ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND CORPORATE PERFORMANCE. A STUDY OF SELECTED FIRMS IN PORT HARCOURT

ABSTRACT
The business environment today has become dynamic that the decision to structure or restructure an organization has become pressingly significant. There has been some serious economic/financial sector reforms in Nigeria due to the fact that performance in the manufacturing and service (banks) firms were not effective and efficient.  It is believed that organizational structure can bring about corporate performance.  Based on the above fact the need for this study existed.  It was necessary to study the organization structure of Nigerian firms, to identify the structural patterns, extent of performance of the characteristics and practices.  A sample size of ten firms was selected from the manufacturing/service (banks) firms using the convenient sampling technique.  Primary data was generated through the use of questionnaire administered on the management staff and supervisors of the selected firms.  Statistical tools employed in organizing and analyzing the data were descriptive and inferential.  Descriptive statistical tool include frequency, mean of means and weighted average while inferential techniques was the T-test in testing relationship. Among the findings were, the most frequent type of structure used in Nigerian firms is the financial structure.  Performance is more achieved with the functional structure than other structures.  Service firms are mostly mechanistic in practice while manufacturing firms are more of organic in nature.  Professionalism in organizational structure has a relationship with organizational democracy.  The main conclusion of the study is that there is no universal best way to design an organization. Organization structures are influenced by the stages of development in terms of technology, market and volume of product/services among others.  The study recommends that organizations must learn to understand the movements in growth, the forces that shape it to bring about creativity, efficiency and overall performance.
 
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

• BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The business environment today has become so dynamic that the decision to structure or restructure an organization has become paramount. When certain manifestation become effectually significant, top management contemplate creating a structure to suit the organization’s demands in order to effectively and efficiently achieved its stated objectives.
The manufacturing and banking firms in the business world today need organization structures to direct the levels of authority and responsibilities, information channel and equally establish, primary control units to bring about corporate performances, as they move from one stage   to another in terms of growth size, technology, market, product line, merger and acquisition. Tidd (2004:4) state that performance lies in the ability of today’s managers to understand how each of the sub-units such as job, positions, activities and systems develop and the interaction with one another should form an organic whole in any given organization. Scholars in particular and management practitioners in general are beginning to be worried about the situation and there is the need to investigate into the extent of performance of most of the firms in Nigeria.
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