Introduction
Organizational success is solely dependent on both its structure and culture. The structures give the rules and policies that govern the business activities that an organization does. An organizational culture manifests from the organization’s behavior, defined by the set rules and policies. Therefore, most successful companies have an open, innovative, and creative culture that allows their employees to learn, adjust, and gain satisfaction enhanced by the work environment. Besides, building an ethical culture also sells and brands the organization’s name both at local and international levels. Therefore, this paper entails what, how, and recommendations BOT Inc. should make to change its structure and culture to address its current problems and compete with other international robotic software companies.
Main body
A well-defined organizational vision and mission is a characteristic that develops an ethical culture in an organization. BOT Inc. should settle on one common vision and mission. Moreover, the company should spell out its goals and objectives and lay down legal procedures for their completion. A strong value statement concisely encapsulates its purpose and its contributions to the world. Furthermore, strong values statements form guideposts for employees and influence an organization’s vital decisions (Cortes-Mejia et al., 2021). A well-crafted code of conduct is essential for building an ethical culture in an organization. The principle of conduct works in tandem with the value statement and forms the ethical roadmap for an organization. The executives must also lead by example by practicing and sharing situations that pose a moral dilemma and how to make proper decisions (Cortes-Mejia et al., 2021). Finally, BOT Inc. needs to embrace compressive ethics training for the new employees and the existing ones periodically. Operating globally, BOT Inc. would face some ethical issues regarding outsourcing, both working and labor standards, diversity, the political arena, and corruption, which defines business operations.
The BOT Inc. culture can be well understood through the competing values framework theory that explains the organization’s internal and external focus. Internal focus deals with the development and well-being of employees, while the main external concern is the business’s good name in terms of growth and well-being. According to competing values theory, an organization may exhibit clan, hierarchy, market, or adhocracy cultures. These corporate cultures explain company operations, employees’ cooperation, and the company’s core values (Beus et al., 2020). Clan culture exhibits a high degree of flexibility and is internally focused. The relationship between people is the main focus of this culture. Hierarchical culture exhibits a high degree of controlling behavior and is internally focused. In this culture, procedures determine employees’ actions. The organization focuses on managing control systems. Market culture is high degree and externally concentrated in terms of work output. Lastly, adhocracy is a high degree flexible with an external focus, and innovation is the key to competing in the market. Therefore, BOT Inc.’s viability in the global market requires a diversified culture to enable the company to operate in various environments.
From the fictional scenario, BOT Inc. exhibits a centralized, hierarchical organizational structure. In this type of structure, all business decisions, rules, and policies are affected by the top management and spread down through the chain of command. As depicted in the fictional scenario, the board of directors and the CEO of BOT Inc. are responsible for making the company’s vital walkways and hence passed to its 100 employees. Under this structure, the department managers operate under the stipulated procedures and rules without any deviation. This type of management style is characterized by a slow response to change (Vithayathil & Choudhary, 2022). Although a centralized structure ensures consistency and clear business direction, it has loopholes that drag the development of both employees and the company. BOT Inc. must answer the following questions to develop a suitable organizational structure. Which corporate practices are required to reinforce the corporate intent? What type of leadership and culture are necessary to achieve the value proposition? Which corporate activities directly deliver on that value proposition? Moreover, the executives must keep in mind the factors that promote the productivity of both employees and the company.
Ethical leadership is another important factor in business organizational structure and culture. Therefore, a moral leader behaves according to the stipulated principles and values to nurture a healthy working environment and culture. Although ethical leadership encompasses many elements, these boil down to six main components: honesty, justice, respect, integrity, responsibility, and transparency. This type of leadership benefits an organization in many ways. The first benefit is an increased sense of belonging by aligning company and individual values. Moreover, ethical leadership reinforces customers’ relationship with the company hence building trust. It also nurtures a good working environment as the surrounding society and community are concerned (Qing et al., 2019). Furthermore, loyal employees often become loyal when they have a fair and just leader. In addition, an organization needs to operate under the stipulated codes and principles because a strong emphasis on values and ethics builds a positive work environment that fosters better moods and understanding among workers.
One possible organizational structure that could work best with BOT Inc. is functional. This structure organizes workers into different groups based on their skills and knowledge (Qing et al., 2019). Each department is answerable to one authority in this organization setting: the top management. Since BOT Inc. has planned to expand to international levels, functional business structure and culture suit its operations because it will need various departments responsible for processes in robot manufacturing. The possible department could include information technology, marketing, development, human resource, research, finance, and other necessary departments for its operations. Each function is independent have its vertical management structure. Therefore, this kind of organization promotes business activities and hence enormous profits. Moreover, a functional system makes production efficient and of higher quality, because people with the same skills join hands and quickly make decisions to produce quality products (Qing et al., 2019). Communication is also enhanced with this type of organizational structure as employees only know one manager hence alleviating confusion from many managers. However, this organizational culture leads to weakened common bonds, a lack of coordination among departments, and territorial disputes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, an organizational structure and inherent culture significantly affect a company’s operations. As mentioned earlier, the organization’s success depends on the culture that it nurtures. BOT Inc. is one example of a company that nearly failed due to an inappropriate business structure and culture. The imbalances that arise due to various parts of the organization due to lack of coordination lead to a corporation’s total failure. Moreover, an organizational structure and culture define all operations, codes of principles expected of employees, and relationships in the corporation. Therefore, an organization must build a culture aligned with its goals and objectives.
References
Beus, J., Solomon, S., Taylor, E., & Esken, C. (2020). Making sense of climate: A meta-analytic extension of the competing values framework. Organizational Psychology Review, 10(3-4), 136-168. Web.
Cortes-Mejia, S., Cortes, A., & Herrmann, P. (2021). Sharing strategic decisions: CEO humility, TMT decentralization, and ethical culture. Journal Of Business Ethics, 10(1), 1-20. Web.
Qing, M., Asif, M., Hussain, A., & Jameel, A. (2019). Exploring the impact of ethical leadership on job satisfaction and organizational commitment in public sector organizations: The mediating role of psychological empowerment. Review Of Managerial Science, 14(6), 1405-1432. Web.
Vithayathil, J., & Choudhary, V. (2022). Organizational structure for the IT department: Profit center or cost center?. Information Systems Frontiers, 24(3), 1-24. Web.
