WRITTEN REPORT 6

-Group 2-
Case 1 - Chapter 11
A New Kind of Structure

Summary

The company has also launched a ‘PfizerWorks’ system, which allows clinicians to
outsource some of their more tedious duties like document preparation or research to
third-party vendors based in India. The program was formerly known as the Office of the
Future and enabled the employees to engage in more strategic and innovative work. In
this, the employees fill out an online form, describing the task that needs to be done, which
is then done by the outsourcing team who bill the respective department for the service. So
far this has led to an approximate saving of 66.5 thousand work hours and dramatically
increased operational efficiency. For example, executive director David Cain had a huge
project delivered within a month via PfizerWorks which would have taken him six months
to complete on his own. The platform enables the staff to engage in more strategic
operations instead of being overwhelmed by routine work.

Discussion Question

11-13. Describe and evaluate what Pfizer is doing with its PfizerWorks.

The method that Pfizer is implementing is, as the company has summarized it, a “magic
button” that can alleviate employee’s burdens and make time for more productive work.
Pfizer has come up with this solution after witnessing its staff being occupied by mundane
chores such as creating documents and typing notes, which usually take up approximately
a third of their time. This limits its employees’ ability to engage in vital tasks such as
strategizing and managing. As such, Pfizer has come up with a solution to shift its
employees’ tedious works onto a third-party. This model is applied as a form of interface
where staff first enter their work and description, which is then transmitted to an
India-based company which will be in charge of said tasks.

One of the benefits of Pfizer’s innovation is that it frees employees from being occupied
by time-consuming work and allows them to focus on more important tasks. This may
potentially enhance productivity and result in more progress in terms of their core
considerations. The practice also provides Pfizer with flexibility in adapting their
workload and can effectively adjust to periods with different demands. Nonetheless, this
increases their dependence on these outsourced companies, which may harm Pfizer in the
long term. Through employee training programs, Pfizer can raise their employees’
capabilities in handling these tedious tasks and become more self-dependable in the long
run.

11-14. What structural implications—good and bad—does this approach have?

(Think in terms of the six organizational design elements.)

When assessing Pfizer’s model, we can approach it from the perspective of the six
organization design elements, including work specialization, departmentalization, chain of
command, span of control, centralization/decentralization and formalization:

Work specialization: By allowing their employees to delegate routine tasks, Pfizer enables
its staff to focus more on their field of expertise, leading to increased work specialization.
The downside is that by relying on these third parties, Pfizer is effectively ridding its
employees of the opportunity to familiarize themselves with these tasks.

Departmentalization: The model allows Pfizer to emphasize more on its core missions,
leading to crucial progress and innovation. However, as these departments become overly
focused on their work to the point of lacking communication with other departments, it can
instead hinder workflow and lead to a decrease in productivity.

Chain of command: By relying on Pfizer’s outsourcing system, employees are given a

clear method to request assistance, which can alleviate the pressure of seeking help in a
traditional setting. Nonetheless, this can also result in a dilution of responsibilities, that is,
employees being confused as to their respective responsibilities and accountabilities.

Span of control: On the one hand, it can be argued that the model enables managers to
actively expand their span of control to external assistance. On the other hand, the enlarged
control web might potentially overload managers and reduce their power.

Centralization/ Decentralization: With the newly-added model, employees are now able to
more freely make decisions on their own regarding their assigned tasks, hence reducing
the burden on managers. Nonetheless, over-decentralization also comes with the threat of
loss of control over staff members.

Formalization: The new model constructs a robust process for employees to proceed with
their work. Nevertheless, the rigid model might limit creativity and flexibility as
employees might feel constrained and less likely to propose innovative changes to the
structure.
11-15. Do you think this arrangement would work for other types of organizations?
Why or why not? What types of organizations might it also work for?

According to our group, we strongly believe other kinds of organizations should consider
emulating this arrangement. This would be good for organizations that have to process a
lot of research, data analysis and the like. This type of task takes a lot of time and in the
process, productivity is compromised. However, in this structure, firms will be able to
follow some exercises that train on such objectives as innovation, strategy, collaboration,
or critical thinking. Thus it can enhance efficiency in productivity and assist the employees
to work harder.
Also, this type of arrangement can also apply to big companies that have a lot of branches.
This may suit them because it saves time and allows them to concentrate on matters which
are really important and need logical thinking efforts. Besides, it can enable the employees
to focus on operating in areas of chief interest because they will have specialized in those
areas.
For example, Techcombank, BIDV, Sacombank, …can apply this to their management
Organizational plan of their employees and avoid high levels of repetitive tasks using
supporting tools such as Excel and spreadsheets,...
In addition, a vast majority of accounting firms that include market leaders such as
Deloitte or KPMG, as well as numerous independent boutiques, have advanced their
businesses thanks to such AI tools that can be also regarded as supporting ones. Below, we
look at these tools as instruments that may assist accountants and auditors in dealing with
repetitive tasks, minimizing risks of mistakes and devoting more time to work that can
create greater value for the company.
One of the best examples that can be related to this is that the tech companies that deal
with huge amounts of big data daily namely Google, Amazon, Bing, and the lot are
involved in exerting control and influence on the big data assets and resources. This means
that there is ample work even just to organize and peruse cookie information. Because
performing this task is very time-consuming, they can try to outsource such work to
another party or firm so that their employees can spend more time doing a highly
concentrated analysis.
11-16. What role do you think organizational structure plays in an organization’s
efficiency and effectiveness? Explain
It could be agreed that structural setup bears very great influence on the performance of
any given organization. It is due to the following reasons:
- Clear remuneration setting: From the structure, the organization can determine its
hierarchy, and at the same time, the business can determine the correct pay structure for
human resources. By developing the organizational structure the company can decide on
the salary grade and salary range for each position. This also assists the employees in
monitoring their progression and assessing the reasonable financial remuneration
corresponding to some of the positions.
- Task Allocation: This functional organizational structure enables the business to
complete many tasks simultaneously because people and their responsibilities are grouped
into departments. Also, a very high level of organization means that workers are told how
to do their work in a way that should be most effective because it cuts out the confusion
and unnecessary work in favour of focusing on particular activities which should make
work more efficient.
- Strengthen coordination within the company: Proper coordination amongst the
employees and managers in an organization can be achieved with the help of a good
organizational structure. This is because it finally defines to whom one or another
employee is subordinated, and their exact place in the hierarchy; it helps when
misunderstandings occur on the work floor and keeps the system as stable as possible. For
instance, a worker might have a director who reports to a vice president who in turn
reports to the chief executive officer who in turn reports to the board of directors or
company’s owners.
These days, one can easily observe that some successful chain stores, for example,
Starbucks, The Coffee House, or The Highlands, organize their work using the described
six concepts: the efficient division of work, departmentalization, and coordination. This
simple example also shows that the hierarchy progresses with authority, responsibility, and
power in the context that Vinfast is now a representative of Vietnam and has a presence in
the USA stock market.
In conclusion, discussion on the factors of organizational structure surfaces the fact that it
has much influence on the flow and productivity of an organization. It helps the
organization to run different types of tasks into practice and can be easily fit with having
clear remuneration policies regarding the improvement of task allocation as well as task
coordination. This supports the process in which the employees track development and
focus on certain attributes on their own and enhances the process of bringing out most of
the firm’s results.
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