Alexa Smith, Doug Jorgenson, Nathan Hinkley, and Bria Stifter

We chose to look at the Twins organization. Contextual features: The Twins are a medium size organization within a much larger organization of MLB, they are by no means as large as the Yankees but not as small as Pirates. The technology they employ we thought is outdated, such as the MetroDome, however, with advancing with the new stadium. We also thought the training techniques allow them to remain competitive in the league. The Twins remain an affordable commodity even with the economy being down, they keep a strong fain base within the MN and surrounding states like Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. We thought some of the main goals of the organization would be to stay competitive within the league, hold a strong fan base, all while making a profit. A strategy they use to accomplish this is to keep "high talent" and popular athletes such as Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Within the Twins organization we thought that there would be a strong sense of value in the sport and confidence in their athletes, coaches, and owner. The Twins culture in MN is strong so many of the employees feel as if they are all a team working together to keep the organization going. Structural Features: The Twins are a highly formalized organization, which uses written policies and procedures which ensure each employee knows his/her job and to help develop the most efficient way to carry it out. Contracts are also used considering the athletes and managers and rigidly adhered to. The Twins are also highly specialized as each person has an assigned task and there are subdivisions within each department to complete each task. Along with that there is a defined hierarchy within the organization starting from the owner down to the sub-contracted maintenance and janitorial staff on game-day. Therefore, the organization is also very centralized, meaning the decisions come down from the top. For example, with the trade of Johan Santana, the owner made the decision that his contract was too expensive for the organization and then the details were worked out from there to discuss trade agreements. The Twins employ highly educated people to handle the marketing, administration, HR, and other departments to make it as efficient and effective as possible. The Twins employ hundreds of people and as in many organizations the number of staff at the bottom of the hierarchy will outnumber those at the top. While both categories help shape and define and organization's mission, purpose and procedures but we think the contextual features affect the structural features more significantly. The environment and culture make the shape that the organization must adapt to and from there the formalization process and hierarchy are defined.