MGMT 5120 Managing Organizational Design and Change
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Task:
Question 1 (Chapter4): Basic Challenges Of Organizational Design
Your Task: 

Debate the advantages and disadvantages of centralization and decentralization in organizations.  Use examples found in secondary sources to justify your stance.

Question 2 (Chapter 5): Designing Organizational Structure: Authority and Control

Your Task: 

Research business publications and find a current example of structural change that occurred due to expansion (through organic growth, merger or acquisition) or downsizing.  That is, investigate how the number of levels in the hierarchy grew/reduced after growth or downsizing.  Then, explain why the change may have occurred based on what’s offered in the chapter.

Question 3 (Chapter 6): Designing Organizational Structure: Specialization And Coordination

LeBlanc’s is an upscale casual dining restaurant located at a busy intersection in a large city. The restaurant currently reflects a functional structure (like most restaurants do).  The restaurant is run by an experienced manager who oversees a sizable staff broadly categorized into three distinct functional areas – bar (bartenders, bar backs), kitchen (cooks, dishwashers) and dining room (servers and bussers). The restaurant is well-known for its modestly opulent ambiance, quiet but efficient operation, and excellent meat and sea-food product offerings.

LeBlanc’s owner would like to change the organizational structure of the restaurant from the current functional structure to one that reflects a product division structure, with one product division handling meat and the other product division handling sea-food. 

Your Task: 

Use the information in the chapter to characterize what such a product division structure would look like at LeBlanc’s, and then discuss how the restaurant’s operations, and customer experience would be altered if the structural change was implemented.