11/11/2018 Report On

Mechanistic and
Organic Structure

Dr. Nazmunnesa Mahtab

Faculty of Independent
University Bangladesh
 NAME ID

TANJILA AFREEN 1720460

SYEDA LIBABA BAKHT 1730487

ZANNATUL MAWA 1730394

SHAZZAD HOSSAIN SHAWON 1721773

MD. SAIFUL ISLAM 1610391

PUJA SAHA 1721691

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The success of this report depends on the contribution of number of people specially my group
members who have shared their thoughtful guidance and suggestions to complete this report.

First, we express our sincere gratitude to our honorable course teacher Dr. Nazmunnesa Mahtab
for her valuable contribution to the preparation of this report. She has been gracious enough to
spare time out from her busy schedule for giving us all the necessary assistance throughout the
entire period of the semester and the report writing time. Without her help this report might not
have been a comprehensive one. We would like to give special thanks to Mr. Harunur Rashid,
He is HR manager of Meena Bazar for giving us time from their very busy office work to discuss
the things & have guided us by giving useful suggestions and providing us data and relevant
information for completing this report. We would also like to thank Mr. Bajan saha, HR manager
of Agora for giving us some important information about the official procedure and inspiration
techniques of Agora to complete this report. They shared their practical experiences and talk
about their loyalty and commitment towards the organization. All of our group members
supported each other, throughout the making of this report and completing it successfully. We
have done some group discussions, where we shared each other‘s views on the different issues to
complete this report.
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 Introduction

Origin of the Report

This report has been prepared to make a study on ―An overview of two organizations

“Mechanistic and Organic structure” As a part of the fulfillment of assignment required for the
class assignment of the Undergraduate Program (autumn semester) of the Business School Dr.
Nazmunnesa Mahtab faculty of Management Studies of Independent University Bangladesh.

The report was prepared under the supervision of Dr. Nazmunnesa Mahtab of Independent
University Bangladesh. We are very much thankful to her for assigning such types of project
work.

Methodology of the Report

Data Collection Technique:

 Questionnaire:

Unstructured and open-ended questionnaires (please see appendix) were asked to the
different people of different areas where the Agora super store and Meena bazar super store
are situated to find whether they satisfied with the store’s service and their management
systems and overall performance.

 Observation:

We were visited gulshan branches of Agora and Meena Bazar that time we mainly observed
their products, products prices, their shop‘s environment as well as their management
systems.

 Secondary information:
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 Secondary information has collected by reviewing websites, journals, brochures and some
other relevant documents.

Sources of data collection:

 Primary: The primary information is gathered through informal interviews of the employees
working over there under management level, their salesman who are directly involved with
selling product and also observation while physically visiting the office premises.
 Secondary: Secondary sources had also used to collect information. Secondary sources
include:
 Features and articles published in newspapers and other journals
 Visiting website of Agora super store and Meena Bazar.

Sampling plan:

 Sampling Procedure: The sampling procedure has been conducted on the Deliberate
Sampling method has used where the respondents and the interviewees are considered on our
convenience and priority.
 Sampling Unit: In order to carry out the research work, the study was focused on taking the
interviews of the Personnel involved in the different departments of Agora Gulshan Office
and Meena Bazar Mohakhali Office.
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  Objectives of the Report

The main objective of the report is to find out the mechanic and organic structure of Agora and
Meena Bazar. Our honorable course teacher assigns us to prepare this report so that in the job
market we can perform effectively and efficiently and also enlighten the good will of our
university as well as our teachers. Other objectives of this report are,

 To know the business process of Agora and Meena Bazar.

 To know the organizational structure of Agora and Meena Bazar.
 To know the product of their store which is offering to the customers?
 To know the marketing strategy of Agora and Meena Bazar.
 To know the product promotion strategy of Agora and Meena Bazar.
 To know the communication structure of Agora and Meena Bazar.
 To know their additional services of Agora and Meena Bazar.
 To know its information system.
 To know their office management.
 To know their control system.
 To know their strength, weakness, opportunity & threats.
 To know their Security system etc.
 To make a recommendation for Agora and Meena Bazar.

