Organizational Structure
According to Pugh (1990), the organizational structure is an instrument that appears from the need to fulfill the organizational aims and objectives with the tools and activities that are available. Following the way that this process is managed, several types of organizational structures can be identified, including pre-bureaucratic structures, bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic structures, functional structures, divisional structures and matrix structures.
Westinghouse organizational structure falls into several different categories. On one hand, it is a bureaucratic structure. Among the characteristics of such an organization, Weber (1948) identifies several: "precision, speed, unambiguity, & #8230; strict subordination, reduction of friction and of material and personal costs- these are raised to the optimum point in the strictly bureaucratic administration."
The bureaucratic nature of the organizational structure at Westinghouse is motivated by at least two aspects: (1) the nature of the industry in which Westinghouse operates: the nuclear industry, highly regulated, which implies that the organization follows strict rules and regulations, because many of these are required by the industry; (2) the close relationship of the company with the military.
These characteristics of the organizational structure at Westinghouse also translate into a hierarchical organizational structure. The most important idea of a hierarchical organizational structure is that each department is subordinated to some coordinating entity, a nominal head of the department, who subsequently reports to someone else in the chain of command. This type of hierarchical structure, as Camille Kovach pointed out, is typical of military institutions and Westinghouse, working a significant amount of time with this industry, has adopted many of its characteristics.
Looking at the company's organizational chart, it is also interesting to note that the company also has a division organizational structure. However, the argument that Westinghouse also uses this model can only be supported by analyzing the degree to which the divisions are relatively independent in terms of resources and leadership. There is not enough information about this in the organizational chart. The divisions are geographical, with one division for America, one division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and one division for Asia.
The three presidents are Mark Marano for the Americas, Yves Brachet, for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Jack Allen, for Asia. Mark Marano has been working for over 20 years in the nuclear industry, in different companies before joining Westinghouse in 2006. Jack Allen has also an important regional experience, having worked as President and CEO of Westinghouse Electric Japan KK. Yves Brachet has 30 years of experience in the industry and joined the company in France, in 2004.
There also appears to be a functional component to some of the other divisions, given by the fact that some of the divisions refer to the specific activity within that department. For example, there is a division that covers Nuclear Energy Systems & Services. All these functional divisions are coordinated by Senior Vice-presidents. On the organizational chart, there seems to be no subordination between functional divisions and geographical divisions, all of them being subordinated to Shigenori Shiga, the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Vice-president.
The President and CEO of the company is Danny Roderick, he is subordinated to the Chairman of the Board of Directors and coordinates with the Division Presidents and Senior Vice-presidents. Danny Roderick is a recent addition to the team, having joined in 2012. He has over 30 years of experience in the nuclear industry, having also worked in Japan for several years.
Organizational Diversity
From an organizational diversity perspective, Cox (1991) talks about three different types of organizations: the monolith type, the plural organization and the multicultural organization. Following this classification, Westinghouse appears to be a plural, even multicultural organization, which contains several cultural groups and supports diversity (Harvey, 2012).
There are several arguments in favor of this classification. Westinghouse is part of the larger Toshiba Group, which has brought into the company, in many positions, including leadership positions, Japanese managers. The chairman of the board is Japanese, several Japanese head the functional divisions and the answers can continue. This goes down at the lower levels of the organization: a presence of Japanese employees is very likely.
However, it is not only the Japanese cultural group that is a good example of multiculturalism. In the company's management, one of the division presidents is French, one of the senior vice-presidents is Spanish: there is a distinct diversity at managerial level, something that is also expected at working level, since Westinghouse is a global company, with activities and operations all over the world.
This focus on diversity and on equal employment...
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