Case Study – Management Course
Analysis and Design of Organizations University MGT1234.
21 Dr. Professor Case Study Name Title of Case: Chapter 1 – Case for Analysis – Perdue Farms Inc. : Responding to the 21st Century Challenges 1. Describe the change in management style at Perdue Farms. The two management styles shown by Perdue Farms changed as Father passed the baton to his son. Frank started the company with a centralized style where most of the decisions were in his hands to make or with a few of the people in the organization that he trusted.
Frank in his later years started asking the associates for input, which from a leadership standpoint helps with attrition by utilizing a participative leadership style. As Jim came completed his education and spent time in the family business he understood that by utilizing a people-first management style that the end effect is quality products. By putting the employee first they have more buy in to the organization and a sense of pride in what they do and the end effect from that is the customer is very satisfied at the product produced.In this type of organization there were hurdles to overcome since the majority of employees were low educated and had difficulty speaking the English language. Jim focused on educating his workforce through classes to help with the language barrier and Perdue Farms have healthcare professionals at all sites to help with any health issues. A happy, healthy employee is a very productive employee.
2. How would you classify Perdue Farms according to Mintzberg’s five organization types? Perdue Farms, I feel would be classified as a Diversified Form as I understand Minztberg’s five organizational types.Through the years Perdue Farms has grown into a very large organization which is broken into smaller business units. Each of the business units having a complete set of organizational parts with a smaller top management, a larger middle management to drive production, administration, technical support and technical core to round off each unit. The key is to keep the complexity of the organization to a minimum and ensure the business organizations remain stable, this way the business units don’t have to fight for its resources from the higher headquarters.
3.What challenges does Perdue Farms face in the 21st Century? The challenges that Perdue will face is that today’s consumers are expecting exactly what they want and want to see impeccable quality in the products they consume. Through surveys Perdue can get a very good pulse on the generation Xers and echo-boomers to have a better idea of how to deliver the goods needed to make them stay on pace to be the top poultry producer worldwide. For example one survey shows that 91 percent of American families will go to great extents to ensure a good quality sit down dinner for the family.Bibliographical References Organization Theory and Design, 2010, Tenth Edition, Robert L.
Draft, Published by Thomson, Chapter One Mindtools, Mintzberg’s Organizational Configurations, Understanding the Structure of your Organization, http://www. mindtools. com/pages/article/newSTR_54. htm PR Newswire, July 27, 2011, pNA, Perdue Survey Reveals Busy Americans Devote Extra Time to Putting a Great Meal on the Dinner Table. http://infotrac-college.
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