Cassondra Fiegehen
Student ID: 3075725
Company: HFS Fund Administration Company – Organizational Structure

All organizations need structure to exist. In order to achieve the desired goals and outcomes of the company, it is important to have a clear understanding of how responsibility is shared. Let’s take a look at the organizational structure of HFS Fund Administration Company.
The organizational structure of HFS Fund Administration Company would definitely have to be a matrix structure. As a fund administration service, HFS serves a large, diverse group of stakeholders around the world. Although they use a typical functional structure for the most part, they also use a geographical structure as well. With four offices worldwide, this structure allows them to provide the best service to those in their region. But how is the structure at HFS is broken down?
HFS Administration Company’s two major hubs are the Head Office in the Cayman Islands and its second biggest office in Canada. HFS also has smaller operations in Geneva and Dublin. There is one director for each of the four locations that staff is to report to. In Cayman and Canada, there are four major departments that the office is broken down into; Accounting, Investor Services, IT, and Operations. The smaller offices in Dublin and Geneva only have Accounting and Investor Services. The reason for this is quite simple; the Canadian and Cayman Island offices are the biggest and have the staff, expertise and overall resources to operate the IT and Operations departments. Also, both of these departments can be run remotely from the Cayman or Canadian offices, saving time and money by operating virtually.
This method of functional and geographical departmentalization or matrix departmentalization, works well for HFS as it allows the “specialists” to concentrate on their area of expertise, lowers costs by reducing duplication of work, increases responsiveness to demands of the different markets HFS is operating in and allows efficient and effective management of large complex tasks. However there are some disadvantages as well, such as slower decision-making due to distance and time changes. This type of structure can sometimes make it difficult to coordinate across departments, especially overseas, and requires a high level of management skill. It can also increase conflict levels due to the time and coordination required.
Because HFS uses a matrix departmentalization structure and there are four directors to report to, it automatically violates the unity of command rule. However with one director at each international office, there is not a lot of room for confusion as staff at each location reports to the director at the location they’re in. The span of control is obviously a little better at the Dublin and Geneva offices simply because they are smaller with fewer subordinates to control.
All directors at all locations have line authority and can expect staff to follow their commands as such. However, HFS encourages the delegation of authority to subordinates to complete projects as efficiently and effectively as possible, all the while allowing staff to gain knowledge and experience. This decentralization of authority develops employee capabilities throughout the company and leads to faster decision-making and more satisfied employees and customers, which is extremely important to HFS.
Job design within HFS is typically specialized yet quite flexible, depending on the role. Although most jobs are specialized, such as Accounting and IT, there tends to be quite a bit of job rotation, especially between the Investor services, Accounting and Operations departments. When there are big projects, the staff at HFS tends to rotate between departments to help out and get the job done. HFS encourages interaction between departments and encourages senior staff to teach those with less experience or expertise within the company.
HFS is also a big proponent of job enrichment and job enlargement. As you work and learn within the company, managers will slowly add more responsibility to one’s job to make the job more interesting and fulfilling and less repetitive. Employees that excel at these tasks are then rewarded with bonuses and perks that makes a position at HFS not only desirable but allows those that work there to feel a great sense of pride and responsibility for their job.
In conclusion, I believe the organizational structure within HFS Fund Administration Company works very well. Although there can be some disadvantages with a matrix structure - such as a lack of interaction between offices and employees - the structure within HFS proves to be quite effective. My recommendation for a company such as HFS would be to have company-wide meetings monthly to allow staff to interact with each other not only across departments, but across the world. I believe this would improve communication and coordination across departments, improve company morale and decrease conflict levels. I also believe that HFS would benefit by having quarterly educational or training sessions so employees learn all facets of the company and increase the ability for job rotation and job enrichment.
If HFS Fund Administration Company implements these small changes into its culture and structure, I believe not only will it improve employee and customer relationships but with that, increase profits. After all, happy employees mean greater outputs which equal profits. And at the end of the day isn’t that what business is all about?