Of the five types of organizations discussed in the reading (Communication for Results,Ch. 2 on D2L – Week 4), which type(s) of organization(s) are the federal agenciesdiscussed in the case study? Provide your reasoning on why this is the case.

The federal agencies are traditional organizations. The agencies discussed in the
case studies are structured in a manner whereby the main focus is on structure and
control. One of the issues identified with such an organizational type is inflexibility and
an inability to adjust when change occurs. For instances, although the three agencies, the
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had all collected enough information that would have
been collectively used to enhance security, the structures in place prevented employees
from sharing information except on a need-to-know basis.
There were several problems that led to the breakdown of communication in these
organizations. In class, we discussed different sources of breakdowns in information
flow. Which of those sources of breakdowns were present prior to 9/11? Describe the
extent to which each of these sources of breakdowns occurred in this case.
The dominant source of communication breakdown present prior to 9/11 is
complexity in the organizational structure. In this case, the hierarchy is great; that is,
there are more numbers of managerial levels, thus affecting the flow of information. Only

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a few people at the top receive information as the many at the low levels just have little
information that is restrained to their own area of specialization. For example, when the
FBI agent sought information on why the CIA was following al-Midhar, the CIA agent
said that the detailed information could only be shared with permission from his
supervisor. The inability to share information here reflects the secrecy effect on
communication dissemination.
Again reviewing the five types of organizations from your reading, would you
recommend reorganizing these government agencies into a different type of
organization? Yes. If you say yes, explain which type and why. If you say no, explain
why you would not.
I would recommend that the government agencies be reorganized into
transformational organizations. This type of organization focuses on small decentralized
structures. The flow of information is efficient as people communicate through the
internet and via multiunits. Among the five types of organizations, this is the one that is
flexible enough when change occurs. Considering that times are dynamic and modern-
day society is constantly changing, the government agencies need to be organized in such
a way that they are flexible enough to counter any challenges arising and prevent events
such as 9/11, whose effects were catastrophic.
Other than changing the type of organization, what other recommendations about
communication and organizing would you make to these agencies to avoid
communication breakdowns and prevent tragedies like 9/11 in the future?
I would recommend that government agencies also adopt the flat organization
structure. In this structure, complex problems are handled faster and more efficiently.

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Since there are fewer levels of hierarchy and more employees are under one manager,
communication passes through fewer people and is thus less distorted. Besides,
employees exercise high autonomy as they are allowed to make their own decisions. The
level of satisfaction and morale of employees is high, and this is thus the best structure
for government agencies.
Find another organization’s (either in government or a completely different industry, it
does not matter) organizational chart (a search engine like Google will be useful here).
Attach that organizational chart to this assignment (either as a separate file or
copy/paste a picture below). Compare and contrast what you see in the chart you found
with the chart you see for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from the case
study. Is this structure more tall or flat than the DHS structure? Do you think the same
type of problems will occur with communication breakdown? What advantages or
disadvantages might there be with this structure in comparison to DHS’s? Provide as
much detail as you can.

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Amazon’s Organizational Chart

Source: https://nanookjoe.wordpress.com/2017/10/09/amazon-com-organizational-
complexity/
Amazon’s organizational chart shows that the organizational structure in this
company is flatter than the DHS organizational structure. The two organizations are
unlikely to encounter the same challenges. Amazon is more likely to handle complex
problems faster and with more efficiency compared to DHS. Also, communication
disseminated in Amazon is less likely to be distorted as messages pass through fewer
people compared to in DHS.