Trends in Organizational Design and COVID-19 (Essay Sample)

Principles of Management
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Principles of Management
Organizational design has undergone many changes in recent years because of rising trends. The trends influence how companies organize their workflow, procedures, and systems. Besides, the emerging trends are vital because they present organizations with an opportunity of reducing the management cost. The paper explores organizational design trends and how they can be applied in the health industry
Trends in Organizational Design
In the article New Trends in Organization Design, Burton et al. (2020) discuss some of the emerging trends that impact businesses. First, the authors stipulated that organizations are placing high importance on social networks. Therefore, having adequate knowledge on organization design trends is essential because of prevention of organizations from lagging. The trends require the organizational leaders to research and also network with other global companies to identify the ones important to the business. The widespread use of computers and social network platforms have motivated companies to digitalize their communication channels. The trend has been beneficial to organizations because it eases communication between business leaders and employees. As a result, it has also become easy for organizational leaders to hold meetings through virtual connections (Burton et al., 2020). Besides, the switch from the traditional means of communication like letters to social networks has created a conducive work environment since employees' needs are addressed fast. Secondly, the article reveals that there is the rise of flat organizational structure. The authors highlighted that most of the employees opt for organizations that exercise less authority over them. Unlike hierarchical organizational structures, there is an absence of levels of management in the flat structure. The trend has given the employees the opportunity of being involved in decision-making (Straková et al., 2021). Also, it has eliminated the complicated communications that workers had to experience before conveying their grievances. There has also been increased productivity since less time is taken during the decision-making process. Moreover, the trend focuses on making the employees feel like part of the organization. Outsourcing is another organization design trend. In the past, organizations have outsourced particular functions like payroll and technology functions (Hong & Kim, 2020). However, the rise of outsourcing has led to the inclusion of a wide range of functions, including; marketing, sales, engineering, customer service, and production. Also, outsourcing has resulted to re-distribution of organizational responsibilities. It is crucial to highlight that outsourcing trend has also led to other changes like merging of organizations (Hong & Kim, 2020). The merge influences organizational design since employees are relocated from their designated duties while some of them are fired.
Organizational Design
Functional organizational design is the most common structure in the healthcare industry. The design requires an institution to group its workers based on their roles, skills, or specialty. The healthcare organizations comprise many departments that provide a wide range of healthcare services. Besides, these departments include individuals who have different levels of expertise. Therefore, the functional organizational design strives to create a clear chain of command for the variety of healthcare services (Fiorio et al., 2018). The design is appropriate for the healthcare industry because it enhances strict division of labor grounded on functions. It also allows healthcare workers to clearly comprehend who consults in the chain of command. For instance, a nurse could consult the unit manager or the charge nurse on matters relating to another staff member, patient, or the entire unit. As a result, there is minimal wastage of time as the practitioners consult from persons on the higher hierarchy. Additionally, functional organizational design is efficient in the healthcare industry because it allows the various departments to focus on a specific work area. For example, there are various departments like the intensive care unit, labor and delivery department, and operating room. Through functional organizational design, these departments are able to perform distinct responsibilities while having the best expertise (Fiorio et al., 2018). Moreover, the structure is appropriate because it enhances accountability. The organizational design sets clear lines of management with each department and individual knowing about their obligations. It is important to note that healthcare organizations have the mandate of providing quality healthcare services. The companies need to ensure that they satisfy the patient's needs by performing roles in the right way. Functional organizational design enhances quality healthcare services by enhancing clarity, and therefore minimal challenges while providing the services.
Organizational Design and COVID-19
The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused economic and social disruptions. These implications have forced organizations to react to the various policies that governments have implemented to curb the spread of the virus. For instance, some firms have been forced to cut back their activities, like cinemas, bars, and restaurants. The physical distance has caused different organizational design changes. One of the fundamental impacts of COVID-19 on organizations is innovation. It leads to the integration of modern technology to aid in carrying out daily operations. Organizations have shifted to the use of online platforms to enhance the coordination of their operations. The online platforms are essential because they enable employees to work from home, thus reducing the spread of COVID-19. Some of the tools companies used include Zoom, WebEx, and other online media platforms to coordinate work (Foss, 2020). Furthermore, COVID-19 has forced organizations to hand over decision competence to the local managers. This has been attributed to the fact that the regional managers cannot move from one region to another to monitor how the business activities are performed. Additionally, COVID-19 has led to resizing of organizational teams. Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, most organizations had a large size of organizational teams. However, the pandemic has led to the decrease of these teams with the objective of combating the spread of the virus. The pandemic h