Organizational Design at Custom Leather (Scenario)

Multiple Choice

Organizational Design at Custom Leather (Scenario)
Lacey has been hired as a consultant for XYZ Consulting. Her first assignment is to work with one of XYZ's newest clients, Custom Leather, Ltd., a manufacturer of high-end leather furniture. Custom Leather was founded more than a decade ago with the idea that great-looking, comfortable leather furniture could be custom made and delivered to customers in 30 days. Traditionally, retailers stocked leather sofas to satisfy customers' desire to receive new furniture fast, which resulted in limited colour choices and styles. Traditional sofa manufacturers produced their products in large batches on standardized assembly lines. In contrast, Custom Leather offers 13 different styles in more than 70 different colours through a select group of retail outlets. Each sofa is built to the customer's individual requirements and is shipped within two to three weeks. However, the emergence of a new manufacturing technology has enabled some of the traditional competitors to offer greater customization, thereby reducing some of Custom Leather's competitive advantage. As a result, Custom Leather's president, Miles Standish, is considering several changes to their current work processes and organizational structure.
-Standish is planning to double the size of his workforce to accompany an expansion in the number of retail outlets that carry Custom Leather products.Lacey tells him that he should expect the organizational design to become more ________ as a result of this change.

A) mechanistic
B) functional
C) organic
D) decentralized