Organisation structured by product and organisation which is organised Assignment

Organisation structured by product and organisation which is organised by function - Assignment Example is divided into three main divisions: lighters, pens and razors, and Hewlett Packard that is divided into five main divisions: image and printing group, personal system group, enterprise group, HP services and finally HP financial services (Biz/ed 2006 and Business case studies 2014). Each business structure has its advantages and disadvantages. Among the advantages of product structured business includes specialization, accountability and clarity. Specialization allows every division to focus and concentrate on one line of product that is its own work. Accountability is an advantage because the structure makes it clear who is responsible for that department. Clarity plays in where everybody knows not just their role but also the roles of others. On the other side organization structure by product has down sides. Among the downsides are communication, rigidity and coordination. Such a structure encourages closed communication that may lead to lack of focus. Due to the fact that departments are divided upon what they do, some may end up becoming resistant to change. This structure also makes coordination difficult as there is a big gap between the top and the bottom which may make coordination take too long (Biz/ed 2006). Structuring by function is simply done by dividing the organization into departments with similar specializations such as marketing, finance and accounts, human resources, and many others. The marketing department for instance will have marketers who are charged the responsibility to market the company’s products. This type of structure best suits companies that make standard goods and services in large quantities at prices that are considered low. Another characteristic is that they have a large degree of formalization that leads to reliance by each function on standardized way (Businessmate.org 2010 and). An example of a business with functional structure is ABC which has its departments divided into accounting department, corporate