Preview

dynacorp

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1581 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
dynacorp
rahul
DYNACORP CASE STUDY
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSSETTS BOSTON

Introduction
Dyna corporation, also famously recognized as Dynacorp, is a global information systems and communication company. Historically considered an industry leader, Dynacorp had a faithful clientele comprising tech-savvy consumers. However, since the 90s’ it found itself slowing down due to inefficiencies generated due to time lags caused by manufacturing and engineering departments. To address this issue, the company CEO shifted the organization structure from ‘functional’ to a ‘front/back’ organization design. This transformation however was not smooth and caused a ripple effect of problems. To iron out the problems, it was quintessential that Dynacorp identify the problem at the core.
This paper is an investigative attempt to deduce what the root cause of the problems was. I shall use the theory of ‘Political lens’ in my analysis of the organization.
Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that there is a conflict of collective interests happening at critical levels. I shall begin this paper by first defining the problem, defining political lens and then use it to elaborate upon power constructs and lastly use them to make recommendations.
The systemic factor in this case is ‘Blockers’. Blockers are defined as “ those whose opposition could delay or derail what you are trying to do”(Ancona, Kochan, Scully, Van Maanen and Westney, M2-42,2005). In this case, Dynacorp is trying to incorporate a new structure, ‘front/back’ design, which integrates the products and provides customers customized solutions. However, it has been found that there are individuals within the company whose motives and ‘interests’ are in disagreement with that of the senior management as suggested by Mr Walker.

Political lens
It is defined as that which sees the organization as an arena for competition and conflict among individuals, groups and other organizations whose interests

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Our attitude toward these types of ruling bodies, institutional direction and governing frameworks helps adopt our trend to maintain the established systems or work to “fight the power”.…

    • 2048 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Dynacorp is a worldwide information systems and communications business. In 1990 the company started to have fewer earnings than in the past, so the CEO tried to change the design of the company to run better. In this paper, I analyze this organization though the political lenses to better understand how changing the structure can help improve revenue and quality. As discussed in the book, the political lens sees the organization in terms of conflicts of interests, power, and goals among individuals and groups within the organization. The way to understand the dynamics of political conflict is to understand who has power, from where that power comes, the basis of the power and how much power the different parties in the organization have. “In the political perspective, the roots of conflict lie in different and competing interests, and disagreements require political action, including negotiation, coalition building, and the exercise of power and influence.” The key concerns of players in the political perspective of the organization revolve around who defines the problems and the agenda, and where they get the power to do so; who the parties advocating solutions are, and why they are advocating such solutions; how a particular group is to procure an outcome or outcomes that are favorable to its own interests (Ancona et al., 2009: M-2, 33).…

    • 2943 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Devry Inc.

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages

    DeVry University was opened in Chicago by Dr. Herman DeVry in 1931. It was called DeForest Training School to prepare students for technical work in electronics, motion pictures, radio and later, television. It was in Chicago. In the 1940’s during WWII, DeVry University was selected by United States to educate Army Air Corps instructors on electronic devices. It was one of the first schools to be approved under the original G.I. Bill. In 1953 DeForest Training School became DeVry Technical Institute. 1973 Keller graduate School of Management was founded in Chicago. Today, DeVry Incorporated includes:…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dynacorp Case Analysis

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Dyna Corporation (Dynacorp) operates global information and communication systems. Dynacorp became the industry leader in 1960’s and 1970’s by producing the technological innovations. Dynacorp was known as a company whose products were innovative and high-quality. That’s why, Dynacorp grew rapidly and spreaded to international markets in that period. In 1990’s, the industry and market changed, Dynacorp couldn’t recognize the changes in the market and handle the high-costs. Dynacorp’s competitors closed the technology gap, even they were faster and more innovative than Dynacorp about new markets and products. Dynacorp lost the leadership of the industry.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Case Study Dydynacorp

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Problems inside Dynacorp: When Dynacorp has changed its structure, there are problems of linkage and alignment in the light of Strategic Design Lens. According to the new structure, Research and Advanced Development Group and Business Units (BUs) are in the back and Customer Operations are in the front to communicate with markets and customers. Being in the back, the Research and Advanced Development Group and BUs have almost no relation with customers. As a result, the fragmentation of technical expertise would be deepened, the integration between market needs and technology development would be very poor and the technical support services are slow. Therefore, enhancing the integration and cooperation between the front and the back will become a big challenge. On the other hand, the new structure does not totally solve the alignment problem of improving performance measurement system because some branch managers and product managers of BUs are still spending most of their time worrying about the new performance measurement system that is based on performance against revenue and margin goals. In short, the new structure still has weaknesses in linkage between the back and the front and in alignment. Problems in the view of Political Lens: In light of Political Lens, the new structure is facing the problems of interest conflicts between BUs and the weak power of executives. As M. Pauley said, different product team leaders are trying to sell different types of products…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Case Study

