Q1.

‘Fruits Delicious Ltd’ has hired you as an HR Advisor to help them improve their
organizational performance. Which internal organizational aspects would you consider
that should be aligned with each other for maximum success? Explain the 7S
framework in the context of this start-up company. Conclude by giving your opinion on
how it will impact performance.

Answer:-

Introduction- Making every part of organization work in harmony is the key to efficient organizational
performance. The McKinsey 7-S Model is a change framework based on a company's organizational
design. It aims to depict how change leaders can effectively manage organizational change by
strategizing around the interactions of seven key elements: structure, strategy, system, shared values,
skill, style, and staff. The framework is used as a strategic planning tool by organizations to show how
seemingly disparate aspects of a company are, in fact, interrelated and reliant upon one another to
achieve overall success.

Concept and application- The 7S Model specifies seven factors that are classified as "hard" and "soft"
elements. Hard elements are easily identified and influenced by management, while soft elements are
fuzzier, more intangible, and influenced by corporate culture. The hard elements are strategy, structure
and systems. The soft elements are staff, style, skills and shared values.The framework is used as a
strategic planning tool by organizations to show how seemingly disparate aspects of a company are, in
fact, interrelated and reliant upon one another to achieve overall success.

To improvise the organizational performance of the Fruit Delicious Ltd we need to understand the
following:

 The strategy is the plan deployed by an organization in order to remain competitive in its

industry and market. An ideal approach for ‘Fruit Delicious Ltd’ is to establish a long-term
strategy that aligns with the other elements of the model and clearly communicates what the
organization’s objective and goals are.
 The structure of the organization is made up of its corporate hierarchy, the chain of command,
and divisional makeup that outlines how the operations function and interconnect. In effect, it
details the management configuration and responsibilities of workers.
 Systems of the company refer to the daily procedures, workflow, and decisions that make up
the standard operations within the organization.
 Shared values are the commonly accepted standards and norms within the company that both
influence and temper the behavior of the entire staff and management. This may be detailed in
company guidelines presented to the staff. In practice, shared values relate to the actual
accepted behavior within the workplace.
 Skills comprise the talents and capabilities of the organization’s staff and management, which
can determine the types of achievements and work the company can accomplish. There may
come a time when a company assesses its available skills and decides it must make changes in
order to achieve the goals set forth in its strategy.
 Style speaks to the example and approach that management takes in leading the company, as
well as how this influences performance, productivity, and corporate culture.
  Staff refers to the personnel of the company, how large the workforce is, where their
motivations reside, as well as how they are trained and prepared to accomplish the tasks set
before them.

Conclusion: The McKinsey 7-S Model is applicable in a wide variety of situations where it's useful to
understand how the various parts of an organization work together. It can be used as a tool to make
decisions on future corporate strategy.The framework can also be used to examine the likely effects of
future changes in the organization or to align departments and processes during a merger or
acquisition. Elements of the McKinsey Model 7s can also be used with individual teams or projects.
These 7 factors are used by management to identify where a company excels and where it needs more
work, in terms of creating an optimal and efficient workforce. It is also used to evaluate performance
following a merger or other restructuring to identify areas that need improvement.

Q2. . Ryan always wanted to establish his own news agency. He had all the financial and physical
resources required to begin but he was not aware of the key fundamental elements of an organization.
Why do you think these are important? As an HR consultant, help him with this task by designing the
main organizational elements. Also, align these with his business.

Answer

Introduction:- Organizational structure is the backbone of all the operating procedures and workflows at
any company. It determines the place and the role of each employee in the business, and is key to
organsational development

A clear structure allows every team member to be involved. When employees know what they’re
responsible for and who they report to – which isn’t the case in many fast-growing companies – they’re
more likely to take ownership of their work.

To build an org structure, you need to consider your business size, life cycle, goals, and positioning.
Apart from considering the current environment your company operates in, you should also think of
where you want to see the organization in five years – as its a pillar of organizational health.

Concept and application:- An organizational structure is based on a range of elements, including:

•Work specialization: Work specializations define how responsibilities are split between employees
based on the job description. It’s used to split projects into smaller work activities and assign digestible
tasks to individual employees. The most common results of improper specialization are low efficiency
and burnout. Ryan has already specialized in news collection and will be good in deploying the working
to his subordinates.

