Global management organizational structure; international subsidiary, contingencies plan

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1: What are the advantages and disadvantages of various organizational structures in terms of global management control?

Traditional organizational structures
- Hierarchical
- Flat
- Matrix

Contemporary "new" organizational models
- Networked organization
- T-form organization

http://classweb.gmu.edu/ctebell/lectures/Chapter%203%20-%20Organizational%20Impacts%20of%20Information%20Systems%20Use.pdf#search='organizational%20structures%20in%20global%20management' (start on page 7 - seems lengthy but has some good information here for you to use)

Experience with diversity management issues has led us in the U.S. to expand our thinking about consumer tastes, diversification of products, market diversity, development of talent at the local level, and the reality of glass ceilings. We have come to believe that managers who know how to manage diversity will be more flexible and creative, and this belief is mirrored in our thinking about global managers. That is, global managers with experience will be more flexible, creative, and know how to communicate to people from other cultures. One of the unique experiences gathered by global managers is going to a country where they don't speak the language. Their IQ drops in half, and this is a good lesson in humility.

How should global managers be grown? What is the best structural model for global management? There are three basic models. The first is to send home office managers all over the world working as expatriates. When these managers return to the home office, they globalize their home office by sharing their knowledge and experiences. The downside is that managers in foreign countries are blocked from senior management by the ex-patriots. This is also an expensive alternative.

The second model is developing senior management talent locally in the foreign country. The upside is to take advantage of the local talent that works best within the culture, but the downside is that the home office doesn't benefit from the experience, and often they don't have a clue about what is happening in their foreign facilities.

The third model is building a complex 3-dimensional structure with reporting relationships between countries that are simultaneous: functionally, by product, and by region. There are three different chains of command---very complex to manage.

The dominant thinking right now is to move people around all over the world no matter where they came from originally, a mix and match model where many people from as many areas as possible obtain global experience.

The ...