Managing People
Managing people plays an important role in a company. It is important for leaders to focus on managing people and creating a conducive environment for all the employees (Swenson, 2020). Our company will include a team of highly skilled individuals. Our organizational structure includes different hierarchy. Organisational structure is a framework that defines job relations, systems and how a business operates. It includes the way individuals communicate in a company. Organisational structure highlights formal relations in a company. It shows the different levels in an organization. There are different types of organizational structure.
They include functional structure which divides work based on type. For instance, there can be marketing, production and finance department. Function vary depending on the company; however, skills play an important role in the particular structure. Functional structure are centralized as the senior management is tasked with decision-making (Schermerhorn, 2010). Functional structure has different advantages, first it enables maintaining high skilled workers. Mostly, employees work through the ranks which enables them to have needed expertise as they move to higher ranks. The management ensures that all workers are highly skilled. People within the company know who turn to whenever they need help. For instance, when they want sales issues solved, they can contact the sales department. Most small companies start with functional structure and change as they grow. However, there are various disadvantages linked to functional structure (Daft, 2011). They are likely to create empire building as the managers take over the company. There are tight boundaries within the levels which makes it difficult when seeking help. Additionally, many workers tend to focus on their areas of specialty making is hard for them explore other areas. Functional structure also creates communication barriers within the company. There are also coordination barriers created in the functional structure. Therefore, they may not be suitable for early development.
Product structure is another form of organizational structure. It is used by marketing and consumer goods companies. The structure is headed by product manager who is tasked with marketing and sales of the product (Schermerhorn, 2010). The product structure creates other smaller levels. Product manager works with operation manager. There are various advantages linked to product structure. One of the advantages is that it allows a company to focus on a single product. It enables the organization hire specialized workers to market the product. They can as well target a particular group of individuals. It is an effective way compared to functional structure. It is also a great approach to train line managers. Nevertheless, there are various disadvantages linked to product structure. It is expensive as it is hard to manage the approach. There are also communication barriers in the product structure.
Structural forms of organizational structure are effective. They include theoretical and practical. Theoretical forms are divided into organic and mechanistic (Daft, 2011). Organic structure has few horizontal differentiation and great collaboration as well as participation. Another important factor of organic structure is that it has flexible tasks. The communication approach is informal and decision-making system is decentralized. Mechanistic organizational culture is different as levels are differentiated at horizontal level. The tasks are inflexible and has formal communication channel. Also, the decision-making process is decentralized.
Matrix structure is another organizational structure. It has two or more lines of authority, one has managers, sales and procurement. The other level consists of project managers who are tasked with handling the budget (Daft, 2011). The functional employee has more than one boss, they are the project manager and functional department manager. In this case, it shows that the managers are answerable to two bosses. One of the boss is tasked with paying salary while the other is tasked with enhancing their performance. The structure is complicated and required high skilled individuals to run it. the employees should also have great management skills. Other factors required for a smooth running of the company is trust, communication and teamwork. Workers should be ready to work as a team and negotiate. One should also be ready to change priority when working under the matrix structure. A team leader needs to have attention to detail. The two bosses ensure that projects are successful when using the structure (Daft, 2011). There are advantages linked to the particular type of structure. It works well when managing complex tasks. It helps in problem solving process. However, the management of the two bosses can be complicated. They are expensive and at times employees can have a hard time deciding who to listen to when making important decisions. In most cases, it leads to confusion within the company which can affect its growth.
Additionally, there is customer structure which is used when the management wants to focus on the clients’ needs. They ensure that all the clients’ needs are met. The employees are encouraged to work towards understanding their clients to ensure they get value for their money (Daft, 2011). For instance, our company will ensure that the employees get quality product. Their feedback is highly valued as it helps in improving services offered. The structure enables the company improve their brand and image. The current market is highly competitive; therefore, companies should focus on their clients to remain competitive. The structure shows that the organization cares for their clients. Nevertheless, the approach may lead to a lot of pressure within the company. Employees may feel the pressure to deliver quality work. For instance, in photography business the photographer and production team may feel pressured by the clients to produce quality images. Although our company values quality the photographers may have a hard time working with the clients. It may lead to complexities within the company which may affect our company’s growth.
