At the end of Chapter 4 in your textbook, read the case “The Paradoxical Twins: Acme and Omega Electronics” (Daft & Armstrong, 2015). This is a very interesting case of a technology company that decided to get rid of its electronics manufacturing division by selling two plants. Both of these plants then turned into new, independent organizations that are competing in the same industry. Each organization rearranged its organizational structure differently. Your job is to pay attention to the differences, and to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each structure for responding to different needs in the environment (i.e. industry and market).
You will notice that this case has four parts. Each part has questions to guide your analysis. For this assignment, you need to answer the following questions:
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of Acme’s organizational structure? How do the advantages of this structure explain Acme’s success in gaining the total contract?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of Omega’s organizational structure? Based on the disadvantages, how can you explain Omega’s failure to gain the contract?
- If you were the top manager of Omega, what would you do in the future in terms of the strategic direction of the company based on the strengths of the organizational structure that you currently have?
Tip: Rather than changing the organizational structure to look alike Acme’s, what would you do in the future to use the advantages of your organizational design?
Sample Solution
