Business Finance Homework Help

An  organization’s structure is the formal and informal differentiation and  integration of tasks. An organization needs a sound structure to  coordinate its actions so that strategic goals can be achieved.  Different companies and industries organize differently to meet the  needs of their stakeholders. Though an organization’s structure is meant  to facilitate operations and communications, there are times that it  can impede its success.

National  Bank and First American Bank merged to form First National Bank. The  Vice-President of Retail Banking comes from First American Bank, while  the Chief Operations Officer comes from National Bank. The COO and VP  are meeting with First National Bank’s new President & CEO, who  comes from neither predecessor bank. The new bank is facing quite a few  challenges, including a decrease in clients and deposits and increased  employee turnover. 

How is the leadership team handling this challenge? How would you? 

Comment on the answers of two of your peers.  

POST 1

The present situation for First National Bank is that it allows for parallel reporting structures towards the Chief Operations Officer and the Vice President of Retail Banking. This kind of environment complicates the priorities for the Bank’s branch managers since the two offices have different goals to achieve. As a result, the COO and the Vice President have apparent differences in how they should proceed with their structures.The COO is concerned about operation procedures and compliance to the legal requirements and financial risk mitigation strategies. In his approach, the consequence of strict guidelines does not matter, even if they impact the company’s profitability. Changing from the initial operation protocols that applied for National Bank seems not to be a concern for the COO, regardless of the consequences.The Vice President for Retail Banking is concerned that many people are resigning from the company. Further, deposits are reducing while borrowers are declining too. She fears that the loss of clients, deposits, and performing employees will impact the company’s profitability and sustainability. She thinks that profits are more important than clients and the branches should be empowered to make some decisions about requests by clients.The First National Bank’s President attempts to mediate the two conflicting needs from the Vice President and the COO. The meetings may yield a positive result if the COO and the VP agree on the way forward through consultative meetings.If I were in the management position at First National Bank, I would first initiate research to provide the most optimal organizational structure for the combined business. I would have considered an independent view by asking for a third-party consultancy. Another option is to form a team that comprises the former employees of both banks to evaluate the effect of duplicating reporting structures. A unified policy approach is driven by the company’s goals, employees’ motivation, and legal obligations would have informed the adopted organizational structures. The First National Bank needs to create operational procedures, protocols, and priorities that guide the branch managers in making rational decisions 

POST 2

2.How the leadership team is handling the situation? Organizations

 certainly need a sound organizational structure for better performance 

of employees and the organization in general. Sudden and increased 

employee turnover and client decrease show a disconnect in the 

organizational structure—the top management problem. According to 

Elnihew et al. (2015), major decisions made by top management such as 

large investment selection, new service decisions, hiring, and even 

firing, without the involvement of the entire team, can affect the 

overall performance of a bank and the employee performance. In this 

case, the leadership team are not handling the issue effectively. 

Meeting up with the new president without investigating the reasons for 

the high employee turnover and sudden decrease of clients does not solve

 the issue. The top management might have great ideas, but limiting 

decision-making to top management only escalates the bank’s problems. 

The leadership team also has poor communication to some point, which is 

making the challenge almost unmanageable. How I would handle the situation? I

 believe in transformational. According to Lai et al. (2020) and Han et 

al. (2020), transformational leadership is instrumental in better task 

performance and increased employee motivation. Han et al. (2020) also 

add that transformational leadership curbs social loafing at work. In 

assessing the amalgamation issue, it is evident that the top leadership 

has overlooked the issues affecting the employees and their contribution

 to the growth of the new organization. Therefore, lacking a leadership 

team willing to listen and adequately communicate is responsible for the

 high turnover and reduced customers. Therefore, as a leader, I would 

mobilize my team to engage more with the employees and listen to their 

ideas to feel part of the organization. I will lead them, by example,

 by treating the employees like they matter, seeking their opinions 

regarding ways of improving the running of the bank before making major 

decisions, and communicating effectively for better performance. While 

having a meeting with the top management is a good idea, I will 

encourage my leadership team to be more receptive to the juniors who, in

 most cases, meet with clients to ensure they [employees] get motivated.

 Demotivated and unhappy employees certainly perform poorly, which turns

 clients away. On the contrary, introducing transformational leadership,

 which means a transition in the organizational structure, will help 

address the issues the new bank is facing.