The first part focuses on different organizational levels, operations in each level and decisions made. The paper will also review comparison and differences of process types in view of Davenpot and Dickenson. The two dimensions that demonstrations tasks and processes by the two famous scholars in the early 1970s also feature. In addition, to how IT influences decisions and processes in organizations, the essay sheds light on the importance of business components in view of business process engineers.
Three levels in organization’s structure
In every organization, there exist three basic levels of management which are ideal for good running and governance of any organization (Huczynski et.al, 2013). The following are the three basic levels of management in an organization.
a. Top level management
The level comprises of leaders who command influences every organizational activity. They are chief officers who lead are led by the chief executive officer, officer in charge of finance, leaders of the various boards and other influential positions in the organization. This level is also referred to as executive or senior management level (Davenport, 1993). This level is concerned with decisions that affect the entire firm. The top level managers are not directly involved in the daily activities of the company .The managers at this level need to have good decision making skills (Chen et.al, 2007).
b. Middle level management
This level is below the top level and it comprises of middle managers such as regional manager, plant manager and general manager. This level is responsible for making sure the goals set by the top level are achieved in time. The managers at this level also offer suggestions and feedback to the top managers since they are involved in the daily activities in organizations.
c. Low level management
This level comprises of the store manager, branch managers, unit managers and forepeople. They are the one responsible for managing the line workers or the employees who offer services or make the products of the company. They are tasked with the work of motivating the employees to ensure good performance. The managers at this level require technical skills and knowledge and good interpersonal skills for supervising their departments (Bolden, 2016).
1. Davenport (1993) and Dickenson (2003) contrast and comparison of generic
Levels/types of processes in organizations
Similarity
According to Davenport (1993) and Dickenson (2003), the three types of organizational processes are: work processes, behavioral processes and change processes. They give similar definitions of the three types of organizational processes. Work processes put more weight on ensuring a given task is completed. Completion usually starts with simple, powerful ideas that includes two type of processes namely; operational processes and administrative processes. The operational processes are concerned with creating, producing and delivering the product or services to the customers. The administrative processes are concerned with the running of the business such as strategic planning, performance measurement and budgeting (Dickenson, 2003). Both processes that make up the work process have common characteristics which include having interconnected but dependent activities which together results to a common goal of producing products and /or services that satisfy the customer’s requirements.
Behaviors process has its roots in group dynamics and puts its weight on behavior patterns. These processes are concerned with the behaviors of the organization such as decision making, communication and interaction within and without the organization where they are conducted. (Davenport, 1993). They can be categorized into three; organizational learning processes, decision making and communication.
Change processes conform with a lot of knowledge from strategic management, business history and social psychology. They focus on the sequence of events over a given period of time (Dickenson, 2003). The sequences describe how organization and people adapt, grow and develop. Some of the characteristics of change processes are; dynamic and longitudinal which helps to capture how things change with time (Davenport, 1993). These processes make it easier for an organization to understand how certain things came to existence.
Differences
On the contrary, there exist some differences on how (Davenport,1993) defines the business Process. He refers it to the type of work activities that is orderly from the beginning to the end that defines the beginning and the end. According to Dickenson, (2003), organizational processes involve identifying and defining different tasks and the assigning such different tasks to people who can carry out the tasks effectively and end with fruitful outcome. Another difference exists on the types of processes that are discussed. Communication processes, decision making processes are found on (Dickenson, 2003) publication while (Davenport, 1993) lacks the same. Communication process is based on the interpersonal and broad based communications within and outside departments, organizational as a whole and the outsiders. Communication includes how individuals and groups share information and solve the existing differences. Decision making processes is a critical aspect in that it’s a process but not a discrete event. This process requires a lot of consultation within the organization before a final decision is made.
2. Types of organizational process that work within and across organizational boundaries
These processes include; change process, work process, decision making processes, communication processes and organizational processes (Davenport and Short, 1990). Change process as discussed earlier is more concerned with how events in an organization unfold as time goes on. This process works within and across the boundaries of an organization since both the internal changes and external changes affect how an organization works. Work process also works within and across the organizational boundaries in the sense that the company needs to achieve its objective in a given timeline which requires the partnership of suppliers who are external factors in an organization. Decision making processes plays a vital role within and outside the organization since decisions made by the management affects how an organization runs within and how it related with the outside world in the market. Organizational processes define different structural systems that work best and suited to different organizations. Structural systems are crafted to suite different organizations working structures.
4. Two dimensions in task/ process demonstration according to Van de Ven and Delbecq
(1974)
Organizational change process is categorized into two main dimensions; Unit of change and mode of change (Van de Vern and Delbecq, 1974). Unit of change is defined as the size of the unit that is required to undergo change. The units can be either single entity or interactions among many entities. Single entity refers to individual while interactions refer to groups. Mode of change is concerned with the sequence of change whether it is prescribed or the progression comes up as the change process goes on (Mackenzie, 2000).
5. Types of decisions made in three organizational levels and how IT enable these
Decisions
a. Top level management
Top level management makes decisions pertaining to the overall running of the business. They determine the policies, objectives and plans of the organization (Wijnberg et.al, 2002). This level makes long term plans for the organization which can be a strategic plan for between 5 years up to 20 years.
b. Middle level management
This level is responsible for giving advice to the top level. It is responsible for making decisions which affect activities of all the departments. Decisions made at this level require approval by the top level. The decisions made mostly involve making the working conditions effective and ensuring organizational needs are met. Tactical decisions are made at this level (Wijnberg et.al, 2002).
c. Low level management
This level is tasked with the role of making decisions that affect the daily tasks which are handled at this level. Since this level comprises of the supervisors, employee related issues such as overtime, hiring, discipline, pay rates and training are made at this level (Zheng et.al, 2007). The role also extends to offering incentives and rewarding of the best employee as a way of motivating the employees in some organisations (Wijnberg et.al, 2002).
Roles of IT in decision making at various levels of organization
Information technology plays a vital role in decision making within an organization. Organizations which have embraced the use of management information systems enjoys a wide range of advantages since the system is able to make analysis as a result of customer feedback and hence enabling the management to make informed decisions. These information technology systems go to the extent of offering decision making support systems (Thompson, 2017).The continued embracement of technology has contributed to organization utilizing the systems to make strategic planning and transaction processing. The systems help the low level managers to plan, schedule and sometimes make decisions on a certain situation which requires analysis of different data to determine the quantity of product to be produced in a large scale as a result of more customer preference (Eason, 2014).The middle level uses the system to plan for short term and setting targets by use of planning and control management tools.
6. Importance of the five basic components of a business process according to business process engineers
An organization that is able to utilize the basic components of a business process enjoys various benefits. The business is able to enjoy revenue increase which is a result of steady growth (Pinto and Morris, 2007). Cost reduction is also another advantage that comes as a result of employing the basic components of a business process. The business also gains competitive advantage in the market share since it’s able to offer services that meets the customer requirements and in a timely manner. The business enjoys improved productivity and less risk due to the risk management strategy. If any of the basic components is removed, it would translate to the business failing to meet a requirement either in production or in offering the best services to the customers which will in turn result to the business loss or profit reduction (Pinto and Morris, 2007).
Conclusion
In conclusion, any organization requires the basic organizational structure which involves the three management levels discussed in this paper to ensure the business achieves its objectives and enjoys smoothing running. The three types of organization processes play a major role on managing the business since they act as references on how managers should view different managerial challenges and solve them.
Reference
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