Introduction to Management

Case 2
Pfizer

Lecturer: Burcu Kör

Block 2, 2017-2018

IB1M

Pim van Gelder- 500778354

Priyesh Jagroep- 500785040
Abdullah Bal- 500783328

1
Title: Case 2, PfizerWorks.
Date: 11-12-2017
Authors: Pim van Gelder, Abdullah Bal, Priyesh Jagroep.
Course: Introduction to Management
Educational institution: Hogeschool van Amsterdam
Lecturer: Burcu Kör

Table of contents
Introduction 3
Body 3
Conclusion 4
Bibliography 5

2
Introduction
Q1: Describe in not more than 100 words the key issue at hand and the relevance of this
article (why it is a problem).

Pfizer is an international biopharmaceutical company that is getting 75% of its revenue

outside the United States.
Key Issue: Educated and highly talented employees are spending most of their time on doing
tedious and often unnecessary work as making PowerPoints and going through
spreadsheets, this often takes 20-40 percent of their time.
The issue to tackle is: How to reduce these monotonous tasks and thus make Pfizer
employees work more efficient and make use of their specialized talents.
Relevance: This case will be answered with use of the Introduction to Management book,
where several chapters and the Departmentalization outline in chapter 7 will be applied to
solve this case.

Body
Q2: What role do you think organizational structure plays in an organization’s efficiency and
effectiveness? Explain. -15 points

Organizational structure is the way of allocating tasks, monitor these tasks and supervising.
This is mandatory to achieve organizational goals. Thus, automatically increasing effectivity;
All employees have clear and concise tasks to reach the set organizational goals, which
means that the organization’s effectivity will increase.
Efficiency will increase as well. When there is an organizational structure, costs will be
reduced (Mack, n.d.) which means that the available resources will be used better. When the
available resources (in this case money) are used more efficient, you can speak of efficiency.
This means that an organizational structure is vital when you want to increase/maintain
efficiency and effectiveness.

Q3: Describe and evaluate what Pfizer is doing with its PfizerWorks.

PfizerWorks is basically a ‘’magic button’’ for employees of Pfizer, which allows them to shift
boring and time-consuming tasks with a single click on their computer desktop. The only
need to fill in an online form. This form will be sent to one of two Indian service outsourcing
firms. A team member in India will call back later to clarify what is needed and by when it has
to be finished. By using this process, Pfizer reduces the time spent on analysis of data.
PfizerWorks does also have many financial benefits and employees get rid of the boring work
they have to do.

Q4: What structural implications—good and bad—does this approach have? (Think in terms
of , Work Specialization, Departmentalization, Chain of command or Span of
Management).

Pfizer has Work Specialization. Pfizer is divided in 4 geographic operating segments and a
corporate segment. The geographic operating segments are sub-divided into divisions. The
people working in each division perform the tasks they are specialized in. PfizerWorks helps
the employees of Pfizer get rid of the work they are not specialized in. The advantage of this
implication is that Pfizer workers can focus on a single task. This makes the employees work
efficiently on the job they have to do.
The disadvantage is that the employees get isolated because of too much specialization.

3
This makes the job boring. It also makes the organization less effective by creating
separation and hindering coordination.
Pfizer also has departmentalization with their approach. The Virtual Network approach is
what they use. Pfizer outsources their work with PfizerWorks. One of the advantages of this
is that they get more competitive globally. This also makes the employees work more
efficiently.
The Virtual Network also has disadvantages. It is hard to control a company, if they don’t
work at the same place. Pfizer works with Indian Firms and they have to rely on the contracts
and the arrangements they made.

Conclusion

Q5: Evaluate as team whether the PfizerWorks approach is a successful and sustainable
approach. Use the outcomes of Q2, Q3 and Q4 - 20 points.

Evaluating PfizerWorks approach, it can be concluded that PfizerWorks approach has

become a great success. PfizerWorks is successful because it is highly specialized. There is
rigid departmentalization, a clear chain of command, and a narrow span of control. Also,
PfizerWorks has a high formalization and centralization. PfizerWorks initiative is highly
appreciated by experts as it saves time, reduced cost, and improved efficiency of employees.
By shifting tedious and time-consuming task to an outsourcing company in India, highly-paid
employees are not wasting their time anymore on repetitive tasks that could be handled by
others. As a result, PfizerWorks freed up 66,500 hours for employees. (Ashkenas, 2010)

Q6: Do you think this arrangement would work for other types of organizations? Why or why
not? What types of organizations might it also work for? - 15 points

Every organization has noncore tasks that need to get done, such as scheduling meetings,
sending sales letters, and making PowerPoints. By using outsourcing companies to fulfil
these tasks, companies educated and highly talented employees are able to spend more of
their time on more important work. For example, employees of big lawyer firms spend more
time doing paper work than actually working for a client. By shifting the unimportant paper
work, which can be done by others, to an outsourcing company, lawyers are able to focus
more on their task in court. As a result, companies will increase their efficiency and
effectivity. Therefore, this arrangement would work for the most organizations.

4
Bibliography

Ashkenas, R. (2010, July 27). How to Give Time Back to Your Team. retrieved from Harvard
Business Review: https://hbr.org/2010/07/how-to-give-time-back-to-your.html
Mack, S. retrieved on 12 10, 2017, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/adapt-
organizational-structure-save-costs-26120.html:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/adapt-organizational-structure-save-costs-
26120.html