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The Impact of Organizational Structure on Performance at General Electric Africa THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE ON PERFORMANCE AT GENERAL ELECTRIC AFRICA BY EDWARD O. ONONO UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY-AFRICA SUMMER 2018 THE IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE ON PERFORMANCE AT GENERAL ELECTRIC AFRICA BY EDWARD O. ONONO A Project Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA) UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY AFRICA SUMMER 2018 STUDENT’S DECLARATION I, the undersigned, declare that this is my original work and has not been submitted to any other college, institution or university other than the United States International University in Nairobi for academic credit. Signed:………………………………. Date:………………………………… Edward O. Onono (ID 622444) This project has been presented for examination with my approval as the appointed supervisor. Signed:………………………………… Date:……………………………………. Dr. Joyce Ndegwa Signed: ………………………………… Date: ……………………………………... Dean, Chandaria School of Business ii COPYRIGHT All rights reserved; no part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the express written authorization from the writer. ©Edward O. Onono 2018 iii ABSTRACT The research study sought to establish the relationship between organizational structure and performance at General Electric Africa. This is a key relationship within the principle study of strategic management and has been present in different industries as a guide to necessitate structural and strategic change every so often in many organizations. This study refined the available literature around this relationship to better understand it by examining the real-world business application of the dynamics of organizational structure at General Electric Africa and the resulting impact on performance. To achieve this study objective, the research questions sought answers to questions on the effect of three key dimensions of organization structure on the speed of decision making, the effect of organizational structures on internal organizational complexities and bureaucracy and finally the effect of organizational structure on efficient information exchange within the company. This was done by gathering responses from employees at GE Africa collocated in Nairobi and Johannesburg offices as a representative of GE Africa employee population. A descriptive research design was used in this study. The target population was 290 employees at General Electric in the Sub Sahara Africa region based in four General Electric sites locations in Nairobi in Kenya, Lagos in Nigeria, Luanda in Angola and Johannesburg in South Africa. Structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and SPPS version 21. The study conducted Pеаrson correlation to establish the relationship between organizational structure and performance, results revealed that there was a strong and positive relationship between organizational structure and performance r=0.404**, p<0.000. In addition, the study also conducted a regression to determine the relationship between dependent and independent variable. The value for organizational structure was β=0.371, p<0.001. This implies that 37.1% of the change in performance was caused by organizational structure. Pеаrson correlation analysis was conducted to determine the relationship bеtwееn organizational learning and the resulting impact on organizational performance. The findings indicated that there was a strong positive relationship between organizational learning and organizational performance with r=0.536**, p<0.000. In addition, a regression model was done to determine the relationship between organizational learning iv and performance. The outcome of the analysis returned values of organizational learning at β=0.533, and p<0.000 meaning that 53.3% of the change in performance was can be directly attributed to organizational learning. In conclusion, it was apparent from the findings that the type of organizational structure embraced in an organization affected the speed and accuracy of decision making and directly influenced the learning and growth culture within the organization as well as the efficiency of information exchange within the organization. Empirically the study was able affirm that organizational learning had the impact of further helping managers align employee’s assignments’ based on their abilities and interests, establish efficient information exchange systems within the organization thereby creating the positive impact of increasing the speed and accuracy of execution of operational tasks as well as implementation of long term strategic alignments within the business in the region. The study recommended that organizations ought to empower their regional and local business leadership teams to make decisions faster as opposed to using the longer and less efficient bureaucratic approach of making such decisions centrally from their global headquarters. This was because such authorizations on local projects, provide customers with quick feedback loops and in the process increase employee’s performance within the organization, helps develop organizational learning techniques that are friendly and adaptable, establishes good communication channels that will facilitate easy and accurate flow of information, aid easy access to the information while at the same time motivate the local leadership teams. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to acknowledge Dr. George Kaol for the valuable knowledge and insights I have gained from him during the conceptualization of the research paper. Secondly, I would like to acknowledge and deeply thank Dr. Joyce Ndegwa for the invaluable guidance and insights to completion of this research project. I would also like to acknowledge my family and friends for their support and encouragement through the research project. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the many MBA classmates and the CBS faculty members who I consulted with and shared many invaluable insights and feedback throughout this research project. vi DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this research project to my mother, Rosebella Akeyo Onono for her endless support, love and encouragement. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS STUDENT’S DECLARATION ............................................................................................... ii COPYRIGHT ........................................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ....................................................................................................... vi DEDICATION......................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. xi CHAPTER ONE ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of the Problem .................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................................... 7 1.3 Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................... 10 1.4 Research Questions ............................................................................................................. 10 1.5 Significance of the Study .................................................................................................... 10 1.6 Scope of the study ............................................................................................................... 11 1.7 Definition of Terms............................................................................................................. 11 1.8 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER TWO .................................................................................................................... 13 2.0. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................... 13 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 13 2.2 The Impact of Speed and Quality of Decision Making on Organization Performance ...... 13 2.3 The Impact of Organizational Learning on Organizational Performance .......................... 20 2.4 The Impact of Communication Systems on Organizational Performance .......................... 27 2.5 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER THREE ...............................................................................................................
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