Please answer the following: 1. What is the definition of organization structure
ID: 385098 • Letter: P
Question
Please answer the following:
1. What is the definition of organization structure? Does organizaation restructure appear on the organization chart? Explain.
2. If lean manufacturing is a method of making products efficiently but consumers are demanding mass customization, what dillema might this pose for management? How might these differences actually work together?
3. What are some specific examples of where they work well together today?
4. Name at least one industry who's model is being changed by the need for mass customization. (Henry Ford once said: "People can have any color car, as long as it's black!" Probably not a good strategy today)
Thanks for your timely response.
Explanation / Answer
1)Organization structure is something which explicitly defines how the roles and responsibilities of various hierarchies in the organization are assigned and how they will be controlled and monitored. It clearly defines the different jobs in the organization and the hierarchy in which it falls and the responsibility of the job and to whom the jobs have to be reported.
An organization structure is built around functions in the company such as sales, marketing, finance or around divisions or products and the responsibility and accountability are assigned accordingly. An organization chart is a graphical representation of the organization structure so that everybody in the company is clear about the structure. Hence whenever there is any organization restructure such as a new function is added or new product established then that will be automatically reflected in the organization chart.
2) Lean manufacturing focuses more on effecient manufacturing by storing less inventory in hand and dealing with less workers thus helping in reducing its cost. It hence focuses more on mass production. Customers generally do no get more options in the products. Mass customization allows the customers to customize the product thus providing wider options. Thus there is a dilemma for the company as to what method to adopt. If they go for lean then they would have to cut down on customer options but would be able to reduce costs by holding less inventory or whether they should opt for mass customization thus giving more options to customers but have to hold inventory and incur other costs. An apt solution is to adopt a combination of the two methods where one does lean manufacturing but also allows limited customisable options to the customers. When the mass customization is involved in later stages then lean manufacturing can be applied to create standardized products in the initial stage while customizing it later as per customer demand.
3) One such example is Scion which is a division of Toyota. The company allows customers to place orders online as per their choice. The basic model is produced using lean manufacturing in Japan which are then bought and mass customized. Another example is fast food joints such as McDonald's etc where the basic process is standardized but still they give lots of customisable options.
4) One industry that changed a lot is fast food industry. Initial days Mcdonald used to mass produce. Every fast food joint would have the same product with the same condiments available and no options available. Then came Burger King and allowed whole lot of options and claimed to have it your way. This led the food industry towards the mass customization.