Introduction

Organization structure and culture are now becoming critical elements for businesses to not only make profits but to survive. Due in part to technological change, many businesses are undergoing fundamental shifts to their business models. No industry is immune to these changes. Trends are currently emerging around big data, data analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, automation and more (Halpin, 2018). Many tasks that were once thought to be essential are now becoming much more routine and automated. These innovations, although warranted from the consumer perspective, bring with them a litany of challenges related to organizational structure (Bhambri, 2018). These challenges are result of how to properly leverage these emerging technologies in a manner the improves corporate performance while also creating a strong competitive advantage for the company at large. In order to accomplish these two tasks, organizational structure and organization culture must be changed (Abernethy, 2018).

Organizational structure

Organizational structure is system of processes and procedures used by businesses to accomplish a predetermined task or goal. These structures often vary from company to company, each with the own strength in weaknesses. As noted in the introduction, technology is heavily disrupting industry irrespective of market position. The rapid change in business climate combined with the dynamic nature of technological evolution can help or harm certain organizational structures (Eccles, 2018). For example, the most common organization structure for many older organizations is that of a bureaucracy. Here, a bureaucracy is characterized by a complex system of layers and processes that govern activities within an organization (Carzo, 2019). This form of organizational structure was well-suited for industries that had little to no change within their core operations and was popularized back during the industrial revolution. During this period, although innovations where occurring, the structure required to adopt the innovations was same. Changes where not as rapid and therefore organizations could slowly implement changes once it was determined they would be successful. The railroad industry for example was heavily characterized by bureaucracy (Blankenship, 2018). Once track was laid, it was very difficult for competitors to take a specific route. For one government regulation wouldnt allow and two, the high capital expenditures required deterred market intrants. As such, as more layers of track where laid certain railroads incurred mini-monopolies in certain regions of the United States. This region dominance is still alive today with CSX dominating the southeast railroad sector, Burlington Northern Santa Fe dominating the Midwest and East, and the Canadian Pacific dominating the south. Due is part to the lack of competition in their industries, their market dominance, and the entrenched nature of their operations, railroads typically operate with bureaucracy (Cheney, 2018). Here, changes must be approved through layers of review and oversight as to avoid major disruptions and ill-advised decisions. Likewise, once approved, the changes often occur slowly as to ensure that they are implemented properly with minimal disruption to businesses operations or to customers. This is preferred system as the railroad industry occupies and entrenched position that changes rather slowly. As such changes can be seen ahead and time and adjustments can be easily made. As a result, operations do not require a decentralized structure like many of its competitors. Here, a pre-determined chain of command works best for this organization structure as positions and authority are both well defined (Abramson, 2019).

Most industry in America however is not so fortunate. A majority of industry is subject to dramatic change. A very controversial case study in organizational structure is occurring in the financial services industry. Here two, large banks often operated using a bureaucracy with layers and layers of red tape. Now however, they are being disrupted in nearly every one of their operating segments. Innovations in peer to peer lending has caused disruption in the banks core lending business. Fintech firms such as...

…through the flat organizational structure to make quicker decisions on loan applications, payment disputes, and even fraudulent transactions. Through the use of data analyst, banks are now better able to spot money laundering activities online along with stolen cards and duplicitous transactions (Child, 2020). All of this occurs under the backdrop of more agile and horizontal organization. These companies have been rewarded as their stock prices continue to be market leaders throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the market share of large banks, in terms of deposits continues to grow as consumers show confidence in the new business model and horizontal organizational structure. Departmentalization has allowed key personnel to focus on core strategic initiatives. As it relates to banking these initiatives are focused heavily on data analytics and how to properly leverage it to make better informed decisions related to loan, transactions, fraud, cyber security, and other areas of business performance. The company has also streamlined the chain of command through a horizontal business structure to make decisions more accurately and quickly (Bormann, 2020).

Organizational Culture

Organization culture refers to the expectations, values, philosophy and overall strategic vision that guides the behaviors of employees. Culture, much like organizational structure is now becoming a much more critical component to business success. A primary reason for this is the need for much more specialized and engaged workforce. As technology continues to permeate throughout the world, organization culture must be one that is more accepting of change and innovation to help fuel the business grow of tomorrow (Schrodt, 2020). An unwillingness or an inability to do so will result in a companys operations becoming obsolete. Culture is now becoming much more heavily focused on values of associated with ESG standards. The most successful companies have values that often transcend the organization and create an empowering culture in which employees can follow. Teslas vision for its electrical car has inspired not only tens…