These just need to be answered with 150 words but you can use more if needed. Need these done on each Saturday the 12 for the first one.

1. Your organization has a functional structure which may be creating quality customer service gaps. What factors and elements would you use to explain to the board of directions to determine how the organization’s performance excellence can be improved by transitioning to a divisional structure?

2. Consider your current organization or an organization you have been associated with. Determine what are/were the important barriers to stakeholder empowerment and engagement and what strategies you would use to overcome these challenges to performance excellence.

3. As a consumer, determine what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives you feel are important for an organization to design to make you a loyal stakeholder and consumer.

4. Prior to developing a change strategy, examine and discuss the three most important elements to include in a self-assessment analysis for performance excellence.

Expert Answer

Your organization has a functional structure which may be creating quality customer service gaps. What factors and elements would you use to explain to the board of directions to determine how the organization’s performance excellence can be improved by transitioning to a divisional structure?

In order to ensure that the board of directors agree with the proposed transition from a functional organizational structure to a divisional structure, I would highlight the various benefits that a divisional structure would bring about within the organization. I would also explain how the adoption of a divisional structure would fix the challenges currently being experienced in customer service. A divisional organizational structure breaks down an organization into several segments that are self-contained. Each segment operates as a separate business. The segments are created on the basis of the type of product or the service offered, the geographical area being served, and the specific customer needs in that market (Fairfield, 2016). This results in more efficient coordination of activities, achievement of flexibility, and specialization in the satisfaction of customer needs within a specific market or geographical region. Divisional expertise would go a long way in the satisfaction of customer needs and provision of customer service. Since customer needs vary between markets and geographical region, a divisional structure would ensure that customers are better served.

Consider your current organization or an organization you have been associated with. Determine what are/were the important barriers to stakeholder empowerment and engagement and what strategies you would use to overcome these challenges to performance excellence.

At my previous organization, the most significant form of stakeholder disengagement existed between the management and the employees (internal stakeholders). Various barriers to employee empowerment and engagement existed, making it difficult to achieve high productivity and efficiency in operations. These barriers included: lack of open communication; lack of clarity; cynicism; bureaucracy; poor decision making; and lack of proper work-life balance. In order to overcome these barriers, I would apply the following strategies in the organization: establishing open communication between management and subordinates so as to encourage employee participation in decision making and idea contribution; provision of information on what engagement is and why it is important so as to eliminate the lack of clarity (Shuck & Wollard, 2010); provision of information on why engagement is not just a management fad and showing why it is important so as to eliminate cynicism; undermining bureaucracy and explaining to workers that there is more to life than just work; and confrontation of managers who do not involve employees in decision making.

As a consumer, determine what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives you feel are important for an organization to design to make you a loyal stakeholder and consumer.

Corporate social responsibility initiatives are the various initiatives that an organization designs and conducts in order to contribute to the greater good and the development of the society or the community. As a consumer, the corporate social responsibility initiatives related to the international ISO 26000 standard are the most important to me. These initiatives ensure that an organization effectively addresses the concerns of consumers and contributes to societal development (Hahn, 2013). These CSR initiatives include: proper management of employees; respect for human rights and the creation of an optimal work environment including the establishment of a safe working environment; participating in environmental conservation activities such as green management and proper wastes disposal; fair business practices such as proper tender management and offering goods at affordable prices; addressing customer and community concerns adequately and with respect; proper customer service; and participating in social contribution activities such as providing support for culture, art, and education of students from the community.

Prior to developing a change strategy, examine and discuss the three most important elements to include in a self-assessment analysis for performance excellence.

In order to measure the level of performance of an organization, it is important to identify the various performance measures or criteria that can be used to identify areas that need to be improved. It is necessary to conduct a self-assessment analysis in an organization since it provides a good image of the various operations and sections that need change to achieve performance excellence. The elements that should be included in a self-analysis for measuring the performance of an organization are the three main goals that signify performance excellence (Abdulla Badri et al., 2006). The fulfillment of these goals is the indication of performance excellence for any organization:

1. The provision of value that is ever-increasing to the customers and contributing to the market success.
2. Improvement of the overall organizational effectiveness and capability,
3. Organizational and personal learning.

When conducting a self-assessment in an organization, the assessment should seek to identify whether these three goals have been fulfilled and what needs to be done to achieve them.

References

Abdulla Badri, M., Selim, H., Alshare, K., Grandon, E. E., Younis, H., & Abdulla, M. (2006). The Baldrige education criteria for performance excellence framework: Empirical test and validation. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 23(9), 1118-1157.

Fairfield, K. D. (2016). Understanding functional and divisional organizational structure: A classroom exercise. Management Teaching Review, 1(4), 242-251.

Hahn, R. (2013). ISO 26000 and the standardization of strategic management processes for sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Business Strategy and the Environment, 22(7), 442-455.

Shuck, B., & Wollard, K. (2010). Employee engagement and HRD: A seminal review of the foundations. Human resource development review, 9(1), 89-110.