•Departmentation: Documentation is an act of grouping specialists on the basis of the job description,
skills, location, or other factors that connect them. The biggest challenge is choosing the criteria for
departmentation. In many cases, it’s no more enough to apply functional departmentation – where
employees are grouped based on the tasks they perform. Startups often go for matrix departmentation
that involves combining two types of departmentation and takes the best out of both worlds. For
instance, functional departmentation can be joined by geographical departmentation to better serve
clients in different locations.
•Chain of command: Chain of command represents a system for passing instructions and reporting
within an organization. Ideally, it distributes the power, supports knowledge sharing, and encourages
employee accountability. The traditional chain of command makes decision-making more complex and
does not allow for much flexibility. On the contrary, modern approaches strive to enhance employee
autonomy and avoid micromanagement.

•Span of control: Span of control regulates the number of direct reporters managed by a single
supervisor. It heavily depends on the three aforementioned elements of organizational structure.
Furthermore, to identify the right span of control, you need to evaluate your leaders’ capacity,
workplace size, and experience level of employees.

•Centralization/Decentralization: Centralization and decentralization are the concepts defining how

managers, as well as employees, give input on company goals and strategy. While centralization gives
leaders the ultimate control over decision-making processes, decentralization allows employees to
impact business decisions. We’ll dive into centralized and decentralized organizational structures in the
further section.

•Formalization: Formalization determines to which extent business processes, policies, and job
descriptions are standardized. It may regulate communication between employees and managers,
workplace culture, operational procedures, etc.

Answer 3

(a)Steve Hussey’s organizational effectiveness:- Organizational effectiveness is the measure of an

organization’s performance in terms of profitability, productivity, competitiveness and employee
satisfaction. In other words, organizational effectiveness is the measure of an organization’s success in
achieving its desired outcomes. According to S.P. Robbins, an organization is said to effective if it is able
to achieve its goals. Basil Georgopolous and Arnold S Tannenbaum defined organizational effectiveness
as the extent to which an organization, given certain resources and means, achieves its objectives
without placing undue strain on its members. By measuring its effectiveness, an organization can assess
its competitive advantage in the market and measure whether it has potential to achieve the pre-
defined goals. To measure its effectiveness of Steve Hussey’s organization, the organization needs to
consider factors, such as growth, turnover, stability and cohesion. Organizational effectiveness can be
viewed at three levels, which are as follows: ‰ Individual level: This level lays emphasis on the
performance of tasks by each employee. Effectiveness of an individual depends on his/her skills,
knowledge, attitude and motivation. To assess an individual effectiveness, organizations use
performance appraisal. Based on the appraisal, organizations decide salary, promotions and other
incentives for employees. In an organization, individual effectiveness depends on the individuals’ skills,
attitude and motivation to perform. ‰ Group level: In an organization, employees work in groups to
achieve organizational goals and objectives. Thus, it is necessary for an organization to assess group
effectiveness by evaluating the ability of each member of a group to achieve organizational goals and
objectives. Group effectiveness depends on various factors, such as cohesiveness, leadership and the
roles of members. ‰ Organizational level: This level considers both individual and group effectiveness.
To achieve organizational effectiveness, a synergy among all employees needs to be created.
Organizational effectiveness is assessed on the basis of sales volume, productivity, labour turnover, etc.
To achieve organizational effectiveness, management must respond to changes taking place in the
business environment quickly, such as change in technology, processes and organizational culture.

(b) Steve Hussey is going to choose the Holistic approach. Having a holistic approach means looking at
something as a whole interconnected entity; understanding the bigger picture, not only thinking
outside the box but removing the box completely. The holistic approach to wellbeing has been
around since the 4th Century BC, taught by Hippocrates who encouraged people to look at them
themselves as a whole person rather than just focusing on a specific body part or illness. Although
holistic health has been around for years, and still growing in popularity, having a holistic approach
within companies is relatively new. Despite being a fresh concept, the approach is increasing in
popularity among small and large companies worldwide.

There are many benefits to companies using holistic approaches. It allows them to see which
sections of the company are failing or are weaker compared to others.

For example, when looking at departments individually, it may seem that the two departments are
failing or falling behind. However, when looked at as a whole, it may then appear that only one
department is actually falling behind which, in turn, is impacting on the next department.

Even though the approach looks at the company as a whole, this doesn’t necessarily mean
companies merge departments, it simply means they align a company to see and analyse the overall
company aim. This approach gives equal importance and an overall shared purpose to every
department and therefore can ensure a company is running to its full potential.

Companies such as Apple have successfully used a holistic approach when adapting their designs.
Originally Apple’s products showed little resemblance to each other because each department
worked separately with its own heads of design.  By using a holistic approach, Apple looked at all
their products as a whole and designed them to have an overall synthesis. This, in turn, powered
their brand image. Customers now buy Apple products to own a piece of the brand, as well as the
product itself. Other big-name companies such as Heineken, Nike, and Nespresso have also taken on
holistic approaches, all of which have resulted in substantial growth and exposure.