Introduction
Organizational structure is the hierarchical model of operation, based on subdividing the entire organization into functional units that are mutually dependent.
There are two types of structures: the traditional structure (the functional structure, the line structure), and the division structure (market structure, product structure and geographical structure).
For our online second-hand book store, we decided to use the functional structure which entails classifying the groups of people according to the functions they perform and their skill sets (Miles, 2003).
The structure
The functional structure includes the president, the sales and marketing department, customer care division, accounting, procurement and administration. The business will include three founders and fifteen other staff members.
The founders will hold key positions in the business, including the presidency, accounts and administration. The president will be the overall overseer of the company, making important decisions and he is the final authority in the company.
The position can, however, be switched amongst the three founders if they so desire. However, it mainly falls on the person who came up with the original business idea.
The accounts department shall be held by a professional accountant, thereby controlling the financial aspects of the business that means all the revenues and expenditures.
The procurement department will mainly deal with the acquisition of the books from the different sources buying them off from other students who have finished their courses, online sources and book stores, and also cataloguing them if and when they are procured.
The sales and marketing department will use advertising and other resources to ensure that the business target of selling large amounts of books is reached. Key to achieving this goal is to use our website and other social sites to capture the intended audiences.
The administration department will perform the function of staffing and assessing the growth and development of the business, hiring and dismissing. This will ensure that all the departments perform their duties as required.
Every company requires a public relations department that deals with any enquiries, suggestions and complains from the customers. Below is a chart showing the organizational structure of our business.
Organizational structure chart
For the company to perform, the individuals should be professionals in whichever department they hold. They should be able to work independent of each other but accomplishing the tasks set out for them.
The marketing and sales department should have the bulk of the staff, consisting of professional marketers with a convincing business marketing and sales skills.
They should be able to come up with marketing and sales designs that will attract the customers to the online store. The business largely depends on this department for success.
The procurement team has professionals who understand the customers’ needs and get the right books at the right time. This is the department that equalizes the supply and demand of the customers.
Skill gap Management
A start up business has numerous challenges at the beginning, but the management should come up with ways of dealing with the situations as they arise. Most important is the communication issue (Galbraith, 2001).
There should be clear channels of communication all way from the bottom to the top. As a small business, the company may not be able to employ a large staff, so it is important for the existing staff to be versatile and able to switch departments easily.
References
Galbraith, J 2001, Designing your organization: An executive guide to strategy, structure and process, John Wiley & Sons Inc, Denver.
Miles, R 2003, Organizational strategy, structure and process, Stanford University Press, Stanford.