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Dynacorp can introduce a division which deals with the projects and programs of the whole company across the various products Dynacorp manufactures. The project/programs division can be used to identify what would be the strategy for the whole company on a periodical basis. For example, this division can have a head of the…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A number of approaches are offered for organizational science to solve the problem regarding organizational gap between theory and practice. The rational model can be considered as a dominant model on organizational science among the others with the purpose of defining organization as instruments for attaining goals instead of dealing with problems .Furthermore, objectives are defined in favour of organization progress regardless of employees’ ideas in such a model. It is mainly assumed that involved individuals in the organisation’s activities agree reasonably with its major purposes. The main task of managers are described as of replacing irrationality with technically rational actions. Therefore, an incomplete picture organizational reality is shown. As a result, political model as one of the derivations of rational model could be used to widen the scope of social and political criteria and also overcome the rational model’s restricted normative focus . Model proposes a concept called power within the intention to basic centralised system decrease with organisation development. At the present time, the large size ones that differentiated by complexity and also decentralisation control the land scape. In some organization that the form of multiple hierarchies are taken as a results of a number of reasons, the political activities of interest groups and bargaining coalitions can be more clear than the normal one. The same purposes and also forming by individuals are the main features of interest group. As an important part, they should be considered is political reactions to different limitations established by organizational structures. The high competition among interest groups within the organization can be seen that cause low productivity.…

    • 2141 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Pluralist structure illustrates power as the aftermath of the collection of different interest groups haggling for the lead in the political process arena, which would include the policy making process that involves the dispersing of resources in communities. Pluralists theorist envision the state as a system that maintains consistent influence and protects the positions with in and of the political process exclusively as they engage availability to the anatomy of government. The state also protects who is chosen to office, and manages stability throughout communities. For Pluralist theorists power is distributed throughout the population of single voters who they claim have equal access to dominate with in their individual votes. Pluralist make the accusations that no one particular interest group dominates. The argue that these different interest groups are composed of different organizations with a variation of different interest, objectives and leadership and how they believe power is not concentrated. That in essence explains what and how pluralist structure of government thinks and works.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Propaganda by Edward L Bernays

    • 34088 Words
    • 137 Pages

    THE conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. Our invisible governors are, in many cases, unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet. They govern us by their qualities of natural leadership, their ability to supply needed ideas and by their key position in the social structure. Whatever attitude one chooses to take toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are 9…

    • 34088 Words
    • 137 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Another difficulty in measuring pressure-group power is that there is considerable debate about how power is distributed amongst pressure groups. There is disagreement, in particular, about whether pressure groups tend to widen the distribution of power, giving power to the people, or whether they tend to concentrate it, strengthening the already powerful. This is often portrayed as a battle between two rival theories of political power, pluralism and elitism. The debate has major implications for the relationship between pressure groups and democracy.…

    • 1569 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Political Lens

    • 1017 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The political lens seeks to define the elements of power and influence within the company's hierarchy. It is seen as an arena for competition and conflict among individuals, groups, and other organizations whose interests and goals differ and even clash dramatically. In the political perspective, the roots of conflict lie in different and competing interests, and disagreements require political action, including negotiation, coalition building, and the exercise of power and influence, all of which recognize that rationality is local. The political perspective asks, "Who's defining the problem, and what gives them the power to define it? Who's advocating what solution, and why? How can I get an outcome that serves the interests of my group and me?…

    • 1017 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Valve Rhetorical Analysis

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages

    2.5 The Political Metaphor The political metaphor defines an organization as a group of people with different motivations and interests, who only come together to achieve a common goal or outcome. When there are divergent views in an organization, politicization can occur, as politics are an inevitable part of corporate life. Valve aims to structure its organization around being a democracy, where everyone has a say in what happens in the company. One can however also describe Valve as a technocracy, in which power or stance is linked to technological skill and competency.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    References: * Morgan,G. (1998).Interest, Conflict and Power: Organizations as Political Systems. In: Images of Organization. California: Sage Publications, Inc, Executive Edition p147 – 179…

    • 4765 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ruling class

    • 2308 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Among the constant facts and tendencies that are to be found in all political organisms, one is so obvious that it is apparent to the most casual eye. In all societies—from societies that are very meagerly developed and have barely attained the dawnings of civilization, down to the most advanced and powerful societies—two classes of people appear—a class that rules and a class that is ruled. The first class, always the less numerous, performs all political functions, monopolizes power and enjoys the advantages that power brings, whereas the second, the more numerous class, is directed and controlled by the first, in a manner that is now more or less legal, now more or less arbitrary and violent, and supplies the first, in appearance at least, with material means of subsistence and with the instrumentalities that are essential to the vitality of the political organism.…

    • 2308 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Policymaking and the Media

    • 8143 Words
    • 33 Pages

    Bachrach, P. & M. S. Baratz (1962). Two faces of power. American Political Science Review, 56, 947-952.…

    • 8143 Words
    • 33 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics