Unilever Company Has a Formal Structure Which Term Paper

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Unilever Company has a formal structure which represents the manner in which the organization is established by the stakeholders and those personnel who are responsible for the management of the organization. Under this formal structure the organization is able to meet its objectives. The company's individual organizational structure is a formal composition of responsibilities, tasks and reporting relationships which allow the organization to control coordinate as well as motivating the employees so that a common goal can be realized (Ron, 2002).

Unilever has a hybrid form of formal organization. The company operates with two product segments, three divisional regions, and five functional segments. The company developed and implemented this system of organizational structure for the organization so that it could foster and improve on the communication and also to take advantage of the resources that they could access. Typically this kind of organization is structured in a to-down basis. Once the executive body is satisfied with the system, it flows down to the management of the organization. In other cases the organizational structure of the company may not be clearly established as it is not visible. However, judging it by the actions and the specified reporting protocol the system or rather structure is functional and intact.

This type of formal organization enables the company to take advantage of the existing environmental conditions at given time.

The company has informal structures existing it its systems of working and also in management of the organization. The company's management culture has historically encouraged the utilization of the informal organization within the organization just like is the case in most of other organizations and businesses. The company's informal structure is also crucial and effective. This is more by accident than by design. It is basically due to it being a by-product of a very intensive program of attachments, training and job rotation. All these activities make formidable network. Such a network within the organization helps in the transfer of skills and experiences from one individual to another in the organization. It is the informal exchange of information between and among individuals that facilitate most the exchange and transfer of skills (Ron, 2002). This informal structure of interaction allow for informal exchange of information. Such an exchange has added value to the competitiveness of experts in the organization. The free flow of information in the company encourages a since of competition in the head office where the experts improve their knowledge and skills in the process of competing with the junior employees and personnel.

The transfer of skills between products groups posses a number of issues and events. The most crucial aspect is more often technology. For instance, fat science can be applied in other sectors such as skin cream, in frying fat, in soap making, in bakery materials, in margarine, in oleo-chemicals, in ice cream, as well as in many other of the company's products.

The increasing degree of scientific specialization which is necessary to improve the company's products needs major expenses on research and development. It can be said that the economies of scale in the research and development is a crucial reason for the presence of large companies and organizations. The duty to make use of the existing science base as widely as possible is shared in the company between the product groups and the research director. However, whilst the company has achieved much progress in the past decade in integrating science in the organization, the organization still has some way to go. A main issue is that the prediction of consumer behavior over some period of time becomes notoriously hard once corporate management wants to go over and beyond the usual rather platitudinous trends often mentioned in popular publications.

Informal organizations enhances the sharing of activities which is a potent basis for corporate strategy as sharing always enhances competitive advantage by means of lowering cost or even raising differentiation. In such an informal organization sharing of activities can be attained through the utilization of a central service or rather a system of sharing between operating units.

Generally, informal organization enhances favorable conditions for working where all the employees can work in teams and share ideas among themselves. It enables the formation of a good network where all the stakeholders feel comfortable with each other.

Teams within organizations are formed specifically based on the role or the task for which the teams are formed. Teams are formed with an aim of accomplishing a given task which is crucial for the development and fostering of the organization.

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For instance in case the company wants to come up with a new marketing it involves the relevant personnel from the related departments. The functional duty of each and every team is crucial in forming the groups. The coming up of teams is based on the interaction of the personnel. Individuals who hold similar beliefs, values, character as well as ideas come together to ensure that the intension of the team is achieved. A collective responsibility or desire is the main cause of the formation of a team.

The management of teams is a crucial duty for the management of the organization. To ensure that the duty or objectives for which the teams were formed are achieved, the management should make sure that the teams are functioning well and efficiently. The integration in the group should be encouraged and managed adequately. In the manager of an organization with teams, the organization ought to be divided into various segments based on the role or duty while managing. This enables the company to enhance the effectiveness or efficiencies of the functional teams. For instance, in this manufacturing company, manufacturing engineers will only staff the product development department. In this manner, management of such a functional group becomes much easier and effective.

Functional teams seem to be successful in large companies such as Unilever Company which produce high volumes of output and products at relatively low costs. Such big companies can afford to produce their products with low costs due to the factor of economies of scale.

Teamwork in the work place is a success factor which depends on the interdependence of each and every individual member. This is crucial in ensuring that the overall performance of organization is met or exceeded in terms of goals. One of the aspects of a team is that it forms an integral unit in an organization, which works toward an organizational goal or objectives, rather than an aggregate of individuals who work on independent goals. Currently, team management within this company keeps on to be a necessary factor in the achievement of the organization. It involves the management of employees in any location and also moving beyond the face-to-face manner of getting to know them.

In managing the teams therefore, the management builds a strong relationship between among members and between the employees and the executive. This is best defined by the establishment of team understanding, trust, communication, difference as well as diversity (Ron, 2002). The leaders of each and every team in the company need to know how to obtain the best performance and productivity from each and every member in the team.

Establishing a relationship with remote workers is not as so much difficult. Solutions on team management provide the managers a good understanding of the core characteristics of each and every employee regardless of the location of the said employee.

The identity of each team member in terms of their strengths and weaknesses helps in management of teams since the managers can distribute and balance responsibility-based personality and skill set. Such an analysis of the dynamics in a ream provides the resources and information which are necessary in managing, developing as well as enhancing all sorts of teams.

By understanding the unique characteristics of each employee the management can provide appropriate recommendations concerning how to manage the employee effectively based on fit. This fit involves the job, the manager, the team as well as the entire organization.

Formal organization has a number positive effect to the performance of the organization. Firstly, the goals and objectives of the organization are clearly established as it best suits the business and the operations of the organization. Secondly, the manner of relations in a formal organization is defined and confusions are limited. The bureaucracy in the system is important since information and decisions follow a clearly established channel and offices (Ron, 2002). Thirdly, the aspect of accountability is enhanced since each and every unit or office is assigned a specific duty to perform. In the case where some responsibility has not been done promptly, the concerned department or office is held responsible and the necessary action done against such employees. Fourthly, the aspect of efficiency is enhanced in the formal organization within the management of the organization. Information and other managerial responsibilities within the organization follow a systematic order. This saves both time and energy. Moreover, the aspect of specialization encourages a since of hard work since departments and individuals compete to produce….....

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