University of Phoenix
Managing Across the Organization: Good Sport
The focus of this paper will be on the company Good Sport. The structure and culture of Good Sport will be identified along with how the structure and culture translates into the power structure and politics at Good Sport. Given these topics of discussion the environment will be and leadership styles will be discussed. Suggestions on how to manage change and strategies to enhance performance will also be identified.
Background
Good Sport is 15 years old and was founded by an ex-basketball star Jason Poole. Good Sport is based out of Coral Springs, Florida and manufactures fitness equipment. In the last four years the company has been moving forward improving performance, sales, production and research and development. Good Sport’s equipment is used in hospitals, health clubs, hotels and the residential markets. The company is now expanding into Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Organizational Structure
The type of organizational structure that exists at Good Sport is a functional structure and mechanistic structure. The Human Resource Management Guide (2009) stated, “Functional organizations have the advantage of being simple to understand with clear lines of command, specified tasks and responsibilities. Staff can specialize in a particular business area such as production or marketing and follow well-defined career paths,” (¶ 2). Good Sport is split into four business areas production, research and development, sales and finance. Each business area has three levels of management executive, senior and team. The CEO is over all business areas (University of Phoenix, 2009). Each segment or business area has its own set of responsibilities, tasks and chain of command. People working in each segment specialize in that particular business area within Good Sport, which represent a functional organizational structure. Mechanistic structures have limited...