Aquarius Advertising Agency Case

1. Analyze Aquarius in terms of the 5 contextual variables. How would you describe the environment, goals, culture, size and technology for Aquarius?

 Technology- In today’s society, technology is rapidly changing. The software being used have shorter and short lifecycles. and providing new ways for advertising agencies to operate and perform. In terms of performance, traditional forms of advertising such as TV and radio have not been improved by technology for quite some time. However, new Internet technologies like social media are revolutionizing the advertising industry and Aquarius has had to adapt to those changes
 Environment- This refers to everything that lies outside of the boundaries of the organization but has the potential to affect all or part of the firm’s activities. An organization has to be able to respond to its environment in order to survive. Their environment consists of competitors in the industry, customers and government regulations that must be complied with; to name a few. With regards to the advertising industry, the environment is extremely dynamic and unpredictable. This is evidenced by the fact that the case states that “it was typical for advertising agencies to gain or lose clients”. Moreover, customer behaviour and lifestyle changes emerged and product innovations occur without any forewarning. Therefore, Aquarius should ensure that they monitor the changing trends in to better satisfy their clients. It can be assumed that there is a lack of cohesion within the organization and that there is not many resources allocated towards the external environment which can be detrimental to the organization. If the clients’ needs are not static and they are not being satisfied by Aquarius then their clients can easily be lost to their competition.
 Culture- This refers to the shared values and beliefs of employees within the organization. There is not much information pertaining to this in the case facts, however there is enough to make inferences. It appears that many of the employees possess a strong sense of independence and prefer to complete tasks via their own unique methods in order to be differentiated from others and stand out. This shows that they are highly knowledgeable towards industry trends and advertising practices. In the advertising industry employees need to be creative and innovative; this is sometimes interpreted as arrogance or indifference to the firm’s policies (if there was a rigid culture and structure in place). Some of the executives feel that the subordinates can be overconfident or egotistical which leads to a culture where there is a lack of interconnections between employees. There could also be distinct cultures within each department but there an overall set of values and norms is non-existent.
 Goals- Aquarius did not appear to possess any overall goal and strategy for the organization. Individual account executive and departments generated their own goals in the past. Many employees had their own informal methods of recruiting new clients for the firm. This lack of consistency in past goal setting procedures can be a contributing factor to the company’s rapid turnover in accounts. Top management however, has expressed a desire to restructure Aquarius. They are striving to be more responsive to changes in the industry, increase flexibility with clients’ needs and innovation competencies while still being an efficient firm. This can be considered a specific strategic goal that is aimed at refining and improving cooperation, coordination, and communication among the different departments. Having a concrete organizational strategy maintains client relationships and fosters the effective management of the firm. This is because it ensures trust and provides employees with an idea of the direction the organization is heading as well as a performance standard to adhere to.
 Size- Aquarius Advertising Agency is relatively medium-sized firm as demonstrated in their organizational chart. The firm is categorized according to the two services they provide. They have an overseeing body that consists of a President, Legal Counsel, Executive VP and Policy committee. The organization is then further divided based on the positions of hierarchy (vice-president, manager etc.) for the two services. The design of the system lacks coordination and communication across departments for a company of this magnitude.

2. Design a new organization structure for that takes into consideration the contextual variables in the case and the information flows.
(see appendix: 1)

3. Would a Matrix Structure be feasible for Aquarius? Why or Why not?

A complete matrix structure could potentially be feasible for Aquarius, it would not totally impossible. However, it may not be the most suitable. This is because of a number of reasons. The issue of reporting to dual authorities can raise issues and cause conflict among employees. While yes for Aquarius advertising agency both technical expertise as well as innovation are pivotal for satisfying customer needs. However, the pressure does not exist for them to share scarce resource. It also requires great effort to maintain the power balance between the functional and divisional structures of the organization. Be that as it may, the organization can benefit from using the matrix as a stepping stone to get more coordination and communication within the organization. Utilizing either a function or product matrix can impart to workers information such as the primary authority figure while also facilitating an easy flow of communication. This can be beneficial as the advertising industry is riddled with uncertainty resulting from consumer behaviour changes and product innovations. These changes generate the need for a greater degree of interdependence between the various departments. A matrix structure allows the Agency to coordinate and communicate vertically and horizontally between departments and various hierarchical positions within the organization. However, it is not without its disadvantages.