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Example research essay topic: Head Office Decision Making - 1,369 words

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Graham Turner structured the company as families, villages and tribes. The creation of this unique system has also worked to the companys advantage. It provides incentives based on outcomes. The Flight centres system is based on the idea that people work best in their preferred environment within the larger organisation rather than trying to fit them into the companys mould. The employees believe what gets rewarded gets done.

they are hard workers but also enjoy the many social aspects of the company including buzz nights, award ceremonies and team get-togethers. This essay would focus on how flight centre has structured with the four aspects of the organisation structure. Explains how flight centre has integrated the Mintzbergs five elements to its structure. This essay would also highlights the roles of functional and social specialization. Finally, the metaphors used by flight centre would be discussed. Structure of Flight Centre The importance of organisational structuring and restructuring to organisational effectiveness cannot be over emphasized.

Effective organisational design or organisational structuring pays immense dividends, no matter how large or small the organisation is (HRODC, 2006). The founder of the Flight Centre Ltd, Graham Turner claims that people are hard wired to work in small groups within larger groups. To understand this unique structure the four aspects of organisation structure, complexity, formalization, centralization and coordination, can be used. Complexity refers to the way in which the organization is divided into different divisions, departments, groups, or individual roles, each with its own tasks and responsibilities. Vertical differentiation refers to the number of hierarchical levels in an organization (Robbins & Barnwell, 2006). At the Flight centre, the operation level involves retail shops.

Each shop involves three to seven people working on one brand which is called a family. The area or a village involves 7 or 10 families within one geographical region. The tribal country is a set of three or four villages. Each tribe is a different brand, brands include corporate traveler, flight centre and student flights (refer appendix 1).

In horizontal differentiation, different parts of the organization become specialized in different activities to increase efficiency (Robbins & Barnwell, 2006). All shops of flight centre sell similar services even though the names (corporate traveler, flight centre and student flights) are different which makes it easy to coordinate activities and to communicate among families. Moreover, due to the similarities of jobs within a family, there are no differences between the staff. However, a special horizontal clustered family consisting of HR, IT and marketing professionals, provides administrative services for retail shops.

By clustering different types of functions and activities on any one level of the hierarchy has the advantage of application of higher technical knowledge for solving problems and greater group and professional identification (Luthans, 1986). Flight centre has more than 800 shops spatially dispersed. High-rise of overseas shops would increase the number of tribes, villages, families and employees. As a result, it would be difficult to communicate, coordinate and control. According to Baumard & Starbuck (2006), the members of spatially dispersed organizations seek appreciation within networks of friends and relatives, and they form subcultures that spread across several organizations and that may be more important to them than their focal organization. These communities encompass more aspects of their lives than the strict duties of their work contracts so work and leisure infiltrate each other.

Formalization refers to the extent to which rules, regulations, job descriptions, policies, and procedures govern the operation of an organization. (Robbins & Barnwell, 2006). Although the flight centre has a flat structure; it has three levels (tribe, village and family) which shows that there is a hierarchy within the structure. Flight centre also follows certain standards to sustain in the business. Flight centre maintain the levels and number of families, villages and tribes.

Each family can sell a single service, Entry age to Flight centre is normally 25 years. Managers of the shops can take 10 % profit and may own up to 20 % of their shop. Some rituals include Buzz nights one a month and formal get-togethers. Centralization refers to the degree to which decision-making is concentrated at one point in the organization. At flight centre, there are no confusions about people's goals, tasks, style of functioning, reporting relationship and sources of information.

The country buys services for villages and families. A centralized structure provides people with a clear picture of how their work fits into the organization. The SWOT teams analyze innovations and new ideas. However, at flight centre, there is no centralized control of the head office. Coordination is integration of activities of specialized units towards the common objective. (Anderson, 1988).

Programmed coordination requires advanced planning and is often used where there are a small number of expected occurrences (Argue, 1982). Programmed coordination is common in the flight centre. A head office team coordinates administrative services and marketing. Like wise, SWOT teams direct new businesses. All the retail shops are individually coordinated by the shop managers.

Furthermore, get-togethers and Buzz-nights are informally coordinated. Common Elements in Organisation One framework proposed by Henry Mintzberg suggests that every organization has five parts (illustrated in appendix 2). The five parts of the organization may vary in size and importance depending on the organizations environment, technology and other factors (Robbins & Barnwell, 2006). At the bottom of the organization is the operating core. At the flight centre, it is referred to the members of the family (retail shops), employees who do the basic work of selling or delivering the services. The Strategic apex is charged to ensure that the organization executes its mission.

Flight centre has a unique way of distribution of powers where all authorities are not given to the tribes. However, the tribal country or the regional office is the centre that administrates the brands (corporate traveler, flight centre and student flights) which are retail shops. They also facilitate training and recruitment, buying holiday packages and other employee related services to the villages. Moreover, the head office or the board could also be taken in to consideration because they would be establishing and monitoring the companys visions, goals and strategies. Each family or the retail shop has a manager who connects the operating core to the strategic apex. Moreover, managers of the administrative families (head office teams) would also be included.

They are responsible for implementation and coordination at the departmental level. The techno structure of the flight centre involves the HR, IT and marketing professionals who have the responsibility for effecting forms of standardization in the organisation. According to the flight centre report (1999), due to the recruitment system, they have changed the way they identify and attract the best staff. Moreover, techno structure would also include the flight centre SWOT teams where they focus on innovations and try new ideas. Support staff refers to the people that provide indirect support services.

Support staff of flight centre includes legal Counselors, cafeteria Workers, security guards and peons. In any organisation, one of the above five (strategic apex, operating core, techno structure, middle line and support staff) would be dominant. The organisation is formed according to the dominating element. When the strategic apex is dominant, control is centralized and it forms a simple structure (Beshears, 2006).

At the Flight centre, functions the strategic apex appear to be more dominant than the other aspects. Firstly, the powers of the organisation are dispersed to some level at the flight centre, regional office or the tribal country administrates the brands (corporate traveler, flight centre and student flights) which are retail shops. They also facilitate training and recruitment, buying holiday packages and other employee related services to the village and can be considered as more centrally controlled. Secondly, the SWOT teams and the administrative teams are specialized; all other families do a standardized work, which involves servicing customers and selling products. The structure of flight centre could also be considered flat because it only has three levels and the operating core reports to their respective managers. Some advantages include clear accountability and flexibility to respond to the issues of the customers.

Decision-making at the Flight centre appeared to be limited. The tribal country makes decisions regarding administrative the technical matters. The tribal country facilitates bran...


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