Untangling the lines: a diagnosis of the organizational structure of poultry processor Esbro

Abstract

In this research, a diagnosis of the organizational structure of poultry processor Esbro was made to investigate how the organizational structure relates to the coordination between units. Also, it was investigated how the organizational structure could be changed to improve the coordination. To diagnose the organizational structure, the sociotechnical perspective of De Sitter (1998) was used. Furthermore, to analyze the current coordination, the perspective of Malone and Crowston (1994) was used. The data was collected by means of nine semi-structured interviews, two participant observations, a document analysis, and a focus group. Eventually, it became clear that the coordination between units is related to the organizational structure, and that coordination mechanisms in particular (as part of the organizational structure) could support in improving the coordination between the units.