Part 1
For this assignment, you will be asked to to focus on a strategy: The College of IST wants to increase enrollments into its new Applied Data Sciences option (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. to 300 students over the next three years. It wants you to provide ideas for each of Porter’s four strategies.
An excellent answer will include a separate paragraph (text and bullet points) with an idea for each strategy.
PART 2
For this activity, choose a publicly traded company except for Walmart.You will need to conduct a search for a company with enough available information to answer all (or most) of the questions listed below. Publicly traded companies publish annual reports, which can be quite useful in answering the questions. Search through the company’s annual report and other online information to answer the following questions regarding its organizational structure.
I. Departmentalization
• Copy/Paste or diagram the top levels of the organizational chart, based on the available information.
• Many large organizations are hybrids, but they still emphasize one pure type more than others. Does the organizational chart represent a predominantly functional, divisionalized, or matrix structure? If a divisionalized form is emphasized, does it focus on clients, products, or geography?
• If a matrix structure is used, which functional units are involved?
• Does the organization make much use of the network structure? If so, what aspects of the organization’s activities are contracted out?
II. Span of Control
• Is this a tall or flat organization? How many hierarchical levels does it seem to have?
III. Centralization
• In general, does this organization have centralized or decentralized decision-making?
• To what extent do non-management employees participate in organizational decisions?
IV. Formalization
• Does this organization make extensive use of rules and procedures to organize and coordinate work activities? If so, provide examples.
• Do non-management employees have much discretion over their work or do they act mainly on programmed decisions?