Organizatio

nal
Structure
and Design
Ford
Motors
Project Report discussing the Theories and Concepts of
Organizational Structure and Design of Ford Motor Company,
with respect to its Dealer in the UAE i.e. Al Tayer Motors.

Advanced
Organizatio
nal
Behavior
MGT 4472

Ford Motor Company

Organizational Structure and Design Ford Motor Company

Institution:
Troy University ITS Sharjah Campus

Course:
Advanced Organizational Behavior MGT 4472

Instructor:
Dr, Farooq Khan
Email: farooq@agu.ac.ae

Group Members:
M. Usman Rafique
Ahmedshah
Nadeem Baloch
Usman Moin
Sumayya

Date: June 29, 2010

Preface
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Ford Motor Company

This report have been written on a research on the organizational structure

and design of Ford Motor Company to assist and prepare the students to
draw upon the theories and concepts involved in the practical implications an
organizational structure and design of an organization. The report examines
and focuses on the management levels, span of control, duties and
responsibilities of top management, and the hierarchical structure of Ford
Motor Company.
With the help of detailed structure, figures, an elaborative study have been
prepared to clearly define and analyze the implications of an organizational
structure and design.

M.
Usman

Ford Motor Company

Table of Contents

Introduction

Introduction to Ford Motor Company

Fords Vision

Fords Mission

History

Al Tayer Motors

Literature Review

Methodology

Interview (Primary)

Internet (Secondary)

Analysis and Results of data

Organizational Structure of Ford Motors Top Management

Organizational Structure of Al Tayer Motors

10

Al Tayer Motors Divisional Structural Design

10

Chain of Command

11

Span of Control

11

Mechanistic vs. Organic Organizations

Summary
References

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Ford Motor Company

Introduction
Organizational structure and design of Ford Motor Company is discussed and
elaborated in the report. The organizational structuring and designing is the
process of structuring human and physical resources in order to accomplish
organizational objectives, and involves dividing tasks into jobs, specifying the
appropriate department for each job, determining the optimum number of
jobs in each department, and delegating authority within and among
departments.
One of the most critical challenges facing managers today is the
development of a responsive organizational structure that is committed to
quality; hence an organizational structure and design of any organization
must be clearly aligned to achieve an organizations mission and vision. The
framework of jobs and departments that make up any organization must be
directed toward achieving the organizations objectives.
The organizational structure to be developed in an organization comes out as
developing mode over time. Any organization, similar to Ford Motor Company
tends to change the structure, adding on the management levels, widening
or narrowing the span of control, adopting centralization or decentralization
in an organization, and developing the chain of command for the reporting
relationships in an organization. Organizational structure and design are
defined as follows,
Organizational structure is the formal framework by which job tasks are
divided, grouped, and coordinated.
Organizational design is process of developing or changing an
organizations structure.
The application of the theories and concepts of an organizational structure
and design are discussed in the matter followed.

Ford Motor Company

Introduction to Ford Motor Company

Fords Vision
To become the world's leading Consumer Company for automotive products
and services.
Fords Mission
We are a global family with a proud heritage passionately committed to
providing personal mobility for people around the world. We anticipate
consumer need and deliver outstanding products and services that improve
people's lives.

Ford Motor Company began a manufacturing revolution with its mass

production assembly lines in the early 1900s. Today Ford Motor Company is a
global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Michigan, with nearly
300,000 employees and 108 plants worldwide. It manufactures and
distributes automobiles in 200 markets across six continents.
Ford in the Middle East is based in Dubai. With a team comprising various
nationalities, Ford Middle East represents true multicultural work
environment.
The Middle Eastern team primarily supports the sales, marketing and
customer satisfaction operations of all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury importerdealers in the GCC (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE),
Levant (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria) and Yemen.
History
Ford Motor Company's history in the Middle East goes back to nearly 60
years. The company's local importer-dealers operate more than 55 facilities
in the region and directly employ more than 4,000 people, the majority of
whom are Arab Nationals.

Ford Motor Company

Ford first appeared on the Arabian Peninsula with the F-1 pick-up truck, also
known to most Arabs, as the Red Truck, or the "wanette" in reference to its
1-ton capacity and 8-cylinder engine. The Ford F-Series trucks have served
as the workhorse of countries around the world ever since. The F-Series is
the best-selling truck on the planet for the past 28 consecutive years. A
significant milestone in the history of Ford Middle East was reached in 2001
when the Ford Drive communications strategy was launched in the region.
This strategic move underscored an aggressive re-positioning of the Ford
brand in the GCC, while highlighting its heritage in the region and the bond
the brand had with the people of Arabia.
Reliability and stability are the watchwords of the century-old automaker.
With its emphasis on the genuine nature of the brand and connection with
the heritage of the region, the Drive campaign played a vital role in
strengthening Fords local presence.
Investing in Customer Satisfaction Ford Middle East and its network of dealerpartners are constantly investing in delivering higher levels of customer
satisfaction across the region. Since 2003 alone, Ford, Lincoln and Mercury
importer-dealers have invested over USD100 million in facilities and network
expansion projects, especially in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Al Tayer Motors
Major dealer of Ford in the United Arab Emirates is Al Tayer Motors, delivering
Ford vehicles to the local consumers since 1982. Al Tayer Motors was
established in 1982 and represents major European and American
automobile manufacturers such as Land Rover, Jaguar, Ford, Lincoln,
Mercury, Ferrari, Maserati and Spyker across the UAE. Al Tayer Motors'
portfolio also includes commercial vehicles - DAF trucks in the UAE.

