Analysis of Culture and Organisational Structure of a Thoeretical Organisation

Title: Report on the analysis of the structure and culture of TFC in the context of its external environment.

1. BUSINESS PROFILE OF THANDA FORESTRY COMPANY (TFC)

TFC is a forestry parastatal which manages 175 000 hectors of State-owned commercial plantations. The Group consists of two main operating subsidiaries: MForests (“MF”) operating in Mwasa, Dleim and Floris Provinces of South Africa and Florestais Mozambucus (“FM”) located in the Manica province of Mozambique. TFC was established in 1990 and has a total of 3000 employees with three main offices, two in South Africa and one in Mozambique.

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

I conducted the analysis of TFC’s internal and external environments and factors affecting its business for the Chief Executive officer of TFC. I reflected on gaps in its organisational design and culture and recommendations. TFC employees have not adopted a corporate culture of “growth through partnerships” as shaped by its new vision, mission and co-values. Its organisational structures are designed with an internal focus. The current economic meltdown has not made things easy for TFC, it has lost 50% of its long-term customers, sales volumes and revenue has dropped significantly. A need exist for TFC to implement change if they wish to survive in the next five year. The OECD report reflects undue political interference on SOE’s that distract them from achieving agreed objectives (OECD, 2005). TFC should consider trading as a private entity if it is to survive on a long term.

3. ANALYSIS OF EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND FACTORS INFLUENCING TFC.

3.1. Introduction

Thanda Forestry Company (TFC) like any other business does not operate in isolation; it operates within both internal and external environments. TFC’s understanding of the environmental factors is key in ensuring successful implementation of strategies and business continuity.

According to Smith and Cronje’s (2002) the concept of systems theory refers to organisations as a sub-system of its environment. They suggested that the organisation and its environment depend of each other for survival. The three main environments (see Figure 1) which has impact in organisation are; the internal, near and far environment which is also referred to as STEEP factor (Block 1, session 3, pp 85).

To be successful organisations must anticipate possible change and position change and position themselves to deal with opportunities and challenges in a proactive rather reactive manner (Morgan cited in Block 1, session 3 pp 82).

3.2. Analysis