Analyse two benefits to PAIR of its organisational structure.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2025). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1] Organisational structure is the internal, formal framework of a business that shows the ways in which management is organised and linked together.
2. [1] Flat organisational structure has few levels of hierarchy and wider spans of control.
3. [1] Matrix structure brings expertise from different functional departments together for a project.
4. [1] Functional structure splits an organisation into departments based on areas of responsibility such as marketing and operations.
5. [1] May empower/motivate employees as delegation is more likely. (flat)
6. [1] Quicker communication from top to bottom of the organisation. (flat)
7. [1] More responsive to changing market conditions (matrix or flat).
8. [1] Matrix: Emphasis is placed on the team rather than the place of the individual in the hierarchy.
9. [1] Matrix structure utilises employee skills to contribute to the project.
10. [1] Functional encourages employees to become specialists and can increase efficiency
11. [1] Functional departments are led by managers who are specialists in the functional area
12. Application is making use of relevant case information not just repeating it.
13. Limited application, APP applies knowledge to PAIR once.
14. Developed application, APP + APP applies knowledge to PAIR twice.
15. Max one APP for application for the first method and max one APP for application for the second benefit.
16. Linking structure to contextualised benefits:
17. Low labour turnover of 4%.
18. High productivity (2125 in 2023 and 2100 in 2024).
19. Innovation success of KB1.
20. 18-month development period for Delbot.
21. Speed of bringing products to market eight versions of KB1 by 2023.
22. Growth of the business since 2012, leading market share by 2024.
23. R&D more likely to be successful using matrix structure.
24. Chains of reasoning highlighting likely benefits
25. Matrix structure brings expertise from different functional areas to work together on projects resulting in a reduction in the development time of new products AN therefore this results in PAIR being more responsive to changes in the market and increases sales. L2 AN
26. More likely that there will be delegation to employees which will increase their motivation AN therefore this will increase productivity and increase profits. L2 AN
27. Increased employee motivation results in lower labour turnover AN and therefore a reduction in costs leading to an increase in profit. L2 AN