Ford Motor Company

Literature Review

Previous research reports, conducted by university students, and internet

periodicals, journals and websites are referred in the report on Ford Motor
Companys organizational structuring and designing implications. Reviewing
the literature was of dominant importance, although there have not been any
specific research conducted on the relative topic for research. The literature
reviewed includes the internet, books, periodicals and researches contrasting
the organizational structure of Ford Motor Company. The following is given
the list of referred literature for the research:
1. Marketing research by the Troy University I2A group, based on the
marketing plan applied by the Ford Motor Company. Organizational
Structure developed in the report was referred.
2. Ford Motor Company website; http://www.ford.com
3. Al Tayer Motors website; http://www.altayermotors.com
4. Website referred to analyze the parent company website organizational
chart; http://www.cogmap.com/charts/ford-motor-company
5. Management by Mary Coulter and Robbins, Prentice Hall Publication
2002.
6. Organizational Theory, Design and Change, by Gareth Jones, 6th
Edition.

Organizational structure and design in reference to Ford Motor Company, and

its Dealer in the United Arab Emirates, Al Tayer Motors, are focused in the
report written. The literature reviewed has exploited the knowledge base
about the analysis of the organizational structures and their implications in
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Ford Motor Company

corporate governance of an organization. The literature facilitates the

understanding and explanation of the basic concepts, theories and principles
associated with the designing of an organizational structure and its
implications for organizational management.

Methodology
The methods devised to collect and generate data for analysis are
mentioned below:
Interview (Primary):
A primary source for the collection of data was mainly interview with Al Tayer
Motors officials, amongst which Melanie Davidson was assigned to be
interviewed for the specific topic in question, i.e. Organizational structure
and design of Al Tayer Motors. The Questions designed was short and of
subjective nature, to fulfill the research requirements. The answers to the
questions were examined and scrutinized to develop the organizational
design being followed by Al Tayer Motors. The organizational chart was
provided by Melanie Davidson for the analysis of the design. The
Organizational design consisted of 5 key elements analyzed;
Departmentalization, the chain of commands, the span of control, and
decision making style (centralization or decentralization), organizational
design decisions (mechanistic or organic in nature)
Internet (Secondary):
The Secondary source of information for the collection of data for the report
was the Internet. Several key areas of the organizational structure were
explored to evaluate the design and the hierarchical structure of Ford Motor
Company and its United Arab Emirates dealer, Al Tayer Motors, through the
internet.

Ford Motor Company

Analysis and Results of data

Organizational Structure of Ford Motors Top Management

Executive Chairman
William Clay Ford
CEO

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Alan Mulally

Ford of Europe &
Premiere Automotive
Group Chairman

President,
The Americas Mark
Fields

Chief Financial
Officer

President, Intl
Operations

Don R. Leclair

Mark A. Schulz

Lewis Booth

GROUP VICE PRESIDENT

Chairman & CEO,
Ford Motor Credit
Company
Michael Bannister

President & CEO.

Ford of Europe
John Fleming

N. American
Mktng, Sales &
Service Francisco
Codina

Corporate
Human
Resources

Product
Development, the
Americas,

Joe W. Laymon

Derrick Kuzak

Ford Motor Company

Design & Chief

Creative Officer

Corporate Affairs
Zaid Ojakli

J. Mays

Asia Pacific and

Africa

John Parker

Global Product
Development & Chief
Technical Officer,

Richard Parry-Jones

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT

Controller
Peter Daniel

Chief Marketing Officer, Non

executive Chairman, Volvo
Cars, Hans-Olov Olsson

Global Purchasing
Thomas K. Brown

General Counsel
David Leitch

Customer Service
Division, Darryl B.
Hazel

Organizational Structure of Al Tayer Motors

Al Tayer Motors is the main dealer of the Ford Motor Company in the United
Arab Emirates, engaged in the import, sales and the customer service of
Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercury, Ferrari, Maserati and Spyker
across the UAE. Al Tayer Motors' portfolio also includes the sales of
commercial vehicles DAF.
Al Tayer Motors, with the increase of its operations and divisions, increase in
the portfolios, follow a more diverse organizational structure, the divisional
structure. Al Tayer previously followed a functional structure, with horizontal
differentiation. Al Tayer was grouped into functions to increase the
effectiveness with which it achieved its goals. The development of functions
allowed it to manage an increase in specialization and the division of labor
most efficiently. But with the products and operations getting more complex,
with the introduction of Jaguar, Land rover, Mercury, etc. coordination,
communication, measurement of performance, and customer problems
started to arise, and hence Al Tayer had to develop into a Divisional
structure.

