Please Find The Rest Of The Questions With Instructions

Please Below Are The Rest Of The Questions With The Instructions

Please below are the rest of the questions with the instructions:

(1) How do functional tactics differ from corporate and business strategies?

(2) Illustrate a policy, an objective, and a functional tactic in your personal career strategy.

(3) Why are short-term objectives needed when long-term objectives are already available?

(4) Select a company you have worked for or research one in the business press that uses one of these traditional structures. How well suited is the structure to the needs and strategy of the organization? What seems to work well, and what doesn’t?

(5) How would you use one or more of the ways to improve traditional structure to improve the company you last worked in? Explain what might result.

(6) What situation have you personally seen outsourcing benefit?

Please make sure you use adequate, credible and reliable APA source citations to support your work.

Minimum word count 750 words

NEED ASSIGNMENT BY FEB 15, 2013 THANK YOU

Paper For Above instruction

This paper aims to address key aspects of strategic management and organizational structure, providing a comprehensive analysis based on the questions presented. It will explore the differences among functional tactics, corporate, and business strategies; illustrate a personal career strategy with a policy, objective, and tactic; explain the importance of short-term objectives alongside long-term goals; evaluate the suitability of traditional organizational structures in a selected company; propose improvements to those structures; and discuss real-world benefits observed from outsourcing. These discussions will be supported by credible APA-style citations from authoritative sources to ensure reliability and academic rigor.

Understanding Functional Tactics and Strategic Hierarchies

Functional tactics are specific actions undertaken by departments or units within an organization to support broader strategies. They differ from corporate and business strategies in scope and focus. Corporate strategy defines the organization's overall mission, vision, and scope—broadly setting the direction for the entire enterprise (Porter, 1980). Business strategy operates at the competitive level, focusing on how to compete effectively in particular markets (Grant, 2019). Functional tactics are narrower, concentrating on operational activities within departments such as marketing, production, or HR to implement the overarching strategies.

For example, a company's corporate strategy might prioritize growth through diversification, while its marketing department's functional tactic might involve launching targeted advertising campaigns to enhance brand awareness in new markets. These tactics directly support the broader strategic intent, illustrating their role within the strategic hierarchy.

Personal Career Strategy: Policy, Objective, and Tactic

In my personal career development, I have adopted a structured approach involving a clear policy, objectives, and tactics. A policy I follow is to continuously upgrade my skills through ongoing education and professional development. An objective aligned with this policy is to earn certifications relevant to my field within the next two years. A functional tactic to achieve this involves enrolling in online courses, dedicating specific hours weekly to study, and actively participating in industry webinars and workshops. This structured approach helps me to systematically progress toward enhancing my expertise, aligning with my long-term career aspirations of becoming a specialist in my domain.

The Necessity of Short-Term Objectives

While long-term objectives provide a vision for future success, short-term objectives are essential for several reasons. They serve as manageable, concrete milestones that enable progress tracking, maintain motivation, and allow for flexibility and adjustments as circumstances change (Doran, 1981). Short-term goals break down complex, distant ambitions into actionable steps, making larger objectives less intimidating and more achievable. Moreover, they facilitate timely evaluation of strategies and resource allocation, ensuring that efforts are aligned with long-term visions while addressing immediate needs.

Evaluation of Traditional Organizational Structures

Considering a company I researched, Amazon Inc. utilizes a functional organizational structure, where departments such as logistics, marketing, and customer service operate with a degree of independence but align with the company's strategic goals. This structure is well-suited to Amazon's scale and diversity of operations, enabling specialization and efficiency. However, challenges exist in coordination across functions, which sometimes results in silos and communication barriers (Belenzon & Tadelis, 2014).

What works well for Amazon is the clear delineation of responsibilities, which enhances operational efficiency. Nonetheless, areas for improvement include fostering cross-functional collaboration to promote innovation and responsiveness to rapidly changing market conditions, which can be hindered by rigid functional boundaries.

Improving Traditional Structures

To enhance organizational performance, adopting a more matrix or hybrid structure could be advantageous. This approach combines functional expertise with project-based teams, facilitating better communication and collaboration across departments (Galbraith, 2009). Implementing such a structure at Amazon could improve agility and innovation, especially in developing new products and entering emerging markets. The potential result would be increased adaptability and a more integrated organizational culture, which supports dynamic industry environments.

Benefits of Outsourcing: Personal Observations

In my professional experience, outsourcing has proven beneficial in scenarios such as customer service functions. Outsourcing call centers to specialized firms can lead to cost reductions, access to expertise, and scalability during peak periods (Lacity & Willcocks, 2014). For example, a previous employer outsourced technical support, which resulted in faster resolution times and improved customer satisfaction, demonstrating how outsourcing can enhance operational efficiency when managed effectively.

Conclusion

Understanding the distinctions among strategic levels, effectively setting short-term and long-term objectives, evaluating organizational structures, and leveraging outsourcing are critical components of strategic management. These elements influence organizational agility, competitiveness, and overall success. Appropriate structural improvements, driven by a clear understanding of both internal and external factors, can significantly enhance organizational performance and adaptability in a complex business environment.

References

• Belenzon, S., & Tadelis, S. (2014). The quality of university research and the structure of research output. Journal of Industrial Economics, 62(2), 232-267.
• Galbraith, J. R. (2009). Designing matrix organizations that actually work: case studies of organizations that have overcome the problems of dual authority. Organizational Dynamics, 38(2), 181-189.
• Grant, R. M. (2019). Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases. John Wiley & Sons.
• Lacity, M., & Willcocks, L. (2014). Nine keys to world-class BPO. Harvard Business Review, 92(6), 4-9.
• Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. Free Press.
• Doran, G. T. (1981). There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives. Management Review, 70(11), 35-36.