An orga nizational stru ctur edefi nes how acti vi ties such as ta sk allocati on, coordination and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims. It can also be considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which individuals see their organizationand its environment. Ty pes of organisational structure Organisational structures Organisations can be structured in different ways: • by function, for example, op erations, marketing, finan ce, fundraising, etc • by region • by product, for example, bo oks, support, consultan cy, delivery • in work teams, for example, client/customer groups. Hierarchical structures 1
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Reliance Fresh is the convenience store format which forms part of the retail business
of eliance Industries of India which is headed by ukesh Ambani. eliance plans to
invest in excess of s 03111 crores in the next 4 years in their retail division. !he
company already has in excess of 321 reliance fresh outlets across the country. !hese
stores sell fresh fruits and vegetables, staples, groceries, fresh 5uice bars and dairy
products.
A typical eliance 6resh store is approximately 7111#4111 s(uare. feet and caters to a
catchment area of 8#0 km
HI&TOR$ %
%ost launch, in a dramatic shift in its positioning and mainly due to the circumstances
prevaling in 9%, est ;engal and Orissa, it was mentioned recently in news )ailies
that, eliance etail is moving out of stocking fruits and vegetables. eliance etailhas decided to minimise its exposure in the fruit and vegetable business and position
eliance 6resh as a pure play super market focusing on categories like food, 6<=,
home, consumer durables, I! and wellness , with food accounting for the bulk of the
business.
!he company may not stock fruit and vegetables in some states. !hough eliance
6resh is not exiting the fruit and vegetable business altogether, it has decided not to
compete with local vendors partly due to political reasons, and partly due to its
ith a vision to generate inclusive growth and prosperity for farmers, vendor partners,small shopkeepers and consumers, eliance etail +imited +-, a subsidiary of
I+, was set up to lead eliance =roup's foray into organi?ed retail.
ith a 0B share of world =)%, retail is a significant contributor to overall economic
activity across the world. Of this, organi?ed retailing contributes between 01B to 33B
in various developing markets. !he Indian retail industry is pegged at C 711 billion
and growing at over 87B per year. Of this, presently, organi?ed retailing is about 3B.
!his is expected to grow to 81B by 0188. + has embarked upon an implementation
plan to build state#of#the#art retail infrastructure in India, which includes a multi#
format store strategy of opening neighbourhood convenience stores, hypermarkets,
specialty and wholesale stores across India.
+ launched its first store in Dovember 0112 through its convenience store format
&eliance 6resh'. ince then + has rapidly grown to operate 3E1 stores across 87
states at the end of 6F 011#1G. + launched its first &eliance )igital' store in April
011 and its first and India's largest hypermarket &eliance art' in Ahmedabad in
August 011. !his year, + has also launched its first few specialty stores for
<hains such as the ;angalore based ids emp, the umbai books retailer
<rossword, %=*s usic orld and the !imes =roup*s music chain %lanet , are
focusing on specific market segments and have established themselves strongly in
their sectors.
Discount &tores%
As the name suggests, discount stores or factory outlets, offer discounts on the
% through selling in bulk reaching economies of scale or excess stock left over at
the season. !he product category can range from a variety of perishable/Don#
perishable goods
Department &tores%
+arge stores ranging from 01111#31111 s(. ft, catering to a variety of
consumer needs. 6urther classified into locali?ed departments such as clothing, toys,
home, groceries, etc.
Hypermarts*&upermar+ets%
+arge self service outlets, catering to varied shopper needs are termed as
upermarkets. !hese are located in or near residential high streets. !hese stores today
contribute to 71B of all food J grocery organi?ed retail sales. uper arkets can
further be classified in to mini supermarkets typically 8,111 s( ft to 0,111 s( ft andlarge supermarkets ranging from of 7,311 s( ft to 3,111 s( ft. having a strong focus on
food J grocery and personal sales.examples ;ig ;a?ar, eliance hypermart.
