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Fail to plan is plan to fail

Are you heading in the right direction?

Work in pairs. Role play either the general manager or the consultant.

5.3DOING THE BUSINESS

Roisin Ingle studies the most popular organisational structures

companies can choose from to be successful.

The need for a solid structure within all business entities is “absolutely fundamental”, according to Ms Angela Tripoli, a lecturer in Business Administration at University College Dublin. “Organisational structure concerns who reports to whom in the company and how different elements are grouped together. A new company cannot go forward without this and established companies must ensure their structure reflects their target markets, goals and available technology.”

Depending on their size and needs there are several organisational structures companies can choose from. Increasingly though, in the constantly evolving business environment, “many firms are opting for a kind, of hybrid of all of them”.

The most recognisable set up is called the functional structure where a fairly traditional chain of command (incorporating senior management, middle management and junior management) is put in place. The main benefit of this system is clear lines of communication from top to bottom but it is generally

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accepted that it can also be a bureaucratic set up which does not favour speedy decision-making.

More and more companies are organising themselves along product lines where companies have separate divisions according to the product that is being worked on. “In this case the focus is always on the product and how it can be improved,”

The importance for multinational companies of a good geographic structure, said Ms Tripoli, could be seen when one electrical products manufacturer produced an innovative rice cooker which made perfect rice - according to western standards. When they tried to sell it on the Asian market the product flopped because there were no country managers informing them of the changes that would need to be made in order to satisfy this more demanding market.

The matrix structure first evolved during a project developed by NASA when they needed to pool together different skills from a variety of functional areas. Essentially the matrix structure organises a business into project teams, led by project leaders, to carry out certain objectives. Training is vitally important here in order to avoid conflict between the various members of the teams.

During the 1980s a wave of restructuring went through industry around the globe. This process, known as delayering, saw a change in the traditional hierarchical structures with layers of middle management being removed. This development was driven by new technology and by the need to reduce costs. The overall result was organisations that were less bureaucratic.

The delayering process has run its course now. Among the trends that currently influence how a company organises itself is the move towards centralisation and outsourcing. Restructuring has evolved along with a more “customercentric” approach that can be seen to good effect in the banks. They now categorise their customers and their complex borrowing needs into groups instead of along rigid product lines.

Another development can be seen in larger companies, which are giving their employees more freedom to innovate in order to maintain a competitive edge.

Ms Julia MacLauchlan, Director of Microsoft’s European Product Development Centre in Dublin, said the leading software company had a very flat organisational structure. “There would not be more than around seven levels between the average software tester and Bill Gates,” she said.

Microsoft is a good example of a company that is structured along product lines. In Ireland, where 1.000 employees work on localisation of the software for all Microsoft’s markets, the company is split up into seven business units. Each unit controls the localisation of their specific products while working closely with the designers in Microsoft’s Seattle Headquarters.

It works, said Ms Maclauchlan, because everyone who works in the

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unit is “incredibly empowered”.

“Without a huge bureaucratic infrastructure people can react a lot more quickly to any challenges and work towards the company's objectives.”

The Irish Times, March 1999

Answer the questions.

1.What are the four main types of organisational structure described in the article?

2.What are the peculiarities of each organisational structure? What are their advantages and disadvantages?

3.Which organisational structure is more common than the others?

4.What is delayering?

5.When did it take place?

6.What caused delayering?

7.What did it lead to?

8.What trends influence the choice of organisational structure now?

9.How can Microsoft’s organisational structure be characterised?

Match the definitions with the four organisational structures.

1.a cross-functional structure where a. product line people are organised into project

teams

2.a structure organised around b. geographic different products

3.a structure that enables a c. matrix company to operate internationally

4.a structure where each person has d. functional their place in a fixed hierarchy

5.4TIME CLAUSES

Time clauses are used in English to demonstrate a period of time based on an action or event, similar to dependent clauses in conditional sentences. For example, I will cook dinner when I get home. ‘When I get home’ is a clause demonstrating a point in time, based on an action/event (the time that I get home), replacing a simpler time such as I will cook dinner at 7pm. Time clauses are complete ideas that require subjects, verbs and objects, but they do not always use the same verb rules as the main clause.

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Identifying a time clause

Time clauses are preceded by adverbs or adverb phrases that show they represent a time. These include when, after, until, as soon as, before. A clause that starts with an adverb of time like this is not usually a complete idea:

When the sun sets,

Before the first lesson,

After my teacher arrives,

Although they have a subject, verb and object, none of these are complete ideas, as they simply point to a time, similar to a clause that simply says “At 7pm.”

This is because when we form a time clause, the adverb of time joins two ideas, linking the main clause to the time in a dependent way. The two clauses could be separate sentences without the adverb of time. Consider the following two clauses:

I will master English. I will complete every exercise in my textbook. Either of these could become a time clause, and therefore make the main clause dependent on the timing of the other:

I will master English after I complete every exercise in my textbook.

When I master English, I will complete every exercise in my textbook. Notice, however, that the time clause is no longer in the future tense. Time clauses must be adjusted for certain grammar rules. So watch out for clauses starting with adverbs of time, then consider the following rules.

Time Clause Rules

Though the patterns for forming time clauses are similar to regular clauses, with the same word order (except with an adverb of time first), but time clauses use particular tense rules.

Time clauses only use different rules for future tenses; when talking about past or present events, you can generally use regular tenses for time clauses.

Before we cook pies, we wash our hands.

He came home after he finished work.

We had dinner before we watched the movie.

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For the future, we use the present tenses to talk about future times:

He will finish reading the book after he eats dinner. (Not after he will eat dinner.)

They are going to the museum before we arrive. (Not before we are going to arrive.)

I might practice my pronunciation until my friend’s lesson has finished. (Not until my friend’s lesson will have finished.)

Do not repeat the future tense in clauses with adverbs of time

As you can see in the examples above, when two clauses are joined by adverbs of time the future form should not be repeated.

She will meet me after it stops raining. (Not after it will stop raining.) I’ll turn off my computer when he does. (Not when he will.)

Times clauses and the conditionals

Time clauses, or ‘when’ clauses are often compared to ‘if’ clauses. This is a logical comparison because when discussing the future they are grammatically very similar to the first conditional.

We will see them when they get here.

We will see them if they get here.

In both cases the main clause is dependent on the second clause. A time clause shows the event will happen at a certain time, while the if clause shows it will happen if something else happens. As both make the main clause dependent on another detail (time or something that is possible), the grammatical construction is the same.

So you can practise your time clause grammar further by developing your understanding of the first conditional.

Noun phrases

Be careful, because the future tense may still be used if the time adverb introduces a noun clause. The difference is if the clause is the object of a verb, and not a time clause.

I know when the boat will leave.

This answers the question what (You know what.) rather than when.

Time Clauses Exercise

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Combine each of the following pairs of sentences by changing one clause into a time clause, using any of the time adverbs, such as when, after, before, unless, until, as soon as. The first one has been done for you:

I will read this book. I will eat dinner.

I will read this book after I eat dinner.

1.He will get wet. He is going swimming.

2.We are meeting the team. The team are arriving at the station.

3.I got to work late. I got up late.

4.The police will catch the criminal. The criminal will make a mistake.

5.They are going on holiday. They are finishing their exams.

Suggested Answers

1.He will get wet when he goes swimming.

2.We will meet the team when they arrive at the station.

3.I got to work late after I got up late.

4.The police will catch the criminal when he makes a mistake.

5.They are going on holiday after they finish their exams.

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