Organization Strategy

Power, capacity and interest are three things that greatly underpin the internal workings of an organization and as such, influence the organization's strategy. It may be thought that power comes from the higher-level corporate leaders of the organization but who says it can't come from the workers themselves? By banding together and believing in a common purpose, workers can hold more power than anyone else in an organization. Take union workers for example. These are people who work in a common place who have decided to organize themselves into a group with specific expectations and requirements to be met by their bosses. If these are not satisfied, a very common occurrence is a union strike. These people put a halt to their production and rally to earn better wages, working conditions, healthcare benefits, etc. With all of the power lying at the head of the organization, disputes would be solved in the manner that they see fit rather than what is best for the rest of the workforce. Is this really the best solution? The interests of the employees may be different depending on what subunit they work in. Obviously everyone is working to create and efficient and successful organization. However, the means by which success is attained may require different needs from each subunit. Workers at the bottom level may require more break times, ultimately extending the workday. However, people in conservation areas of the company may deem those break times to be detrimental to the efficiency of the organization since nothing will be produced during those periods and yet all of the lights and equipment will still be running, causing an excess of wasted energy. So, do you adhere to the requests of your much-needed employees and grant them their wishes in order to continue to put out your product? Or do you put your foot down and say no at the expense of a negative reaction? During tough economic times, a company might be losing money at an accelerating rate. The heads might come to the conclusion that the only way to save it is to lay off a large chunk of its lower-workforce thus reducing the amount of money being allocated to salaries. Though this puts a large amount of people out of a job and personally in a dangerous position given standards of living, it is in the best interest for the organization and its attempt to return to its previously good standing. Hand in hand with these changes comes capacity or capacity for change. When an organization is faced with a tough decision such as the one described above, it may need to dig deep and discover new solutions to its problems. They will recognize all of the areas that need to be altered in some way in order for the company to better operate. The ability for a company to look at its power structure and the interests of the people who work there will show them where they are capable of making dramatic changes to its structure.