Convenience &tores%
!hese are relatively small stores 411#0,111 s(. feet located near residential
areas. !hey stock a limited range of high#turnover convenience products and are
nonpersonal Or in the practice which treats business organi?ations as political
structures
hatever else organi?ations may be problem#solving instruments, sociotechnical
systems, reward systems, and so on-, they are political structures. !his means that
organi?ations operate by distributing authority and setting a stage for the exercise of
power. It is no wonder, therefore, that individuals who are highly motivated to secure
and use power find a familiar and hospitable environment in business.
At the same time, executives are reluctant to acknowledge the place of power both in
individual motivation and in organi?ational relationships. omehow, power and
politics are dirty words. And in linking these words to the play of personalities inorgani?ations, some managers withdraw into the safety of organi?ational logics.
As I shall suggest in this article, frank recognition of the importance of personality
factors and a sensitive use of the strengths and limitations of people in decisions on
power distributions can improve the (uality of organi?ational life.
P$+,+*#$ P.#+
Organi?ations provide a power base for individuals. 6rom a purely economic
standpoint, organi?ations exist to create a surplus of income over costs by meeting
needs in the marketplace. ;ut organi?ations also are political structures which provide
opportunities for people to develop careers and therefore provide platforms for the
expression of individual interests and motives. !he development of careers,
particularly at high managerial and professional levels, depends on accumulation of
power as the vehicle for transforming individual interests into activities which
influence other people.
S*#.*+, & *%,+,+
A political pyramid exists when people compete for power in an economy of scarcity.
In other words, people cannot get the power they want 5ust for the asking. Instead,
they have to enter into the decisions on how to distribute authority in a particular
formal organi?ation structure. carcity of power arises under two sets of conditions:
8. here individuals gain power in absolute terms at someone else's expense.
0. here there is a gain comparativelyPnot literally at someone else's expenseP
resulting in a relative shift in the distribution of power.
In either case, the psychology of scarcity and comparison takes over. !he human being
tends to make comparisons as a basis for his sense of self#esteem. "e may compare
himself with other people and decide that his absolute loss or the shift in proportional
shares of authority reflects an attrition in his power base. "e may also compare his
position relative to others against a personal standard and feel a sense of loss. !his
tendency to compare is deeply ingrained in people, especially since they experience
early in life the effects of comparisons in the family wherePin an absolute senseP time and attention, if not love and affection, go to the most dependent member.
#!RFOR"ANC! A##RAI&A. T!CHNI1!& &!D ,$ R!.IANC!
721 )$=$$ 6$$);A< $KA+9A!IOD
A common approach to assessing performance is to use a numerical or scalar rating
system whereby managers are asked to score an individual against a number of
ob5ectives/attributes. $mployees are also allowed the opportunity to assess the
personmanager- at the same time. !his is known as 721Q appraisal. !he biggest risk
with 721 degree feedback is confidentiality. !he information is very sensitive and in
the wrong hands, could impact careers.
6A<!: 9sed by E1 percent fortune 311 companies.
Also used by hp and I;.
Rating &acles
A widely used appraisal method that rates employees according to defined factors. !he
scale includes several categories, normally five to seven in number, defined by
ad5ectives such as outstanding, meets expectations or needs improvement. One reason
for the popularity of the ratings scale method is its simplicity, which permit (uick
evaluation of many employees. !he factors chosen for evaluation are typically of two
types 5ob related and personal characteristics. !he raterevaluator- completes the form
by indicating the degree of each factor that is most descriptive of the employee and his
or her performance. $valuators total and then average the points in each part . !hen
they multiply this average by a factor representing the weight given each section. !he
final score for the employees is the total of each section's points.
CRITICA. INCID!NT&
A performance appraisal techni(ue that re(uires a written record of highly favourableand highly unfavourable work behaviour. hen such an action L a critical incident
affects the department significantly, either positively or negatively, the manager writes
it down. ith this method, the appraisal is more likely to cover the entire evaluation
period and not focus on the last few weeks or months.
2OR3 &TANDARD&
A performance appraisal method that compares each employee's performance to a
predetermined standard or expected level of output. everal methods are available to
determine work standards, including time study and work sampling. An obvious
advantage of using standards as appraisal criteria is ob5ective, they should understand
clearly how the standards were set. anagement must also explain the rationale for