Activities – The Organisational Context of a
Project: Strategy, Structure and Culture
Collaboration Activity 1: Volkswagen TOWS Matrix
This activity is designed for learners to work as a group to build a TOWS matrix for
Volkswagen.
Instructions
Before starting working say hello to your colleagues in the chat box.
Then nominate one person to act as a scribe, who will record your group’s answer to
the notes pod. If you do not record your answer in the notes pod all your work will
be lost!
Everyone has to contribute with at least one point in the chat box. You can also
activate the microphone for facilitating the discussion (click on the microphone icon
on the top bar )
The scope of this exercise it to build the TOWS matrix for the Volkswagen group.
Each group is going to build one quadrant of the matrix by doing the following tasks:
Group 1:
• Identify one external opportunity and one internal strength
• Define one SO strategy

• Group 2:

Propose one project in line with the above identifies SO Strategy

• Identify one external opportunity and one internal weakness
• Define one WO strategy
• Propose one project in line with the above identifies WO Strategy
Group 3:
• Identify one external threat and one internal strength
• Define one ST strategy

• Group 4:

Propose one project in line with the above identifies ST Strategy

• Identify one external threat and one internal weakness
• Define one WT strategy
• Propose one project in line with the above identifies WT Strategy
Your group has 30 minutes to complete your tasks.
Resources needed for performing this exercise:
• Volkswagen website: https://www.volkswagenag.com/en.html

•	Volkswagen together 2025 strategy: https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/group/strategy.html

• Autonomous vehicle:
https://www.cbinsights.com/research/autonomous-driverless-vehiclescorporations-list/
• Independent research
Collaboration Activity 2: Recommend an Organisational
Structure
This activity is designed for learners to work individually to study three companies
(i.e., Syngenta, Aecom and Airtel) and advise on which organisational structure
better suits them.
Instructions
Do some independent research (better to start from the companies’ websites) and
for each company (i.e., Syngenta, Aecom and Airtel) advise on which organisational
structure works better for each company and explain why.
You have 30 minutes to conduct some independent research and provide your
recommendations.
Exercise mainly based on independent research.
Here the companies’ websites:
• Syngenta: https://www.syngenta.com/en
• Airtel: https://www.airtel.in/about-bharti/equity
• Aecom: https://aecom.com/
Collaboration Activity 3: Electronic Arts and Organisational
Culture
This activity is designed for learners to work individually to study Electronic Arts and
how it changed its organisational culture and started to run successful projects.
Instructions
Each of you has to study the case of Electronic Arts and answer the following
questions:
• Why was EA considered the worst company in the US by Consumerist for
two years in a row?
• Which Cultural Changes did Andrew Wilson (the CEO) introduce to
transform the company?
• What is the winning formula for game design developed by the head of the
EA label group, Frank Gibeau?
You have 20 minutes to read the case study and answer the three questions.
Here the resources needed for this exercise:
• Company website: https://www.ea.com/en-gb
• Reading 1:https://www.fastcompany.com/3038121/electronic-arts-ceo-ontransforming-the-worst-company-in-the-us
• Reading 2: https://www.vg247.com/2013/07/24/gibeau-you-get-the-bestgames-from-small-teams-with-strong-cultures/