 Limitation of the report:

In every research work there exist some limitations that the researcher faces while conducting
different activities. In the process of the research work, we also come across certain limitations
that hampered the actual findings and analysis of my research work. Some of these notable
limitations can be identified are:
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 1. Employees of Agora and Meena Bazar are usually busy with their daily work and
activities, so it is quite impossible sometime to get time from them for getting
information about our report.
2. Sometimes the authority does not provide their internal information which is very
difficult to collect from any other sources.
3. To know the information of Agora and Meena Bazar we had to Mohakhali branches of
Agora and Meena Bazar. This place is restricted for outsider. This is not their shop. This
is their office. So it was quite difficult to gather information.
4. Our group members were so busy because they had to make 2 or 3 reports. That‘s why it
was quite difficult to regroup and group study for making report.
5. We did not have any proper financial support and limitation of time is also a barrier for
making this report.

Mechanistic Organization
A mechanistic organization concept developed by British theorists Tom burns and G.M.
Stalker in 1961. According to them characteristics of mechanistic organization was the natural
result of combining the six elements of structure.
 High Specialization: The mechanistic organization have high specialization that means
the organization is very much focus on specific aspect. It may help to gain a greater
degree of efficiency. In high degree of specialization creates job that were simple, routine
and standard.

 Departmentalization: The mechanistic organization must have rigid

departmentalization. Specialization through the use of departmentalization increase
impersonality and the need for multiple layers of management to coordinate the
specialize departments.

 Clear chain to command: According to the chain of command principal ensured the
existence of a formal hierarchy of authority, with each person control and supervise by
one superior.
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  Narrow spans of control: Span of control means a single manager or supervisor
oversees few subordinates.
Keeping the span control small at increasingly higher levels in the organization creates tall,
impersonal structures.

 Centralization: The mechanistic organization has a high degree of centralization which

means a hierarchy of authority with tight chain of command. In centralized organization
top managers will increasingly impose rules and regulation. Because top managers
couldn’t control lower level activities through direct observation and ensure the use of
standard practice, they substituted rules and regulation.

 High Formalization: A mechanistic organization demonstrates a high degree of

formalization where organizational activities and decision making are governed by a
system of organizational rules and regulations. In high formalization organizations has
specify (in writing), procedures, rules and responsibilities for the individual employees,
organizational units, groups, terms and organization as a whole, which leads to the
development of processes, relationships and operating procedure

Organic Organization

An organic organization is a type of informal organization originally described by British

theorists Tom burns and George Stalker. According to Burns and Stalker, an organic
organization is one that is very flexible and is able to adapt well to changes. Its structure is
identified as having little job specialization, few layers of management, decentralized decision-
making and not much direct supervision.

 Cross-functional teams: A cross-functional team is a group of people with different

functional expertise working toward a common goal. It may include people from Finance,
marketing, operations and human resources. The organic organization follows this
structure.

 Cross-hierarchical teams: This types of organizational team consisting of members at

the same level of hierarchy in the organization but serving in different areas. This types
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 of team can take significantly longer to develop cohesion because members come from
different experience and backgrounds.

 Free flow of information: In organic organizations there is no chain of command.

Meanwhile employees have no specific controller or supervision. They can inform any of
their senior.

 Wide spans of control: Single number of managers or supervisor oversees a large

number of subordinates. In wide spans of control managers will have less time for
planning, subordinates may make decisions they are not trained to make.

 Decentralization: Organic organization have low centralization which means that the
members in the organization share in organizational decision-making and power. This
decentralization can be difficult to implement in union environment, where words rules
introduce a higher level of rigidity to how a business can be operated.

 Low formalization: In low formalization organization have no specific procedures, rules

and sometimes responsibility also. So that the service of the organization will be poor and
create a lot of mess during work. In organic organization we will see low degree of
formalization so that their service will be poor and difficult.


