Case Analysis and Problem Identification

Business Database Company (BDC) possesses a bureaucratic organization structure with at least five levels of hierarchy, through which BDC's business tasks and responsibility are allocated and activities are coordinated and controlled. Meanwhile, BDC is a highly centralized organization, authority for decision making power is held in the hand of managers at the top the hierarchy. In the case of BDC, it could be revealed that the rigid structure with multi-layer hierarchy and centralization of power and authority has inhibited cross functional or inter-departmental teamwork and stifled business innovation, and become the major obstacle for encouraging initiative.

There are three key problems that I have identified, which consist of organizational inflexibility, resistance to change, culture and motivation. Each problem is examined in details as following:

Organizational Inflexibility - A computer-based business analysis system as an innovative product can enable customers to undertake their own database interrogation, and generate internal analysis reports. Such innovative product or service is aligned with company's strategy to promote the widespread use of computer within company, and offer customized product with a far better profit margins than conventional one. But as it can be perceived that BDC is a highly bureaucratic system of formalization with emphasize on rules and procedures to control and coordinate the activities of implementing a new idea; and more importantly, BDC's senior staffs are used to current work style and feel comfortable with time-consuming procedures to getting the approval for a new idea through a centralized and multi-level decision-making process. From the complaint of BDC's finance director, it is revealed that BDC is featured with a 'Mechanistic Structure' to stress 'proper channel' to