Restructuring: Achieving Strategic Objectives

By: Stacey Muscat

Overview

Strategic Planning is the process of defining organizational strategy and allocating resources toward its achievement (Mathis & Jackson, 2010). Strategic planning allows companies to plan their organizational mission and evaluate the human resource structure in order to implement changes.  Organizations often have to make changes to their strategy to provide the best service/product when customers compare them to competitors (Mathis & Jackson, 2010). Strategic planning can help improve effectiveness and efficiency through a human resources perspective through lowering costs while improving the effects of tasks, programs, or projects. In the article I chose, GateHouse Media restructures their organization in order to accelerate the company’s achievement and lower the cost structure.

Article Description/Connection to Text

The article I read, “GateHouse Media Unveils New Organizational Structure” in the New York Times was about GateHouse media restructuring to meet the goal of becoming a “truly multi-media enterprise.” GateHouse Media is a publishing company whose business model is to be the preeminent provider of local content and advertising in the small and midsize markets we serve ("About gatehouse media,").  With GateHouse Media being one of many publishing companies available to consumers, the company had to come up with a strategy to entice customers, retain customers, and develop new ways of making more revenue. The article specifically states the that operations had to be realigned “to establish a more efficient, dynamic and forward-looking structure that places a strong emphasis on digital channels and services, integration of systems and processes to be more focused and efficient, and new revenue streams.” GateHouse Media created several new positions as part of the new structure. GateHouse Media did an internal environment analysis and determined employees had to be replaced and or new positions had to be created in order to meet the goals of its new structure. Since the company wanted to emphasize its digital channels and services, they created a Vice President of Digital position. Internal environment analyses allow managers to evaluate the strength of the talent pipeline and select individuals with the right talents for success (Mathis & Jackson, 2010). GateHouse Media promoted many employees to new vice president positions so that there was someone specifically in charge of the focuses of the new structure. I think this was a good move on GateHouse Media’s behalf because as I have learned, human resource success is all about the right people in the right place at the right time.  In order to cut costs, GateHouse Media also restructured field operations; instead of aligning by geography, they chose to align by Metros, Large Dailies, and Communities ("Gatehouse media unveils," 2011).  This helps lower cost because there will be vice presidents of each category and the value of the content will be able to be preserved. All of these vice presidents will report to the President and Chief Operating Office ("Gatehouse media unveils," 2011). This is ideal so that there is a defined chain of command.  GateHouse Media’s restructure was mostly the addition of new roles and moving their talent around to fulfill their new needs.

Take Away Points

I took away from the article the importance of organizational structure, which was already clear to me from the course. Chapter 2 of the textbook Human Resource Management by R. Mathis and J. Johnson focuses on strategic planning and how it is crucial to a company’s success. Specifically, I mentioned the importance of having the right talent. GateHouse Media felt that it was not using its talent efficiently and rearranged positions so that they felt they better served the company’s mission. If human capital is not used efficiently, it becomes a waste of the company’s money. I believe GateHouse Media cut costs by moving their talent around and achieved their goals in the same manner. Human Resource professionals need to know how to manage talent and have efficient succession planning. I think future Human Resource professionals could take away from this article that sometimes a company may not need more employees, but needs to better align them.

Works Cited

About gatehouse media. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gatehousemedia.com/about

Gatehouse media unveils new organizational structure. (2011, December 08). The New York Times. Retrieved from http://markets.on.nytimes.com/research/stocks
/news/press_release.asp?docTag=201112081206PR_NEWS_USPRX____NY19570&feedID=600&press_symbol=5798705

Mathis, R., & Jackson, J. (2010). Human resource management. (13 ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning