Below are the students discussion to the weekly discussion.  Please respond to students' discussion.   no need to be formatted as an essay.  As long as you respond each of individuals. thank you very much.. Please number the responds.

Learning Activity 1:

Diagram via an organizational chart Vertical and Horizontal Linkages in your current or previous organization! Discuss and explain any pros and cons, respectively, for each linkage. Provide a practical example of an Informal Linkage and its implications? 

(1st Student discussion)

 The standard organizational chart ("org chart") generally does a good job of showing the vertical (supervisor-to-subordinate) and horizontal (peer-to-peer) linkages within an organization. Most aspects of the supervisor/subordinate relationship (performance planning, tactical and strategic direction, delegation of authority, etc.) can be intuited from the illustrated structure (Unknown, 2014, p. 280). Likewise, the horizontal peer-to-peer linkages can illustrate cross-domain relationships (Unknown, 2014, p. 281).

The following example shows this in some detail. This org chart is for the DHS component where I work, the Science & Technology Directorate (S&T). As with most organizations, S&T is organized along functional lines, but with a few interesting twists. First, as to the vertical linkages this chart clearly shows the progression from the Under Secretary to the Deputy Under Secretary, to each of the subordinate Division Directors. Subordinate to each Director is an additional layer of offices, each of which is responsible for a specific, targeted portfolio of programs.

The horizontal linkages can be a bit more interesting. Take, for example, the Transportation Security Lab (TSL). Although not shown on this particular diagram, TSL reports to two different program offices: the Office of Test & Evaluation (OT&E) for the research & development mission, and the Office of National Labs (ONL) for operational and logistical direction and support. This arrangement also exists for the NUSTL lab (left-hand column in the org chart, toward the bottom). Needless to say, conflicts can and do arise and with different stakeholders having different needs these can be difficult to resolve.

Among the org chart's weaknesses are that it fails to show the organization's informal linkages (Nishadha, 2014, Disadvantages of organizational charts section, para. 1). These are those relationships that cannot be easily measured and diagrammed, and include friendships, adversaries, inter-office politics, and other non-official affiliations (Unknown, 2014, p. 281). An example of this lies in the S&T org chart shown above.* The Director of one of our labs has a long-standing personal relationship with the Chief of Staff (they were both in "Mommy & Me" classes together). Whenever the Director receives direction with which she disagrees she tends to go over the heads of her chain of command directly to the Chief of Staff. She often manages to have this new direction overturned by doing so. Her leadership grit their teeth and muddle through.

(2nd student discussion) I think that there are only pros with the organizational chart provided below. Every department has a director a senior manager and account teams. This allows for top to bottom communication on all levels. This organizational structure allows for each person to report directly to one supervisor which decreases the chance of conflicting guidance. Each department head communicates regularly, in order to act strategic in business decisions. The only con that I think of is that most directors stay with the company for more than 10 years, so for Senior Management the opportunity to grow and become a director is very slim unless you are willing to stay with the company for an extended amount of time. 

Learning Activity 2: Using your previous or current organization, generate and discuss at least two (2) alternative strategies affected by cultural factors that may promote competitiveness and improve its major weaknesses.

(3rd Student discussion) The organization that I work for employees a lot of young adults right out of college. This allows for the company to not only pay their employees less than industry standard, but it also allows for the company to promote from within and allows for growth potential. A lot of people at my company have either been with the company for an extended period of time, rising through the "ranks" and become senior account managers and or directors. While others, because of the extensive training that we receive are offered other opportunities in the industry with other companies. Whichever path you choose, my organization's culture makes it a point that they will support their teams and will help grow professionally within the organization and outside of the organization. This allows for the people that do end up leaving the company to bring the business back to my organization. It is technically a win-win strategy. 

However, because of the organizational culture of growth opportunity, it does create a lot of competitiveness within the organization but not in a negative way. It is emphasized that they will give us the necessary tools and training to rise to the top of the organization, and because of this lower level teams work harder in order to get promoted. Again, another strategy used that is only benefits the organization. 

(4th Student discussion) A previous job I had was working for an Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser) warehouse distributor. To promote competitiveness this organization added a financial incentive to work harder. The way this worked is you received more money for every case of beer that you built on an order. Mastering Strategic Management defines this strategy as "Output Control". This strategy not only made the employees work harder, but at a higher level it made the job get completed faster. Along with this the problem or weakness was how long it took to complete the job. This specific job was paid a daily salary base pay, meaning that if it took 8 hours or if it took you 12 hours then you would get paid the same amount. This form of salary pay was a way to change the environment to promote employees to work harder to not stay later without receiving additional compensation.

Another strategy that can be used is a Behavioral Control. Mastering Strategic Management calls this strategy "controlling the actions that ultimately lead to results". In my current position in the military everything is focused on controlling behavior. The military created its own set of legally enforceable rules called the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The military has strict guidelines on dress codes and behavior such as not carrying items in your right hand to provide the proper curtesy of saluting an officer. The weakness in this strategy is that the military promotes a very strict environment where its employees have sense of fear instilled in them because they know how big the consequences can be if they fail to meet these standards.