Currently the companies, Delux Machine Tools, Safe Buy Insurance Co., and MicroAge Software are all operating more or less separately, but all under the management of I.M. Tycoon. The assumption is that in order for the three entities to properly function under this corporate umbrella, they must be restructured in such a way to allow for efficient and effective operation. At the end of the day, an organizational structure will determine how the various roles, with their powers and responsibilities, are delegated, controlled, and coordinated, as well as how information flows between the levels in the structure. I.M. Tycoon’s primary goal is to make sure that the companies of his siblings stay financially fit for at least the next three years, in order to pay out a monthly profit to the families of Harold and Jane.
Upon analyzing this case, the solution in my opinion is quite simple. I.M. Tycoon should pretty much leave the companies to operate as they have been before, but place each company under another larger bureaucratic structure, with finance becoming a separate functional department. With such a structure, I.M. Tycoon would be able to set performance standards, measure them, and then take action to correct the problems (Managerial Control, Bateman & Snell). Furthermore the structure of each company is so different than the other that it would be difficult, if not disastrous to restructure every company. The units are already successful in their own way and employees working there are already used to such a style. I will go in to more detail as how this is to be done after quickly reviewing the structures of each company.
Delux Machine Tools has a bureaucratic structure as it uses a more centralized approach. As Bateman & Snell would say, decisions come from the top, without any regards to the opinions of lower level employees. The lower level is there to just implement actions decided upon by the top management. Delux