Trw Case Analysis
Case 4 –TRW SYSTEMS (A and B condensed)
ThiviyaManikandan sridhar – 54, Devika Srinivas - 11, Prabhudeep Shivakumar-31 1. What kinds of organizational design choices has TRW made about the design Challenges discussed in chapter 4?
Due to the complexity of products being produced and the interdependency between the parts, systems, various groups, divisions and companies who assembled the parts forced TRW to adopt the matrix structure, where it covers vertical flow of functional responsibility and horizontal flow of product responsibility.
On the vertical side, TRW systems have functional organizations like mechanical division, physical research division, systems divisions, fabrication integration and testing division. On the horizontal side, it has program organization which controls program office. Under these two organizations, sub project managers and assistant project managers are appointed. These managers have to report to two bosses. All these employees and departments are under the control of presidents and vice presidents.
This is indicates a flat and decentralized structure, where managers and employees are allowed to take their own decisions. The level of decentralization followed by TRW is appropriate for the fluctuating and complex aerospace industry, as creativity plays important role in research and development which is accomplished by TRW engineers.
A program manager maintained all the management responsibility for pulling together the various phases of a particular customer project. Assistant program manager was appointed to coordinate the activities of program manager. Under assistant program manager, sub project managers were also appointed to control the total project activity. Sub project managers are responsible for integrating and coordinating the functional organization and program organization. He also supervises the engineers and manages financial resources procured from program office. Sub project managers are the
ThiviyaManikandan sridhar – 54, Devika Srinivas - 11, Prabhudeep Shivakumar-31 1. What kinds of organizational design choices has TRW made about the design Challenges discussed in chapter 4?
Due to the complexity of products being produced and the interdependency between the parts, systems, various groups, divisions and companies who assembled the parts forced TRW to adopt the matrix structure, where it covers vertical flow of functional responsibility and horizontal flow of product responsibility.
On the vertical side, TRW systems have functional organizations like mechanical division, physical research division, systems divisions, fabrication integration and testing division. On the horizontal side, it has program organization which controls program office. Under these two organizations, sub project managers and assistant project managers are appointed. These managers have to report to two bosses. All these employees and departments are under the control of presidents and vice presidents.
This is indicates a flat and decentralized structure, where managers and employees are allowed to take their own decisions. The level of decentralization followed by TRW is appropriate for the fluctuating and complex aerospace industry, as creativity plays important role in research and development which is accomplished by TRW engineers.
A program manager maintained all the management responsibility for pulling together the various phases of a particular customer project. Assistant program manager was appointed to coordinate the activities of program manager. Under assistant program manager, sub project managers were also appointed to control the total project activity. Sub project managers are responsible for integrating and coordinating the functional organization and program organization. He also supervises the engineers and manages financial resources procured from program office. Sub project managers are the