March 2022 1
Case Study
Organisational Restructure
Ecological Solutions Pty Ltd
Background:
Ecological Solutions Pty Ltd (ES) commenced business in 2006 as the initiative of brothers
Simon and John Benard. ES delivers an environment friendly wastewater management
system, treating sewage effluent to advanced secondary levels certified by the National
Sanitation Foundation (NSF). The advantage of ES systems is that, in purifying domestic or
indeed community waste water, it has no mechanical parts involved, no electricity needed
for gravity fed systems and no chemicals added, the system is midrange cost, however with
no or little maintenance once installed. ES is currently servicing domestic, communal and
commercial systems to clients across the Australian and Asia-Pacific region.
Globally, (wastewater management) governing bodies, installers and consumers alike,
are realising the benefits of ES, as a great solution to an industry-wide challenge,
meaning that the prospects for global expansion for the company are immense and
eminent.
Rather than limit the company with a small minded approach, ES wants to take the
opportunity to expand into these new and challenging markets, which will require
consolidation and reconstitution of the current operations in a way that will appease
differing international regularity bodies and markets, and allow an adaptive structure
that incorporates the complexities of the expansion. Simply put, ES is involved in a
growing and expanding process that will take on new markets, countries and
opportunities.
The ES system components are manufactured in China where ES has entered a joint
venture with a Chinese manufacturing organization. After production, the system
components are then transported to its warehouses in the Australasian and pacific
countries that ES currently operates in, ready for distribution and installation for local
clients.
The Opportunity
Wastewater management in the African nations is a regional problem, magnified by
cost factors of installation, ongoing maintenance and complexity of current systems on
the market. With the ability to supply a simplistic and cost-effective wastewater
management technique, ES can take advantage of this extensive market opportunity
through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in these countries. Although headquarters is
in Melbourne Australia, each Asian Pacific country also has its own sales,
administration and installation offices and teams. ES operations currently have a
financial turnover of 25 million dollars per annum with 230 full time staff members.
March 2022 2
The Objectives:
Objective 1 – Organisational Structure
Currently ES operating structure includes departments for each function and
administrative branch of the organisation. The project managers are given responsibility
to run their projects according to their own experience (being the PM experts) under the
direction of the departments involved, and upper management. In order to expand into
these new markets ES will need to restructure their internal organisational operations
including ensuring that the current Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and
technological systems have the capacity to implement such expansion on a major scale
while at the same time being able to organise the myriad of projects it knows will result
from this international expansion. This will require specific human skillsets from across
many of the locations in which they currently operate. Additionally, the initial
restructuring project will require the assessment and update of the current
organisational framework, policies, procedures, and processes. For example, the
accounting, invoicing and administrations of the new organizational structure has to
accommodate the expanded need to monitor and cater for exchange rates, bills of
shipping, importing and exporting documentation across the new FDI nations.
Current Project Management
Currently all projects need to be governed and operated by ES, in terms of specific
engineer requirements for soil types, excavation pit sizes and materials used, while also
following strict installation guidelines for the product itself, these must be governed
meticulously, meaning ES will be required to run multiple projects in each international
market that it infiltrates. At times projects overlap in resource use and at other times are
short on resources, which can cause delays and capacity problems. However, currently
these issues are seen as the responsibility of the Project Managers and overseen by the
managers of various departments (which often frustrates the PMs due to their
misconceived renditions of project management principles). Considering this
perception and attitude, the Project Managers are concerned at how the departmental
management will respond to the upcoming changes, let alone the general staff in the
organisation. Management is a little concerned about the magnitude of the expansion in
terms of keeping track of the influx of project across the globe, it is difficult enough
presently to determine if efficiency is maximised in every project.
Objective 2 – Supply Chain – Sustainability
Furthermore, new supply chains systems will need to be investigated and procured,
including the processes of procuring, such as, tendering, negotiating and implementing
contracts with transportation companies. In line with ES mandate for environmental
operations management wants to ensure that the current, and future, manufacturing and
shipping processes are consistent with their objective of corporate, social and
environmental responsibility. The company’s goal is to persuade stakeholders, partners,
March 2022 3
and critics that its growth strategy includes plans for long-term sustainability. The team
knows that delivering social responsibility and focusing on sustainability will deliver
shareholder and strategic benefits.
Although the ES system itself is considered very environmentally friendly, there is
concern with regard to the actual manufacturing, the ES team is looking closely at
environmental factors, such as pollutants, manufacturing materials, and safety, as well
as energy usage. Therefore, ES leadership team is interested in learning about
alternative materials, with an eye on both the environment and the safety of employees
using those products in the manufacturing process. In addition, shipping the system
components around the world will use gas and oil, releasing pollutants into the
environment, so management also desires to include environmental consultants on
potentially utilising alternative fuels and procedures for transportation and shipping
processes.
Objective 3 – Legalities
From a legal perspective there are several factors that must be researched for
compliance with the target nations legal systems, policies and regulations. For example,
each countries laws on foreign direct investment (FDI), importing and operations is
different and must be comprehended. Furthermore, the wastewater management
industry is highly regulated, if not by the country itself then by international law. These
legal factors must be clearly understood and complied with. Alongside this is the
cultural aspects of the target countries, including local labour expectations,
management style and health and safety practices.
Over the course of the (estimated 36 month) international project/projects, marketing is
a vital component of which ES leadership wants to take advantage of social media
networking in its marketing strategy.
Pre-Project Research
The leadership team also examined what other organisations had done in similar
projects to avoid loss of revenue during their projects. From the research, the team
identified three potential risks that could occur during this project of upgrading the IT
systems and processes:
• Loss of business due to inability to process orders in a timely fashion
• Loss of credibility because of a lack of quality in the shipping process
• Loss of sales as competitors took advantage of any down time
While strategizing these changes on an organisation wide scale ES must consider the
disruption to employees and ongoing operations. Current projects must run seamlessly to
ensure no disruption to clients, and that targets are still met across the business.
March 2022 4
Consequently, the leadership team wants to monitor employee satisfaction to ensure
minimal disruption and maintain employee satisfaction and continuous motivation of the
upcoming expansion. Employee feedback will from part of this monitoring
It is important to ES portfolio management to focus on a continued level of the efficient
delivery of quality products and services. This means ES must consider each of the
following elements:
• Any constant and continued improvement to processes of order, billing, and
shipping efficiencies.
• Any changes that may occur due to the current multiple projects; and
• New initiatives that may be created by the current multiple projects.
The Project Teams:
The projects that address the above goals require management of the complexity of the
various project teams which incorporate multiple backgrounds, experiences, and even
time zones. These individuals currently are located in Australia, China, Japan, and
Vietnam and will soon expand to many other nations as well as include representatives
from the ES Information Technology, Human Resources, Manufacturing, Sales,
Marketing, Accounting, Finance, and Legal departments.
ES’ external stakeholders include their existing and potential customers, suppliers, and
investors.