 Aditya Bansal Animesh Anupriya Nitin gupta Prithi Singh Yashwanth Reddy

1)What organizational structure you suggest to Mr. Ghosh? Matrix structure would be most suitable for Appex Corporation as earlier it had tried both functional and divisional structure but both of them couldnt give desired results. Appex Corporation needed both technical expertise and product innovation along with change to achieve sustainable growth and matrix structure had the potential to provide all of these. The matrix structure often is the answer when organizations find that neither the functional, divisional structures combined with horizontal and vertical linkages would work and this was the case with Appex. The unique characteristic of the matrix organization is that both product division and functional structures (horizontal and vertical) are implemented simultaneously. In this type of structure, both the product and functional mangers will have equal authority and hence there would not be conflicts of interest between the two as had been happening at Appex. The strength of the matrix structure is that it helps the company meet the requirements of the customers easily. Resources (people and equipments) can be flexibly allocated across different products, and appex can adapt to changing external environment. This structure would also provide an opportunity for the employees of Appex to acquire either functional or general management skills depending on their interests, thus increasing employee productivity which in turn would benefit the organization. Matrix structure would lead to the elimination of various barriers that had crept in the organization leading to a detrimental effect on the functioning of the organization. The matrix provides both a product line-centric view of operations and facilitates the exchange of information, leading to generation of new ideas and hence appex would be benefited by adopting the matrix structure. The matrix structure is best when environmental change is high and goals reflect a dual requirement, such as both product and financial goals.Similar situation existed at appex and hence matrix structure needs to be adopted. For the matrix structure to be successfully adopted by Appex a detailed implementation plan must be developed. The plan must fully identify, or articulate the requirements and steps to find, the specific individuals who will fill the newly created roles. In order to guarantee success of the matrix, a series of measurable performance criteria must be developed and a reward system should be put into place which rewards its members. The matrix structure would lead to better multi-functional coordination and Appex would be benefited a great deal.

2) The issues and challenges linked with each structure type are described as under: Functional Structure: Politics started to creep in with emphasis on the titles, desk location etc Sub-functions were created within teams leading to polarization Working relations inhibited and it proved to be very costly Source of authority was functional and not managerial People with broader functional expertise were required who possessed the skills needed in large organizations

Product Structure : No clear authority structure Acute conflict between product managers and operations people Each product team wanted senior executives of functional teams Resource allocation problem no system to set priorities

Divisional structure: Resource allocation problem still unresolved Divisions did not want to share their resources and demanded complete control over them High walls existed between the divisions although cooperation was seen inside the division Certain products were never developed because they fell into the purview of more than one division Divisions began to act like small companies themselves