Student ID Number

11025162

Module Code and Title

4016SSL-Organizing for Business

Date

5/July/2022

Question Number

Section A

The organization structure of Birmingham University shows a division of activities between core and non-core activities. Core activities is comprised of teaching in various subjects. the teaching core is divided into various faculties with pro vice chancellor and head of the college at the top.

The non-core activities are clubbed under one Registrar. He looks into academic services, finance, human resource and other related services. These non-core activities service these core services with the functions that are provided according to the needs of each teaching faculty.

Besides this is the typical organization structure that is often opted by teaching organizations such as universities.

This type of structure has the following advantages:

1. This provides a systematic career path for specialists. As the teaching faculty is concentrated in one area where staff relevant to each subject pool about one another. This creates an environment where staff have this satisfaction that they can excel within the careers they have selected.
2. The employees feel satisfied as they have to work with their co-workers who belong to the same field.
3. The pooling of non-core activities under one registrar also gives economies of scale. As if each faculty had to look after their HR functions, finance functions, it could not enable economies of scale.
4. Staffing of core departments from service departments also helps non-core staff to thrive in their respective fields. As they are pooled in one space and they also have this advantage that they can locate their career path with in their own departments.
5. This is basically an organization structure that best suits a university. For a university, the division of activities into core and non-core activities also helps the core departments to focus on core activities, and being relieved of non-core activities, it can excel in education which is the main objective of the university of Birmingham.
6. The structure exhibited here is a matrix structure where the core activities are being controlled both by the line in-charge and the in-charge of service department. The double accountability leads to better control and quality is also ensured.

Every coin has two sides, therefore, this structure also has disadvantages:

1. The division into departments decentralizes the power which leads to empire building.
2. The division of activities into core and non-core activities might lead to compartmentalization and may slow down the service delivery as the staff from service and non-core departments might not coordinate with those in core faculties. 

Question Number

Section B Q1

Globalization can be defined in broader terms as the growing interdependence of the economies, cultures, populations, and other aspects that were hitherto confined to national level, on global scale is called globalization. The recent enhancement in this phenomenon has been observed, due to advances in communication technology and transportation ease.

      Different factors or drivers that has led to globalization are as follows:

1. Reduction of shipping and transportation costs due to introduction of containers has led to enhanced level of global transport mechanisms. The transportability at this enhanced level has caused greater easiness in trading and thus the reduced cost has enabled global supply chains and thus globalization is on its rise.
2. Technological advancement has led to weaving of the globe, in one network, and has made it possible to communicate someone at the other end of the globe as easily as someone nearby.
3.   Due to economies of scale the domestic markets are proving deficient for the in-house supply that is generated.
4. Protectionism has declined and the world has opened up with no regulations and tariff and non-tariff barriers no more exist. This has allowed cross border trade to take place more easily and is possible most of the time as it is possible inside the country.
5. The growth and expansion strategies of transnational and multinational organizations has also lead to the actualization of the globalization phenomenon.

Although there are multiple challenges that needs to be tackled in order to reap full benefits of this phenomenon. Some of these challenges are as follows:

1. Immigration rules are impediments to labor mobility across the borders. In order to reap the full benefits of the globalization project, immigration rules across the globe needs to be streamlined and harmonized.
2. Tariffs and Export fees regimes of different countries are not in tandem with each other. The tariff and customs regimes of different countries need to be brought down under a universal rule.
3. Global political considerations also hamper the process of globalization.
4. Exploitation is another problem that is evident in refugee populations that is another impediment in the process of globalization.
5. Environmental degradation is another elephant in the room. The project globalization has brought multiple, environment related issues that are the footprint of this process are leading to degradation of the environment. 

Question Number

Q3

Corporate social responsibility is a concept whereby, the business organizations has to respond to triple bottom line, rather than achieving only its economic imperatives.

Profitability and cost cutting is not the only objective that needs to be met.

Carol’s definition of Corporate Social Responsibility includes ethical, Economic, legal, ethical and discretionary expectations.

Dahlsrud’s definition of CSR, includes economic, Social, voluntary, and stakeholder’s dimension.

Both the models are unanimous on this point that the only responsibility of a business is not only to make profits but it has other stakeholders that it need to attend to.  Both of these models regards economic objectives as one of its main objectives, however, the other dimensions that both of the models consider, are given different weightages. It is pertinent to note here that ethical and philanthropic components that are envisioned in both these models need explanation.

Ethical component of the model prescribes performance in a manner which comply with societal mores and ethical norms. Whereas philanthropic imperatives suggest performing in a manner so as to meet philanthropic and charitable expectations of the society.

The four-part definition of CSR was originally published

in 1979. In 1991, Carroll extracted the four-part definition and recast it in the form of a CSR pyramid. The purpose of the pyramid was to single out the definitional aspect of CSR and to illustrate the building block nature of the four part framework. The pyramid was selected as a geometric design because it is simple, intuitive, and built to withstand the test of time. Consequently, the economic responsibility was placed as the base of the pyramid because it is a foundational requirement in business. Just as the footings of a building must be strong to support the entire edifice, sustained profitability must be strong to support society’s other expectations of enterprises. The point here is that the infrastructure of CSR is built upon the premise of an economically sound and sustainable business

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