MBA Unit IV Assessmen

Define a value chain and the significance of the center of gravity. Please also provide an example of a value chain from your place of work or from a company that you have researched.

A value chain is a set of activities that are associated together that start with raw materials from suppliers, then goes to a set of activities in which are involved in marketing a certain product, and then ends with providers developing the final properties to the vital purchaser. Value chains can usually be split into two parts: upstream and downstream. The upstream deals where the company begins, how it develops, and what it produces. Then, downstream starts with where the goods, for example, are being transported and how it distributes to suppliers.

A company’s center of gravity is the most important part of the company and what the essential proficiencies are. It is usually where the company began, according to Galbraith. It is also where the company stands the strongest. In other words, whatever may be there strongest suit is what the company’s center of gravity is.

My company that I work for, AltaPointe Health Systems, can be used as an example of a value chain. AltaPointe Health Systems is a community based company that provides services of mental health to consumers that are struggling mentally and/or patients that are struggling with substance abuse issues. We have two hospital facilities (for adults and children), many residential homes, and also outpatient services. Since the primary focus of a value chain is to study the company of value-creating events, AltaPointe’s surfaces around one primary vision and that is psychiatry. Our value chain starts with having patients who come in (voluntary or involuntary) who are mentally ill or abusing substances. They tell us what is going on and our psychiatrists make an analysis based on their assumption of the patient’s sickness. They decide whether or not our facility is right for them (especially if they come in voluntary). Our doctors and nurses have daily activities with them; whether it is group sessions or one-on-one with the social worker and doctor, decide what is causing their problems, and make a decision on what is the best way to treat them.

The patients then stay for however long it takes to get the patient stable and on the correct medications, and then send them onto our outpatient facilities where they will see a doctor once a month. In this case, our materials that we need to carry on our facilities would be: beds, medications, and supplies for nurses and staff. Activities that are involved in keeping our services are: having mentally ill patients that need psychiatric help and pay to come see us. Without them, we would not be a company. As far as distributors getting the final goods: in our case, it would be our patients getting better and having our name talked about in an extremely good way to the community and other communities near us. If we have happy patients, we will have a successful business that keeps running. Our CEO also works with Bryce Hospital in Tuscaloosa, which is another psychiatric inpatient facility. Businesses like these, are what helps us to stay open and help one another out.

In what ways may a corporation’s structure and culture be internal strengths or weaknesses? Look at your organization, and analyze its structural and cultural strengths and weaknesses. How can the weaknesses be improved?

There are three basic types of organizational structures. They are simple structures, functional structures, and divisional structures. Simple structures don’t have any product categories and is designed for small organizations. Functional structures are for medium-sized companies that have several products. Lastly, divisional structures are for large companies that have many product lines in different industries. A corporation’s structure can be a company’s strength and/or their weakness. If the correct structure is developed correctly, then the business can grow and thrive like it should. If the wrong structure is built, then the company could have problems operating correctly. A corporation’s structure has to get its strength from the foundation, because without the foundation you don’t have anything to build on. Based on these three structures is how you want to choose your foundation for the company/business. However, if you do choose the wrong structure, then the business could fall apart because people will not know what their accurate role is within the organization. It is almost as if everyone would get confused on what they should be doing.

Corporate culture is where the beliefs, expectations of a company, and values come together within members of the organization and is passed on from one group of employees to another. A strength of culture could be the organization’s ability to relate with one another and able to get along and be civil with other employees. It is also to have the respect of values that the CEO and other leadership members have for the company. Weaknesses would be the exact opposite. If employees do not understand what the culture is for the company or do not show respect to it, it could make a company fall really fast. Employees are a huge part of a company and without them, you have absolutely nothing. They have to have the ability and want to have respect for others and the management team.

For the company I work for, our organizational structure would be a simple structure, because it is a small organization. Our internal strengths would include having the right management. I believe we have top workers that are our chief officers and are able to make excellent decisions. They are always on top of the issues that need to be worked out and help manage the Board of Directors meetings. Our foundation has always been a good one and they keep our company running in good condition at all times. Our biggest structural weakness is our employees not knowing where they stand within the company. Our top managers have difficulty with relating to our other employees whom are not in top management. We have so many employees that work within the hospitals that include: nurses, behavioral aides, security, etc., and our chief officers or hospital administrators do not take the time to try to see if they have any needs or concerns within the company. This is where our company starts making mistakes. This could be an easy fix by making sure our managers take the time to speak with them.

They need to start having meetings with other employees and ask what their ideas are and what needs to be improved. As far as cultural strengths, ours is following expectations. Our employees might not like it sometimes, but they know what our CEO expects out of them. They know they cannot call in sick every time something goes wrong and they know their number one priority is the patients’ needs. Our cultural weakness is definitely communication and feedback. If something goes wrong within one of our hospitals, it is because there was a lack of communication or someone did not speak up when they needed to. This is when the patients start getting ill and irritated. It is completely unnecessary. If our employees would care a little more about what maybe could go wrong, and communicate more than what they are doing, everything would be a lot different.