Question

Brief note on occupational structure at time of independence

Answer 1

An organization’s strategy is its plan for the whole business that sets out how the organization will use its major resources. In other words, an organization’s strategy is a plan of action aimed at reaching specific goals and staying in good stead with clients and vendors.

On the other hands, an organization’s structure is the way the pieces of the organization fit together internally. For the organization to deliver its plans, the strategy and the structure must be woven together seamlessly. In other words, organizational structure is a term used to highlight the way a company thinks about hierarchy, assigns tasks to personnel and ensures its workforce works collaboratively to achieve a common goal. The goal is to avoid task overlap and workforce confusion, especially when it comes to laying a strong foundation for long-term productivity. Task overlap, a situation in which two or more employees perform the same task in different departments, costs a company money. This creates confusion, inefficiencies and lack of accountability -- because no employee ultimately has a clear responsibility over who does what, where and when.

It is important to highlight that for too long, structure has been viewed as something separate from strategy. Revising structures are often seen as ways to improve efficiency, promote teamwork, create synergy, eliminate or create new department or reduce cost, including personnel. Yes, restructuring can do all that and more. What has been less obvious is that structure and strategy are dependent on each other. You can create the most efficient, team oriented, synergistic structure possible and still end up in the same place you are or worse if a good strategy is not adopted.