Running Head: WILDFIRE ENTERTAINMENT 1

Wildfire Entertainment: Organizational Structure Archetypes

Name

Institution

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Provide a concise summary of the case and key factors of concern.

The firm started with a vision to help individuals develop their own mobile games.

Besides, it also sets up the department that assesses and delves into short company and child

learning applications. Though the organization began with merely 40 employees under its

wing, it has developed and expanded immensely, which is linked to its products’ success and

high quality. The initial flat working structure changed into an entirely new working layout,

though it has hindered the practical working flow setting, resulted in low employee morale

and led to the manufacture of low-quality products, which has, in turn, reduced the

satisfaction and demand of the market. Further, this has hindered specialization and career

development, which has also adversely influenced the flow of work and firm culture since

individuals could begin to feel; overwhelmed or stuck. Also, greater and highly frequent

issues are presented in the flat organizational structure, a similar case witnessed by Wildfire

Entertainment since it hinders the flow, efficiency, and direction of decision making with

their being lack of leadership and actual understanding of what is happening.

Describe the context Wildfire faced in the early days of its development and explain why

a single organizational structure might not be effective.

Within the early days of the company’s development, Wildlife Entertainment was an

informal and exciting place for the employees. The firm hired 40 individuals in an open floor

plan office space. Its primary objective is to build great software products focusing mainly on

games, learning applications, and animation. Also, the company allowed a simple

organizational structure with centralized decision-making and merely two levels of hierarchy.

The basic organizational design structure has a low departmentalization, little work

specialization, centralized authority, broad spans of control, and little to no formalization or

rules that govern the operation. The companies that use this structure are typically flat, with

few hierarchy levels.

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The structure was informal and fluid, and there was a high sense of intimacy among

the workers. The conversations were swift and overall productive, with any issues quickly

resolved by the founders offering real-time coordination with the inputs and outputs.

Additionally, the company has a healthy culture with shared assumptions regarding

responsiveness, collaboration, a solid work ethic, and committed and hard-working workers.

Consequently, this made the company responsive and effective at meeting its objectives

effectively and relatively cheaply, innovating and bringing new applications to the market

without experiencing any delays. With the boom of smartphones in 2011 and the browsing

feature included in the smartphones, games shifted to become more colorful and sophisticated

with a greater diversity of projects. Nevertheless, as the number of projects increased and

more workers were employed, the lack of formalized routines resulted in slow decision-

making, a rise in costs, and a lack of prioritization. The workers spent more time reacting to

daily issues instead of future proactive planning. Also, coordination between workers

worsened, and the tension rose in the workplace, making it not conducive for quality

production. The initial fluid structure was no longer applicable in dealing with the rising

complexities of tasks and varied roles required to be properly managed. Thus, a simple

organizational structure was no longer operational and effective.

What are the pros of the three main organizational archetypes that Wildfire used:

functional, matrix/hybrid, and divisional?

a. Functional organizational structure

As the organization developed, it realized that the initial flat organization structure

was no longer appropriate for its operations. Hence, it opted to use a functional organizational

structure, which groups leaders and workers according to their areas of expertise and the

resources they utilize to perform their jobs. The pros of using the functional organizational

structure are that it supports skills specification, increases coordination within the functional

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area, and decreases duplication of resources. Also, this structure would enhance career

development and training in the functional area, enable subordinates and superiors to share

common expertise, and facilitate high-quality technical decision-making (Cimini et al., 2020).

b. Matrix/hybrid organizational structure

This is a company structure whereby the reporting relationship is set as a grid or

matrix instead of in the traditional hierarchy. The implication is that the workers would have

a dual reporting correlation to the product and functional manager (Zhu et al., 2016). The

advantages of using this structure include that resources can be utilized effectively since

equipment and experts can be shared across projects, and products and projects are formally

coordinated across functional sectors, information flow both across and up through the

company, the workers remain in contact with most individuals that aids in sharing

information and swift decision making.

c. Divisional organizational structure

The divisional organizational structure attributes to the design in which all the

functions that contribute to a product are organized under a single leader. Hence, it divides

the company into self-contained units accountable for developing, manufacturing, and selling

their products and services to their markets (Forsgren, 2015). The advantage of utilizing this

structure is that it allows for faster changes in the product line, ensures greater visibility,

fosters a concern for client demands, explicitly defines responsibilities for every product line,

and develops leaders who can think across functional lines.

What are the cons of Wildfire's three main organizational archetypes: functional,

matrix/hybrid, and divisional?

The cons of using a functional organizational structure include inadequate

communication between different units, conflicts over the product priorities, challenges with

the coordination between sectors, and focus on departmental advancement instead of

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organizational issues and objectives. Another con is that it ensured the development of

leaders only in narrow fields. On the other hand, the matrix organizational structure has cons

that include the dual reporting supported by this structure, which leaves the project members

caught between two bosses, with the project members playing bosses to others. Also, there is

higher organizational complexity and a necessity for a high level of cooperation between

project and functional management, with the possibility of conflicting management directives

(Mandiberg & Kim, 2021). Lastly, there is difficulty in establishing priorities considered

appropriate for the project and functional management and increasing management overhead

expenses. The main con of having a divisional organizational structure is that it does not

allow for efficient usage of skills and resources and does not facilitate coordination of

activities across product lines. Also, it encourages politics and conflict in resource allocation

across the product lines.

In the context of rapid growth, how can a tech-based start-up know when the

organizational structure should be changed?

Several warning signs indicate that a company design is not operational. When the

company faces increased costs and wastage of resources and materials, reduced and slower

decision-making process with lags and delays in implementation, and unclear line of

communication. Another indicator would include higher worker turnover, lower morale and

overall productivity of the employees, disagreements between sectors, unequal workload

allocation, and increased office politics. Therefore, as the tech-based start-up develops, it

would face several challenges in which the organizational structure would require

restructuring aligned to the dynamic business approaches. Thus, tracking such warning signs

would aid the firm in proactively making adjustments before affecting business operations.

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If you were the leader in this case, what ethical and biblical considerations might you

identify and consider when making changes to the archetype structure within the

organization?

The leadership consideration I would have identified is ensuring that the

organizational structure addresses the issues the firm is currently facing. Also, the leaders

should ensure that the other employees are comfortable working in the firm since, as aligned

to Philippians 2:7-8, the leaders should not oppress and overpower the members using their

authority.

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References

Cimini, C., Boffelli, A., Lagorio, A., Kalchschmidt, M., & Pinto, R. (2020). How do industry

4.0 technologies influence organizational change? An empirical analysis of Italian

SMEs. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management.

Forsgren, M. (2015). Managing the Internationalization Process (routledge Revivals): The

Swedish Case. Routledge.

Mandiberg, J. M., & Kim, S. M. (2021). A matrix form of multi-organizational hybridity in a

cooperative-union venture. In Organizational imaginaries: Tempering capitalism and

tending to communities through cooperatives and collectivist democracy. Emerald

Publishing Limited.

Zhu, K., Yu, W., Aman, Y., & Jing, T. (2016). Synthesis, microstructure, and mechanical

properties of a bio-inspired Ti-intermetallic multi-layered/SiCf-reinforced Ti-matrix

hybrid composite. Journal of Materials Science, 51(18), 8747-8760.

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