Assignment 3 FTCA – Regional and Headquarters relations
1. Describe the current organization structure of FTCA. What is it? What are the strength and weaknesses of such structure?

FTCA is a government agency that has both Headquarters (HQ) and Regional offices. The HQ is structured as a functional organization and the regional offices mirror some of the HQ functional activities but at an operational level. They also have additional functions that are related to regional responsibilities.
FTCA is a region-based matrix structure. A matrix structure is a type of departmentalization that overlays two organizational forms (i.e. functional & divisional) in order to leverage the benefits of both. FTCA has one office in each region across the country and each regional office arranges employees around specific knowledge for the functional structure. Let’s look at the strengths & weakness of this structure:
Strengths
• This structure has created specialized functional pools of talent at head office level, regional level, & at the city level. As a result, the decision-making is much better.
• The structure at both regional & city level will accommodate geographic growth relatively easily and will also help focus employee attention on the services or public rather than tasks.

Weaknesses
• Greater emphasis on subunit than organizational goals.
• Lack of communication due to distance.
• Employees at both regional & city level may be lacking a broader understanding of the business or other departments.
• Duplication of tasks and inefficient use of resources.
• Dilutes accountability, the HQ functional AD and regional managers may have conflicting interest and expectations from employees and can continue to increase dysfunctional conflict and ambiguity.
• Require more control because there is lower coordination between the units.

2. Can FTCA operate