Imbalance between structure and strategy and their effects on employees job satisfaction

Abstract

With the current economy becoming more global, the businesses that stand out are those with the strongest competitive ability. Currently more businesses are focusing on achieving a specific aspect that differentiates them from others based on the importance given to human capital within the organisation by efficient and effective managing. Through this aspect businesses hope to achieve a competitive advantage. With this in mind, employee job satisfaction is an aspect of vital importance in order to ensure an organisation works correctly together to achieve its objectives. Despite the current economic crisis, both the express transport and the integral logistics sector are continuously growing. This growth has been strengthened mainly through the use of E-Commerce which is causing an important increase in the demand of package delivery and collection services. Every day more and more people are beginning to use the internet to shop and buy and consequently, more companies are marketing and selling their products online. The case study business is MRW (Mensajeros Radio Worldwide), one of the most important companies in its sector, pioneer and leader in Spain amongst companies that offer transport services to businesses that market their products via E-Commerce. The first aim of the study was to determine the organisational aspects, such as culture, that characterise the organisation and differentiate it from other businesses within the sector. The second objective was to analyse the organisational structure of the business, which is based on a franchise system, in order to evaluate the balance between the structure and the implementation strategy of the MRW E-Commerce service, which is based on cost leadership and was established in 2010. In order to do so, an analysis of the effects of job satisfaction when there is an imbalance between strategy and structure was carried out. The empirical research carried out had the primary objective of evaluating the level of job satisfaction of the employees at MRW. A questionnaire was used to collect the information required. The questionnaire included quantitative-answer questions taken from the “overall job satisfaction” scale created by Warr, Cook and Wall (1979), this scale established a dichotomy of factors including both those considered extrinsic and intrinsic to work conditions and allows for evaluation of work satisfaction on three levels: general satisfaction, extrinsic satisfaction and intrinsic satisfaction. The descriptive analysis was carried out using a computer programme called Microsoft Excel (2010). The Bifactorial theory of Herzberg (1959) was used to extract relevant considerations from the results obtained in the previous stage. This theory is adapted to the scale used in the questionnaires as it analyses the related and social aspects of work, the content of work and aspects of the organisational structure. At the same time, it differentiates factors that generate satisfaction, intrinsic factors or motivational factors from factors that cause the employee dissatisfaction, extrinsic factors or hygiene factors. A proposal titled “small gestures policy” was created taking into account the levels of job satisfaction of the employees at MRW. The intention is for this policy to be implemented by the Department of Human Resources within the central headquarters and imposed in all franchises in order to obtain a high level of job satisfaction among employees and consequently avoiding problems such as: work absenteeism, rotation or burnout and improving the company’s performance.