There is also the divisional structure which works well in large companies. It has higher responsibility compared to product structure (Daft, 2011). The general manager plays a huge part in the particular structure. They are in charge of the business ensuring that everything works as expected. They manage the company from the start to the end. The managers can organize their divisions to work as they desire. They decide what is appropriate for the company and implement their changes. The approach will not work well with our company as it is small. It has few workers and managing them under the structure can be complicated. There are different advantages linked to the structure. It helps in creating a balance within the organization (Daft and Marcic, 2010). Different divisions do not depend on each other which makes the decision-making process easy. The structure is complex can make it hard for managers to control the everyday tasks. It requires high skilled employees to manage it and ensure that the organization achieves its goals. There is also a high chance of redundancy under divisional structure. Hence, the approach cannot work with our company due to its complexity. Being a start-up, we need an organizational structure that will allow the company grow and achieve its objective.
Organizational structure for our company is decentralized. We are focusing on having a formal organizational structure. We will have four full-time workers, and three part-time employees. The organization is divided into four functional areas that include the Management production team, sales and marketing and finance team. We will have the manager who is one of the co-founders. He will be tasked with leading the team to ensure that its goals are met. The manager will head the production team and work closely with the employees. We will have a manager who will be tasked with ensuring that the company is running properly. The management team changes the industry experience. They ensure that they create a great working environment for other workers. Our manager has worked as a photographer and understands the market. He has great marketing skills as he has worked in other photo studios. The manager will work closely with the sales team which will help in understanding the clients.
Next, we will have an assistant manager who will be tasked with heading the finance team. He will ensure that the team has updated financial reports. After reviewing the report, the assistant manager will give it to the manager. We will have an assistant who will be tasked with scheduling bookings and advising customers on the services offered by the company. The assistant manager will work with other employees to ensure that their products are of high quality. He/she needs to have experience in photography. The company will also have a sales and marketing manager. She will be tasked with creating new ways for advertising the products. She will also come up with ideas to improve our products. The sales and marketing manager will work closely with the clients. She will ensure that their ideas are included in the photo session.
The sales and marketing manager will also manage the website, make sure that it is updated. Other areas that she will be tasked to manage include all social media platforms. There will also be a Camera man who will work with the clients. She will advertise the company’s product on social media and reply to all clients’ queries. Other team members will include three sales agent who will work on part-time bases. Also, we will have a production assistant who will be tasked with prepping the studio when there is booking. He will work with the production manager and the camera man. All the workers should have at least one-year work experience in their specific posts. However, the company will work with willing interns. They must be dedicated towards achieving the company’s goals.
At times the company will be required to work on Sundays and most of the workers will not be available. The company will be forced to hire a camera assistant who will work together with the camera man and production assistant.
The personnel plan will include management compensation. The management team will be compensated based on the shares. The team is made up of co-founders therefore, they have shares and will be paid based on shares that each person has. The production team will have a fixed salary that they will be paid on monthly basis. The sales and marketing team will be compensated based of the sales they make.
We expect that our approach will start making profits in the sixth month after the company is set-up. The sales and marketing team will work towards ensuring that the company attains its goals. We expect the company to register major growth in its first two years of operation. Other monthly charges that are not included in the table include internet charges and salary for the non-permanent employees. The employees will be paid hourly, that is £10 per hour which is slightly above the minimum hourly wage in the UK (£7.70) (BBC, 2019). The employees will work 5 hours per day from Monday to Saturday. Therefore, the total weekly salary for the three employees is £900. Monthly salary will be £25,200. As the sales increase, the company will invest in more high-quality equipment. We will get more props that will help improve our services. We plan to invest in long-term projects that will help market our business. The company will invest in advertisement as it will help attract more clients.
Our company will highly invest in our employees as they play a huge role in its growth. The co-founders will ensure that there are weekly meetings that will help understand the changes that need to be implemented. The team will also work closely with the customers. It will enable us make necessary changes within the company. The co-founders will organize meetings with clients or introduce suggestion boxes. Customers will be required to leave their reviews which will be read twice per month. The sales team will offer suggestions on the changes that are required to be implemented. Also, the production team will be invited to implement changes. The four departments will work closely to ensure that we meet our objectives. Communication approach will be open which will help in solving problem within the company. The employees will be required to answer directly to the management team.

References
BBC. (2019, December 31). National living wage to rise by 6.2% in April. Retrieved July 29, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50947097.
Daft, R. L. (2011). Understanding management. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage
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Daft, R. L., and Marcic, D. (2010). Understanding Management. Cengage Learning.
Schermerhorn, J. R. (2010). Exploring management in modules: [explore, inspire]. Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley.
Swenson, E. R. I. C. (2020). MANAGING PEOPLE: The 2020 edition. S.l.: WHEATMARK.