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 An Overview of Agora and Meena Bazar
About Agora
Bangladesh entered the supermarket era ‘on August 24, 2001 with Rahima frooz Superstores
Ltd. launching Agora, a retail chain superstore in Bangladesh, introducing a new way to shop.
The company has already opened four outlets – Rifles Square, Gulshan Avenue, Maghbazar and
Mirpur Zoo Road in Dhaka– and many more are in progress in Chittagong and other cities of the
country. The superstores are open from 9 am to 8 pm every day. Rush of customers is
experienced in the morning and evening. Most of the employees of Agora are young and well-
educated, some with Masters and MBA degrees. Agora superstores are currently focused in food
retailing, ranging from a wide variety of fresh vegetable, fruits, meat and fish to grocery, bakery,
dairy, personal and household products. Agora provides its customers with guaranteed quality
and freshness. It carries more than 30, 000 varieties of products and has plans to expand its
product portfolio to carry other ranges of consumer products in the coming years. It aims at
building a chain of more than 40 super stores by year 2010.Other supermarket brands have since
emerged but Agora continues to be the leader and trendsetter. Agora has been the venue of
launching of Thai products, which have by now become common place. Californian apples were
launched here as have been Agora buys products direct from the growers, which benefits the
latter as well as the customers. The products are procured under the direct supervision of its
officials who maintain strict procurement and marketing standards. Products on the shelves are
regularly monitored for expiry dates. Australia‘s red apples, and crystal products from France
were unveiled here. Unilever chose to launch L‘Oreal range of cosmetics at Agora superstores.
The big-sized Borzoi’s common in the market was launched here. Recently the scientist behind
the cultivation of Strawberry in Bangladesh launched the delicious fruit at Agora. Over 8 million
have purchased products at Agora since the opening of Agora‘s fist superstore, with 2,000
customers using the Agoras every day on an average. Rifles Square and Gulshan supermarkets
pull more crowd than the other two. Customers prefer using both cash and credit cards. Agora
constantly launches attractive promotions like Basmati, Value Week or Super Value Offer or
Diamond Ring Offer. The promoter of the Agora project, Rahima frooz, is one of the most
respected companies in Bangladesh manufacturing and marketing stored power systems for the
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automotive industry. All of Rahima frooz’s activities are in the service sector, focusing on
 consumers, an official of Agora‘s operating company Rahima frooz Superstores Ltd., said. The
Agora project was a ground-breaking project that underlines the potential for harnessing the
latent market in Bangladesh, said an executive of a leading corporate house adding, they have
produced a service offering of international standard

About Menna Bazar

Meena Bazar is a well reputed retail supermarket chain in Bangladesh with International
standards. It started its operation in 2002 and runs outlets in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna
division. Every Meena Bazar outlet carries almost 6,000-8,000 products to sell. It provides
convenient shopping experience, friendly customer service along with easy parking provisions
for its customers. Meena Bazar is a subsidiary of Gemcon Group. It also produces organic
products, dairy items, prepared food & herbal products.

At Meena Bazar they not only sell the products to the customers, they try to convey the product
benefits to them too. In order to provide the customers with the best possible value for their
money, they procure the products directly from the farmers, removing the middlemen, while
ensuring high quality, freshness and continuous availability. Meena Bazar is also known as one
of the trustworthy food suppliers of the nation. Meena Bazar is committed to deliver the best
available products to the customers and is now expanding more to serve Bangladeshi customers
better.
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 Organizational Structure

Agora’s Organizational Structure:

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Meena Bazar’s Organizational Structure:

Communication strategy of Agora

Major Advertisement tools:

Print Media: 1) Newspaper (daily Prothom Alo, Jugantar, Daily Star etc.), 2) Magazine
(Adandaloc, weekly2000 etc.)
Broadcast media: 1) Television (channel I telecast program based on agora 3times is week,
recently it is off.), 2) Radio (FM Radio today, ABC, and FURTI).
Internet and website: in website agora has own website name-----www.agorabd.com.In which
they provide variety of information about agora.
Sales promotion: Type of sales promotion, Consumer promotion 1) in special occasion like Eid,
Christmas and after 2or3 month later they provide discount on buying certain amount of
product.2) If anyone buys membership card, he or she get the 400tk valued gift on buying
20000tk valued products or service.

Major Public relation tools:

In public relation, Agora sponsors the various kinds of events such as: concert is Fantasy
kingdom, Nandan and various social activities such as blood donation etc. Besides it has own
website by which they make relation with consumer. By personal relation Agora want to build a
good corporate image in consumers and in the all superstores.
Direct marketing: In direct marketing to communicate with consumers Agora direct mail, SMS
,e-mail etc.

