One of the most critical issues facing organizations is keeping up with digitization and automation of the workplace. The reality confronting organizations is increasingly complex. Many leaders, who w

One of the most critical issues facing organizations is keeping up with digitization and automation of the workplace. The reality confronting organizations is increasingly complex. Many leaders, who were trained when organizational structure was simpler, are hampered with outdated skills.

Organization design must evolve along with the organization and its leadership to support adaptive and innovative workplaces.

Let us look at trends in the organizational structure using the class text and predominately articles from Trident Library’s full-text databases (like Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, and/or ProQuest Central) research organization structure.

Organizational Design

A brief history: Consider workplaces before digitization and automation became prevalent (1 page). Select an organization from your chosen industry and

1. Provide a brief history and an overview of the organizational processes before digitization and automation of the chosen industry.
2. What processes are used to make this company successful or not successful? What process could be changed and improved?

Trends in Organizational Design

Research top trends affecting modern organizational design (1 page). Consider and research organizational trends such as digital process innovation in operations management, marketing automation, or manufacturing automation and robotics. Which trend or innovation would help your chosen organization become more efficient and help modernize the company? How would this trend help the company? Please provide examples and support with research.

Workplace Application: Organizational Design

Research efficient organizational design from your chosen industry and develop a table (see example below) to include the following reduction (Cost of Labor and Total Cost Savings) in automating a job or task. Discuss your findings (1.5 page).

1. Costs of labor (Hourly Rate x Labor Hours): Multiply the hourly rate of the employee by the number of hours it takes to complete the process. Example: One employee is paid $13 an hour and uses 2 hours per month to mail sales flyers to the customers in the customer contact database. Costs of Labor for this task would represent the cost of $26.00 per month and $312.00 per year to mail sales flyers. (13 x 2 = 26, 26 x 12 = 312)
2. Total cost savings (Cost of Labor - Automation Savings = Total Cost Savings) is the time saved by digitizing or automating the costs of labor. Your annual cost of labor for the employee mailing sales flyers is $312 per year. The automation change helps reduce this process down to 30 minutes per month for a total of 6 hours per year and a total of $78.00 in annual cost. Therefore, your total cost savings is (312 - 78 = 234). This $234 reduction in pay equals an approximate 75% reduction in cost for performing this task.