Al Tayer Motors Divisional Structural Design

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Ford Motor Company

As shown in the Organizational Chart, Finance functions are separated, and

created as a separate division acting as a support function for all the
divisions. Separate products, i.e. different cars have different divisions in Al
Tayer Motors. All the other functions impose sales function on the division, as
Al Tayer Motors is a dealership for the main manufacturing firm, and hence
focuses on import, sales, and customer service of the cars for Ford Motor
Company. Ford, Jaguar and Land Rover, Ferrari and Maserati, after sales, and
Finance are the different Divisions in Al Tayer Motors.
Product Structure is followed in Al Tayer Motors rather than a Product
Divisional Structure or a Multidivisional Structure. A product structure is a
divisional structure in which products are grouped into separate divisions to
increase the control. Al Tayer Motors have centralized the support function
i.e. Finance, at the top of the organization so one set of support functions
services all the product divisions, as the products are similar and aimed at
the same market.
This design decision increases the horizontal differentiation within the
organization, for each division is headed by its General Manager and has its
own hierarchy. The general manager of each division adds a hierarchical
level or authority increasing the vertical differentiation in the organization.
The General Manager coordinates with the Finance division to make effective
use of their skills and thus enhance sales of the company.
Chain of Command
The Chain of Command and the reporting relationships are clearly visible in
the organizational chart of Al Tayer Motors. The chain of command clearly
shows that lines of control of the company, which are effective considering
the sales function of the organization. The Chain of Command of each
division lies in the product division. Employees assigned to Ford report to
their General Manager, and indirectly the CEO and Director can be reported
also. Divisional managers are responsible for the functioning and assignment
of responsibilities, i.e. the obligation to perform the duties, to the respective
divisional employees.
Span of Control
The span of control determines the number of employees each manager can
efficiently and effectively manage. The span of control also determines the
number of levels and managers in an organization. The Span of Control in Al
Tayer has been kept wide for a more efficient working organization entailing
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Ford Motor Company

more managerial levels. With respect to Ford, the GM is followed by Brand

Managers and Showroom Managers of Premier Motors directly. Brand
Managers also control the Sales Managers, who respectively control the
Showroom managers. The skills and abilities of the managers clearly
influence the span of control in Al Tayer Motors. Al Tayer also makes use of
standardized procedures and information systems to better control the
organizational operations towards the organizational vision and mission.
Mechanistic vs. Organic Organizations
Al Taye motors have highly adaptive and flexible structure that permits
organization to change when the need arises. The product structure can
diversify into product divisional structure with increased complexity of the
range of products. Al Tayer Motors employees are highly trained and
empowered to handle the top of the line range of cars of Ford as well as
different other automakers. Diverse job activities and tasks can be assigned
to highly trained officials as per the requirement arises. And there is minimal
formal rules and little direct supervision in Al Tayer Motors, hence making the
organizational design a more Organic structure rather than the Mechanistic
structure, that employs vice versa features.

Summary
Stakeholder goals and objectives can be achieved only when organizational
skills and capabilities are controlled through organizational structure. The
activities of organizational members would be chaotic without a structure
that assigns people to roles and directs the activities of people and functions.
This report have examined how Ford Motor Company and its Dealer, Al Tayer
Motors has deigned its hierarchical control of authority. It has the following
main points:
1. Introduction to Organizational Structure and Design.

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Ford Motor Company

2. Introduction to Ford Motor Company and Al Tayer Motors, which is a

UAE dealer for the Ford Motors, including the Ford Vision and Mission
and History of Fords entrance in the UAE market.
3. Literature review, entailing the previous researches and the internet
websites reviewed for collection of data.
4. Methodology including primary (Interviews) and secondary (Internet)
sources of data collection.
5. Analysis of Data and Results obtained. Detailed Organizational Chart.
Organizational Design discussed with Organizational Chain of
Command, Span of Control and Mechanistic vs. Organic structure view.

References
-

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Marketing research by the Troy University I2A group, based on the

marketing plan applied by the Ford Motor Company.
Ford Motor Company website; http://www.ford.com
Al Tayer Motors website; http://www.altayermotors.com
Http://www.cogmap.com/charts/ford-motor-company
Management by Mary Coulter and Robbins, Prentice Hall Publication
2002.
Organizational Theory, Design and Change, by Gareth Jones, 6th
Edition.

Ford Motor Company

Melanie Davidson , HR Operations Manager, Al Tayer Motors ,tel.: +971

4 3037201 fax: +971 4 3037778 email: mbailey@altayer.com
(Business Card attached)

THE END

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