In March 1998, a group of Trojan Technologies Inc. (Trojan) employees grappled with the issue of how to structure the business to effectively interact with their customers and to manage the company’s dramatic growth. The London, Ontario, manufacturer of ultraviolet (UV) water disinfection systems believed that strong customer service was key to its recent and projected growth and had come to the realization that changes would have to be made to continue to achieve both simultaneously. The group hoped to develop a structure to address these issues.

Marvin DeVries, executive vice-president, was to lead the development and implementation of the new structure. The transition to the new structure was to begin as of September 1998 to coincide with the new fiscal year. Since 1977, the company had specialized in UV light applications for disinfecting water and wastewater. In essence, Trojan’s products killed micro-organisms using high-intensity UV lamps. Water was channelled past the lamps at various speeds, based on the clarity of the water and the strength of the lamps, to achieve the required “kill” rate.

Trojan’s UV technology had proved to be an environmentally safe and cost effective alternative to chlorination and was gaining wider recognition and acceptance. Even so, a significant market remained to be tapped, as the company estimated “... that only 5 percent to 10 percent of municipal wastewater sites in North America use UV-based technology .. . [and] of the approximate 62 000 wastewater treatment facilities operating worldwide, only 2500 currently utilize UV disinfection systems.”

QUESTIONS

1. Discuss how Trojan Technologies coordinated labour in its early days.

2. Discuss the kind of departmentation and the related structure used by Trojan at the time the change is being contemplated. Critique it from the standpoint of differentiation and integration.

3. Discuss the tensions between centralization and decentralization that Trojan faces. What are the merits and demerits of more or less centralization as they apply to Trojan?

4. The Trojan call centre actually uses technology to supplement organizational structure. Explain this.

5. Given the material in the chapter, reflect on how the change in size due to business growth has affected Trojan.

6. What kind of departmentation and structure is being contemplated at the end of the case?

7. Compare the current and contemplated structures in terms of responsiveness to customers.