To Harness Chemistry and Other Physical Sciences in Producing Unique and Innovative Chemical Diagnostic Devices

Organizational Structure

From case:

Strategy since grandfather, by Daan:

“To harness chemistry and other physical sciences in producing unique and innovative chemical diagnostic devices”

Artifact:

By Daan:

“Our company is about state of the art thinking and as science expands we will be right there with it”

Early days organization (1979 till 2000):

Started 25 persons

• Informal
• Open
• Mainly scientists and engineers, out of 25 persons
• New employees based on need
• New employees were integrated through Karma seminars (monthly get together)
• People felt united, an old employee said
• R&D was around one product – Autoscreen
• Information about market reaction came to them through journals and from outside
• Scientist were heavily involved in scientific community

1998 Daan died

In 2000, disaster to company, main fights were due to:

• To fund expansion to other markets or restrain firm growth
• Quality issues due to rapid growth, costing money and schedule slippage

A consulting firm was appointed around 2000

• Basic change in organization focusing around accountability and coordination problems
• SVP s and divisional structures were introduced
• Resistance – too fast – by Bellone resisted this organizational change (initially everything was through him and he is close to Thomas - CEO)
• Resistance – not enough trained personnel
• Resistance – company went public through common stock sales, implications still sensitive. Check what is this

Company decided to expand (2000 to 2010):

• Rapid growth during this period
• Despite intensifying competition and global economy
• Technical division alone grew to 156 employees
• Moved locations
• And expanded facilities

• Autoscreen II was immediate success
• Although it is thought to be benefiting from Autoscreen
• New products – HORSE, Infra-red analyzer and patent reagents
• In 2005, Examtek – around existing core technology

2010 and later:

After 2010, years were not easy

• Due to coping with organization consequence of growth

Based on discussions

Organization

• Where to group (London vs facilities)
• Fragmented organization under Clara for Technical Department (it is a functional org chart overall, pros – experts work in silos and then the same is within technical division another silos), 70% of the department time is wasted on fighting
• Also, silos within organization lack clarity of their function, responsibility and role towards technical department objectives/responsibilities

• Several products were innovated, but revolving around core technology
• Miss of linking between incubators and XXX
• Lack of lobbying with external environment
• Same complexity in other foreign markets

Organizational Design Problems:

This section will provide an analysis of the information provided in the case study in order to identify the problems associated with the current organizational design of the Sapient Co., at large, and the Technical Division within that, in specific.

Prior to the identification of organization design problems and for the sake of supporting our arguments below, it is worth highlighting the following declared Saipent Co. company-wide strategy and Technical Department specific goals fitting within such strategy.