Even the strongest of organizations that have an open and productive culture based in executive engagement, creation of buy-in, and empowerment need the right organizational design and structure. These designs and structures should allow for forward thinking, creativity, and innovation. Teams are the spine of an organization’s structure and processes. Successful teams will reduce response times, support and facilitate the organization’s strengths, decrease the impact of the entity’s weaknesses, turn threats into opportunities, and opportunities into productive strategies. Making the right decisions at the right time and with the appropriate strategies are all important factors when evaluating designs and structures.

Review the article “What is the Right Organization Design” (Anand & Daft, 2007)

Directions for obtaining the file: The article can be accessed by copying the URL web address provided and pasting it in the address bar at the top of your browser. The link is: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.453.4032&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Through research from sources provided in the course and from academic and scholarly resources outside of the course, evaluate and discuss the following elements:

• Evaluate Self-Contained Organizational Designs.
• Apply the three self-contained organizational designs (functional, divisional, and matrix) to your organization (or a former organization).
• Analyze the horizontal organization design with a team and process based emphasis and the relationship this design creates with customers and suppliers.

The paper should contain the following APA formatted elements:

1. Title Page.
2. Abstract.
3. Body of the essay (Your researched response).
4. Conclusion.
5. References Section.

The requirements below must be met for your paper to be accepted and graded:

1. Write a response between 750 – 1000 words for the body of the essay (The title page, abstract, conclusion and References section are not counted toward the word requirement.) (approximately 4-6¬ pages) using Microsoft Word in APA style.
2. Address all three elements fully.
3. Use font size 12 and 1” margins.
4. Use at least three references from outside the course material (You may use the academic resources included in the Week 8 Bibliography.) one reference must be from EBSCOhost. The course textbook and lectures can be used, but are not counted toward the five reference requirement.
5. References must come from sources such as, academic and scholarly journals and essays found in EBSCOhost, CNN, online newspapers such as, The Wall Street Journal, government websites, etc. Sources such as, Wikis, Yahoo Answers, eHow, blogs, etc. are not acceptable for academic writing.
6. Cite all reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased words, values, etc.) in the paper and list on a reference page in APA style. Provide citations everywhere information from the sources is used for foundational support and for validation of opinions.
7. Use the third person narrative and avoid the use of the first and second person narrative and terms such as; I, me, myself, you, your, yourself, we or us (or related form such as let’s (let us) or we’ll, we’ve (we will / we have) among others). This will prevent the author or other parties from becoming the subject matter and will maintain the focus of the paper on the central theme and subject matter found in the elements.
8. Be informational and avoid being conversational.