Organisational Structure of Transport for London

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF TRANSPORT FOR LONDON

Organizations are formed to satisfy a need, for instance to provide goods or services. ‘Likewise TFL is helping to keep London in work and on the rise, and to make life in the Capital enhanced.’ (TFL, 2016)

‘Organizational structure can be of many forms. These are subjective to factors such as its purpose, scope, the difficulty of the tasks it carry out, the external environment and its culture.’ (Capco, 2016)

“The organization should adopt a structure that helps it to attain its goals, thereby promoting organizational effectiveness” (Donaldson, 2009, p. 439)

Transport for London has a hierarchical organizational structure. All the Managing Directors of the various subsidiaries would have to report to the commissioner Mike Brown. Furthermore all the managing directors have various staffs working below them. So this means TFL has a horizontal (flat) Hierarchical organizational structure.

Compared to the vertical hierarchical organizational structure all the top level managers make the decisions in flat organizational structure. In vertical hierarchical structure there are many levels of management.

The organizational structure of tfl is very important for the efficient running of the various subsidiaries of tfl. One problems the workers of TFL face because of this flat organizational structure would be less opportunity for promotions. The review of former employee of tfl states that it is very hard to move higher up in the company, unless you fit in with out of office activities (I.E. Drinking, Poppy Day March's, Sponsored walks, Voluntary work on the side etc...) (Assistant, 2015). Another review by a current employee suggest that such a flat organizational structure can be very productive. The workers are instructed to follow a task list set out by management as to what is required for the day. (scheduler, 2016) This review was given by a Waitlist Transport Scheduler, so this would help such workers to be clear of their duties thus avoiding delays. Approximately 1.305 billion passenger travel by TFL each year. (TFL, 2016) Therefor such a delay would affect millions of Londoners and other passengers.

Moreover some workers have also identified that decisions don’t get made quickly because of the hierarchical structure of TFL. (Head of Communication, 2012) Even though TFL is horizontal structure, the decisions don’t get made quickly compared to an organization where workers can report directly to the commissioner or CEO.

Even though the structure is flat, there is no coordination or accountability at the top level of management, no change control or continuity in decision making. All challenges are left to the lower ranks to sort out amongst themselves with no clear message. (Manager, 2015)