Understand the Organizational structure of AT&T Inc, a US largest telecom company. For MBA or management student organizational structure important to understand - how activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision are function towards the achievement of Organizational Goal.

AT&T Inc. is the largest provider of fixed telephony in the United States, and also provides broadband and subscription television services. As of January 2011[update], AT&T is the largest provider of mobile telephony service in the United States, with over 95.5 million wireless customers, just ahead of Verizon Wireless' 93.2 million, and more than 210 million total customers.[4]

As of 2010[update], AT&T is the 7th largest company in the United States by total revenue, as well as the 4th largest non-oil company in the US (Behind Walmart, General Electric and Bank of America). It is the 3rd largest company in Texas by total revenue (Behind ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips) and the largest non-oil company in Texas. It is also the largest company headquartered in Dallas.[5] In 2010, Forbes listed AT&T as the 23rd largest company in the world by market value and the 18th largest non-oil company in the world by market value .[6]

Southwestern Bell Corporation was founded in 1983 as a Regional Bell Operating Company following the break-up of the original AT&T as a result of the United States v. AT&T antitrust suit. The company changed its name in 1995 to SBC Communications Inc. and again in 2005 to AT&T Inc. after it purchased its former parent company, AT&T Corporation. The newly merged company took on the iconic AT&T logo and T stock-trading symbol (for "telephone").

The current AT&T reconstitutes much of the former Bell System and includes ten of the original 22 Bell Operating Companies along with one it partially owned (Southern New England Telephone), and the original long distance division.[7] The company is headquartered in downtown Dallas, Texas.[8]

CEO
Randall Stephenson
4
Director
Laura Tyson
3
Director
Reuben Anderson
5
Director
James Blanchard
12
Director
James Kelly
4
Director
Lynn Martin
2
Director
John McCoy
2
Director
Jaime Pardo
4
Director
Matthew Rose
Director
Patricia Upton
3
Director
Gilbert Amelio
4
Director
Joyce Roche
4
Lead Director
Jon Madonna
2
CFO
Richard Lindner
5
CTO
John Donovan
Shared Services
CR
2
Corporate Strategy & Develop...
Forrest Miller
4
Diversified Business
Rayford Wilkins
AT & T Mobility
RdLV
AT&T Business Solutions
JS
Advanced Enterprise Mobility
MA
AT & T, Texas
DC
2
Operations
James Callaway
Operations
RS
2
External & Legislative Affai...
James Cicconi
Legal
WW
Marketing
CC
Human Resources

In the company, there are two major methods of control that exists. First, there is the method of control that pertains to the output of the teams. (Gencturk and Aulakh 1995, 755) Basically, this type of control places emphasis on the actual targets of the company. The existence of this control method is seen in the overt actions provided by the CEO of S&F. It is customary for those in the management position to adhere closely to the set of objectives with specific results. This means that the output is deemed more important in as much as the means intended to realize these outcomes. Hence, it shows that the company’s teams enjoy a considerable degree of independence with respect to the methods they used for reaching their respective targets pre-defined by the S&F management.

Another method of control is manifested in the written explicit knowledge in the organization. (Durant and Warber 2001, 221) These include the policies as well as the rules and objectives of the organization. Both items provide a prescribed set of rules that presents the specific manner on which tasks are to be performed. However, given the departmentalization present in the company as manifested in the division of labor as well as the decentralized decision making assigned to teams, it shows that these existing policies, rules and regulations are merely directory in nature.

1.

Fuzzy Vision: corporate vision and mission don't inspire people; lack of strategic alignment; people don't know where the organization is going and what it is trying to achieve in the future.

2.

Lack of Leadership Skills: fear of change; leaders lack entrepreneurial spirit; leadership style on the part of management is either too directive or too hands-off; managers do not lead and don't manage change, they just administrate and micromanage; weak leadership development program.

12 Major Causes of Failure in Leadership

3.

Discouraging Culture: corporate culture does not inspire people; no shared values; lack of trust; blame culture; focus on problems, not opportunities; employees are not energized; people don't have fun at work; diversity is not celebrated; failures are not tolerated; people lose confidence in their leaders and systems.

Inspiring Culture: 5 Elements

4.

High Bureaucracy: bureaucratic organizational structures with too many layers; high boundaries between management layers; slow decision making; too close monitoring of things and subordinates; too many tools and documents discouraging creative thinking; bureaucracy is tolerated.
5.

Lack of Initiative: employees are not empowered; poor motivation and encouragement; people do not feel their contributions make a difference; management fails to engage the organization effectively; people work defensively and not creatively, they do their job, and nothing more.
6.

Poor Vertical Communication: people have no clue of the big picture and do not feel that their contributions are important; too much uncertainty; people don't know what top-managers are thinking and planning.
7.

Poor Cross-functional Collaboration: functional mindset; lack of cross-functional goals and cross-functional collaboration spirit; functional, no enterprise-wide business process management; no cross-functional management committees; lack of or powerless cross-functional teams.
8.

Poor Teamwork: no organizational commitment to team culture; lack of shared and worthwhile goals; weak team leaders; team members who don't want to play as part of a team are tolerated; teams are too large; lack of shared rewards.
9.

Poor Idea and Knowledge Management: cross-pollination of ideas is not facilitated; no creativity, idea and knowledge management strategies and systems; "know-it-all" attitude; "not invented here" syndrome.


Apparently, the chain of command in the business unit is rather limited to the team leaders and the Chief Operations Officer. This makes the issue of rank to some extent irrelevant. (Rahman and Zanzi 1995, 290) Since the organizational structure is rather flat, the business unit readily feels the adverse attitude of the employees with reference to the change in the organization.

In the same regard, the segmented and decentralized structure of decision making as appropriated into the teams are considerably exacerbated by the existence of numerous cliques. This indicates that the informal structures of the organization tend to have a great influence on the actual behavior of the employees
 
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enveous

New member
Hello Netra Shetty, I'm actually working on an assignment related to the At&t's org chart and culture, and I would like more information relating your post, perhaps you have the references for this? It will be greatly appreciated! Have a nice day.
 
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