Nadler-Tushman and Output: Industrial Services of America
Not what you're looking for?
Outputs are not complicated to understand. At the organization level, they are the products and services that are provided to customers. (It can also be the value provided to owners, but we are not going to consider this here.) The primary way that a company measures its performance is financially: Sales, Profit, Return on Sales (ROS), Return on Assets; and also via market share.
The organization is made up of various groups. One way to look at groups is by functional area: marketing, operations, purchasing, etc. Another way, if the company is large, is by its various divisions or by its product groupings. Here it becomes a little more complicated to measure performance, but it is possible by defining the goals and objectives of each group.
The bottom level of the organization is the individual. Each person has a job description and is responsible for specific outputs for that job. The main method of performance measurement here is individual productivity: Outputs / Inputs. e.g. widgets / hour, or reports / day. This is more difficult to quantify and for a specific company is difficult to obtain, since this data is not generally reported. Sometimes you can infer some individual measures, for example, by dividing profit by the number of total employees, to get a measure of overall profitability per person.
Research your company and find the relevant data for this assignment in terms of its outputs. One good source of information here is the Annual Report or the annual 10k report. But you may have to take some time to sift through these.
Reading:
Nadler, D.A. & Tushman, M.L. (1980) A model for diagnosing organizational behavior. Organizational Dynamics, 9(2), 35-51.
For Case 3, you should focus on the Outputs aspect of this model. Read pages 43 to 51.
Case 3:
Make a Case for one of the following possible statements about your organization: The interaction of the outputs at XYZ [the chosen company] from the three different levels of the organization, interact to generate [high, medium, or low] performance of the overall organization [choose one of the three possible performances.]
Using the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model, conduct an analysis of the chosen company's outputs. Remember that outputs exist at the individual, group and organizational levels and that there are often differences between the output goals an organization specifies in its strategic plans and those that are actually achieved.
Purchase this Solution
Solution Preview
Please see attachment for better formatted solution.
Introduction:
The interaction of the outputs at Industrial Services of America from three primary levels of the organization, interact to generate high performance of the overall organization. At the largest, organizational level, ISA's basket of goods offered serves several target markets. At a median scope, the group level, each of ISA's business segments - waste management and recycling processing - operate at efficient levels, (ISA, 2011). Finally, at the individual level, ISA employees operate at a high efficiency level, contributing to the efficiency of the organization as a whole on a daily basis. Nadler and Tushman (1980) divide output into three primary levels - individual, group, and organizational. Figure 1 summarizes the Nadler and Tushman model of an organization, and while the organization of output levels is a function of the overall leadership decisions-and therefore remain fluid in reality- they will be treated as constant for the purpose of evaluation.
Congruence Model for Organization Analysis:
Figure 1: Congruence Model for Organization Analysis (Falletta, 2008).
CMOA seeks to measure the notion of congruence among factors and components of the system. Nadler and Tushman (1980) summarize congruence "as 'the degree to which the needs, demands, goals, objectives, and/or structures of one component are consistent with the needs, demands, goals, objectives, and/or structures of another component' (i.e., how well pairs of components fit together)," (Falletta, 2008). Congruence ultimately pairs the efforts of the throughput portion to the desired output of the organization. Therefore, what the desired output is comprised of is highly dependent on the direction of organizational leadership. Decisions on where to divert limited inputs in order to leverage the most gain in output are mostly dependent on defining that output.
Industrial Services of America- Organizational Output:
The overall business strategy of ISA is as important as it is unique. As a national company, focusing on various ...
Purchase this Solution
Free BrainMass Quizzes
Understanding Management
This quiz will help you understand the dimensions of employee diversity as well as how to manage a culturally diverse workforce.
Six Sigma for Process Improvement
A high level understanding of Six Sigma and what it is all about. This just gives you a glimpse of Six Sigma which entails more in-depth knowledge of processes and techniques.
Cost Concepts: Analyzing Costs in Managerial Accounting
This quiz gives students the opportunity to assess their knowledge of cost concepts used in managerial accounting such as opportunity costs, marginal costs, relevant costs and the benefits and relationships that derive from them.
Business Processes
This quiz is intended to help business students better understand business processes, including those related to manufacturing and marketing. The questions focus on terms used to describe business processes and marketing activities.
Marketing Research and Forecasting
The following quiz will assess your ability to identify steps in the marketing research process. Understanding this information will provide fundamental knowledge related to marketing research.