WEEK 6
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
An organizational structure refers to the way that an organization arranges people and jobs so that its work can be performed and its goals can be met. When a work group is very small and face-to-face communication is frequent, formal structure may be unnecessary, but in a larger organization such as Barnes and Noble, decisions have to be made about the delegation of various tasks. Thus, procedures are established that assign responsibilities for various functions. It is these decisions that determine the organizational structure.
In an organization of any size or complexity, employees ' responsibilities typically are defined by what they do, who they report to, and for managers, who …show more content…
A structure depends on the organization 's objectives and strategy. In a centralized structure, the top layer of management has most of the decision making power and has tight control over departments and divisions. In a decentralized structure, the decision making power is distributed and the departments and divisions may have different degrees of independence. Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered in lower Fifth Avenue in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton Booksellers stores in malls until they announced the liquidation of the chain. The company is known for large, upscale retail outlets, many of which contain a café serving Starbucks Coffee, and for competitive discounting of bestsellers. Most stores also sell magazines, newspapers, DVDs, graphic novels, gifts, games, and music. Video games and related items were sold in the company 's GameStop retail outlets until October 2004, when the division was spun off into an independent company. Barnes & Noble is also known …show more content…
The company operates 658 retail stores (as of August 2, 2014[update]) in all 50 U.S. states in addition to 705 college bookstores that serve over 5 million students and more than 250,000 faculty members across the country. Barnes & Noble also operates BN.com. In a move to stay on top of their competitors, Barnes and Noble have teamed up with Samsung to invent a new product called a Samsung Galaxy Tablet for Nook. This will further Barnes and Noble’s goal to be the leading vendor combining technology with reading