Communication strategy of Meena Bazar:

There are some strategies of information system is explained that should be implemented to
improve the business process of Meena Bazar Superstore and expend their business.

Comparison of Core competences between Agora & Meena Bazar:

 Wide Product Range: Agora provides a wide product range of 20,000 different
items in each store providing both variety and quality where Meena bazar has only
6000 – 8000 of verity of product. In this wide range of product sector, Agora has the
core competence over Meena bazar. Agora have high specialization and clear chain of
command, on the other hand Meena Bazar have cross functional teams and they are
working for a common goal.

 Customer service and commitment: Agora always provided a very quality full
customer service with commitment. If any cosmetic or food product has any problem,
Agora is committed to change that product. But Meena bazar is unable to change any
product. Agora’s management system follows the clear chain of command,
centralization and high formalization which are mechanic structure.
 Meena Bazar has also concentrated on providing consumers with greater
convenience. For that reason, it has recently launched free home delivery service and
ordering through the internet in order to take advantage of the booming ecommerce
business in Bangladesh. Agora don’t have this type of service. Meena Bazar follows
wide spans of control, decentralization and low formalization which are organic
structure.

 Maintain Quality: Agora always maintain the quality of its products. They have a
zero record on found any product after expiration of its date. Agora’s management
follows mechanistic structure with high specialization, departmentalization, clear
chain of command and centralization. Where customer of Meena bazar sometimes
faced this problem. As organic structure Meena Bazar have free flow of information,
wide spans of control and low formalization.

 Extensive area for shopping: Agora shop has been made with a plan of maintaining
wide area so that customer will be able to enjoy do their shopping in a fresh and clean
environment. Agora’s management team working with high formalization structure as
Mechanistic Organization. Where Dhanmondi branch of Meena bazar is very
congested. Meena Bazar’s management have no specific rules so they are working
with low formalization as Organic organization.

 Product differentiation: Agora has maintaining a very varied differentiated product

are. They have many brands for a similar type of products. So that customer are able
to get more options. Where Meena bazar only keep some known brands and rest of
their own products.

 Focuses on being supermarket: Agora is focuses on being a supermarket and they

don’t have any other product line owned by them. So they only keep their focus on
providing wide range of brands to the customers. But Meena Bazar has their own
product line. They wants to provide fresh products directly from the farmers with
ensuring high quality, freshness and continuous availability. Meena Bazar is also
 known as one of the trustworthy food suppliers of the nation. Meena Bazar is
committed to deliver the best available products to the customers

 Investment in decoration: Agora has a plan of doing investment more in decoration

of their shop to give as much as comfort to their customers. And they do it frequently.
But Meena bazar has no focus on that.

 Home delivery facility: Meena Bazar has

recently launched free home delivery service
and ordering through the internet. If customer
buy products more than BDT 3,500 than they
give home delivery. But Agora does not give
the service of home delivery

Leadership

Mechanic and organic structure based on the leaders strategies Organizational structure refers to
how individual and team work within an organization are coordinated. To achieve organizational
goals and objectives, individual work needs to be coordinated and managed. Structure is a
valuable tool in achieving coordination, as it specifies reporting relationships (who reports to
whom), delineates formal communication channels, and describes how separate actions of
individuals are linked together. Organizations can function within a number of different
structures, each possessing distinct advantages and disadvantages. Although any structure that is
not properly managed will be plagued with issues, some organizational models are better
equipped for particular environments and tasks. Leadership is an important part of management,
but it is not the whole story. The primary role of a leader is to influence other, to voluntarily seek
defined objects. Managers also plan activities, organize, appropriate structures, and control
resources. Parlini achieve results by directing the activities of others. Pardini leadership ability
can be acquired through observation of effective role models leaders in the organizations are also
followers. They nearly always report to someone else. Leaders must be able to wear both buts,
relating effectively both upward and downward. So, there are the discussions about leadership
issues are raised by the incident. 

