Organizations Behaviour of ASDA PLC versus British Airlines

Introduction:

            ASDA Plc is a retail chain of supermarkets under the name of ASDA Stores Limited of British origin that specializes in the sale of a diverse range of products and services ranging from food and clothing to financial services. British Airlines is a major airline company of the United Kingdom offering comprehensive global services through a broad network of routes connecting all major airports of the world at competitive rates all around the year (Leo-Paul & Daniella 1999). Being diverse in what they sell also calls for a different structure of the organization and thereby the culture.

Underpinning knowledge:

  The organizational structure of ASDA is five-tiered in nature with the Arts and Sports Minister at the top followed by the management board and then the Chief Executive. The next layer comprises of the General Managers, one for operations and other for strategy and support. The bottom level of the structure comprises of the personnel of various departments – business improvement, human resource, international response and deterrence. The setup at British Airlines is however much simpler with only three basic levels (Smith & McKee 1993). The top management consists of the Chief Executive; the middle management level has the board, the executives for customers and operations and also the reporting executives to the CEO. The base level has the employees of each department ranging from communications to engineering to investments and a range of other related organizational activities (Peter 1996).

Applied Knowledge:

 From the organizational structure of British Airlines we have been able to deduce that the management believes in promoting a lean culture without too many levels which in turn fosters a culture high-performance, high-rewarding and thereby talented people. ASDA emphasizes on customer service through effective employee management which suggests that the culture is quite cordial and employee-friendly (David 1994). However it may not be much decentralized considering the structure.

           

Recommendations and Conclusions:

       An organization is not totally effective and successful until it promotes employee empowerment to the fullest. Enabling the employees at the ground level to be free in decision making and monitoring their decisions at a macro level shall improve their confidence and morale and also their productivity and efficiency, which is what new age organizations should indulge in.