Meena Bazar had to face some difficulties at different stages of implementation. People who

were more familiar with the traditional system of retail business management, but it would be
mostly technology adverse and showed disbelief about automation. Many products would be
already ordered from suppliers, many verbally, even before the consumption of the solution and
therefore there were problems with initial understanding of orders versussupplies. Most of the
customer of our target market is not familiar with the system, they cannot accept
positively. Another challenge is the maintenance cost of the system would be very high.

AGORA AS MECHANISTIC ORGANIZATION STUCTURE

CHARACTERISTICS: Employees are found to work separately and on their own assigned
tasks. There is a definite chain of command and decisions are kept as high up the chain as
possible. Communication is a process between managers and supervisors up to executives, there
is little daily interaction if any. There are strict company policies or operating standards with an
abundance of documentation. This structure is considered the more stable of the two structures.
Mechanistic organization is relatively easier and simpler to organize, but rapid change is very
challenging. Contrast to organic organization.
STRUCTURE: Companies in a mechanistic organization structure typically hold tight control,
over processes and employees; with an iron fist so to speak. Rules are implemented and rarely
deviated from while there is also a very clear chain of command to delegate responsibilities and
power throughout the organization. Again, it is manufacturing companies that are well known for
this type of structure but there are other groups that benefit from mechanistic organization; like
universities.
MEENA BAZAR AS ORGANIC ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
CHARACTERISTICS: Employees are often found working in groups and share input on tasks.
There are usually teams that handle one task. Communication is open between employees,
managers and executives though they are typically just known as ‘the owner’. There is a greater
scale of verbal communication between parties. There is also more face-to-face time within the
hierarchy of power.
STRUCTURE: Companies in an organic organization structure typically have a more open
communication and contribution to tasks at hand. The structure of the business is more adaptable
and flexible to changes. The environment is unpredictable but because of the freedom afforded
the employees and management it is better maintained. Good examples of this type of structure
would be Google and the coveted positions that lie within the Facebook Corporation. Organic
organizations have quickly realized that a happy workplace makes for a happy employee.
Recommendation and Conclusion

Recommendation for Agora

With multiple stores in Dhaka, Agora is a leader in superstore retail organizations. The
combination of quality and price under various brand name offers customers value for their
money. We have examined and evaluated the operations of Agora, LTD including its
management structure as mechanic structure. We recommend the following in order to ensure
continued success for the future of all Marks and Spencer stores:

 Find alternative sources to supply resources to Marks and Spencer stores abroad.
 Increase marketing efforts.
 Strengthen existing resources, add complementary resources, and develop new resources.
 Evaluation of Current Objectives and Current Strategy.
 Narrow spans of control can destroy personal relations because a manager have to work
with different subordinates so they must control a small increasingly narrow spans of
control.
 Increase high formalization.

Recommendation for Meena Bazar

 Ability to monitor the performance of checkout staff. From an organic organization it can
come over from it by working on clear chain of command, centralization and high
formalization and departmentalization.
 Meena Bazar needs more technological upgrades and should rebuild their management
structure.
Conclusion
Agora and Meena Bazar both are reputed and reliable super shop to the customer. the success of
these stores hinge very much on their ability to capture as much of consumer spending as
possible of directing expenditure away from the small stores and “Kacha Bazaars” – their main
rivals! So, it is only a very small fraction for who visits these large stores. Nevertheless, their
expenditure account for a significant proportion of consumer spending of the middle – class,
higher, middle – class as well as the elite – which by no means is insignificant. After all the
study, here is the result - Agora is following mechanistic structure and Meena Bazar is following
organic structure.

References:
1. Mr. Harunur Rashid HR manager of Meena Bazar, Dhaka.
2. Mr. Bajan saha HR manager of Agora, Dhaka.
3. www.agorabd.com
4. www.scribd.com
5. www.wikipedia.com
6. www.bdreport.com
7. www.wikipedia.com
8. www.meenabazar-bd.com
9. www.bdtradeinfo.com/yellowpages…711
10. www.bdyellowbook.com/catalog/Shopping…info11426
11.bangladeshcorporate.blogspot.com
12. www.jalshaghar.com/previous_events05
13. www.bangladesh.com/shopping
14. www.webbangladesh.com
15. www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal
16. The Daily Star 
17. Meena Bazar authority