Dt.Telekom body, mind and soul

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 THE USE OF METAPHORS
1.2 DEUTSCHE TELEKOM AG

2. THEORY
2.1 ORGANIZATIONS AS ORGANISMS
2.1.1 Theories about organization as organisms
2.1.2 Our example with Deutsche Telekom AG
2.2 ORGANIZATION AS BRAINS
2.2.1 Theories about organization as brains
2.2.2 Our example with Deutsche Telekom AG
2.3 ORGANIZATION AS CULTURES
2.3.1 Theories about organization as cultures
2.3.2 Our example with Deutsche Telekom AG

3. CONCLUSIONS

4. SOURCES

1. INTRODUCTION

We will start our paper with an introduction of the task at hand and after that we will present the company this paper is built on a German company called Deutsche Telekom AG (DT).

1.1 The use of metaphors

In this paper the task is to choose one company and apply different metaphors on the organization. What is a metaphor then? A metaphor is a way to describe something with the use of more familiar terms. We tend to use metaphors when we attempt to understand one element of experience in terms of another. The metaphors we have used in this paper are derived from Gareth Morgans book Images of Organization. He talks about eight different metaphors: organizations as machines, organisms, brains, cultures, political systems, psychic prisons, flux and transformation and instrument of domination. We are going to apply three metaphors on the chosen Company, Deutsche Telekom AG. These metaphors are organizations as if they were living organisms, brains and cultures.

1.2 Deutsche Telekom AG

The Deutsche Telekom AG is Europe’s largest telecommunication company with more than 200 subsidiaries or minority stakes. It was established one year after the founding of Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 as a state-owned enterprise under the name Deutsche Bundespost.^[1] In 1990 the Deutsche Telekom came out during the breakdown and the privatisation of the Deutsche Bundspost^[2]. The Deutsche Telekom was founded as a public limited company. In 1996 the Deutsche Telekom AG had it’s stock market flotation. Since the stock market flotation the Telekom was growing up to a multinational company with subsidiaries all over the world.

The structure of the Telekom AG is based on a 4-pillar growth strategy: Consumer Internet Services (T-Online AG)

Mobile Communications (T-Mobile) Data/IP/Systems Solutions (T-Systems) Network Access Services (T-Com)

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Exhibit 1: Divisions

Source: own creation in following to the annual reports 2001 of the Deutsche Telekom AG

Deutsche Telekom has more the 100 million customer relationships in their four core divisions.

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Exhibit 2: employees of single divisions

Source: own creation in following to the annual reports 2001 of the Deutsche Telekom AG

The Deutsche Telekom is focused exclusively on the following segments of the New Economy: Telecommunications, Information Technology, Multimedia, Entertainment and Security (TIMES). The TIMES are the fastest growing segments of the New Economy.^[3] After the acquisition of the US-Mobile Company VoiceStream Wireless in April 2001 the Deutsche Telekom has discovered a new big market to grow. But the acquisition of VoiceStream contains culture problems as well as we will discuss later in our paper.

2. THEORY

In this section we will discuss three different metaphors, organizations as organisms, as brains and as cultures, and apply them on our company, Deutsche Telekom AG. We have chosen these three metaphors from eight different ones in Morgan’s literature, because we think that these three fits best into this company.

2.1 Organizations as organisms

The first metaphor we are going to use on our company is as if it was an organism.

2.1.1 Theories about organization as organisms

If we look at the Organization as if it was an organism we will see it as a living and open system. The Organization has to be an open system since it has to be adapted to the environment. The relationship between the company and the environment can be seen as the relationship between species and their ecology. Some animals can be adapted easier to a certain environment and the same goes for corporations, some organizations fits better in some specific environments. The open system suggests that the manager should organize with the business environment in mind to survive, meaning that the organization should interact directly with customers, competitors, suppliers, labour unions as well as the general environment. Since the organizations are open systems the management need to find a balance between internal needs and the adaptation to environmental circumstances. The main task for the Company is to create a good “fit” with its environment.^[4]

2.1.2 Our example with Deutsche Telekom AG

We think that Deutsche Telekom AG fit into the description of a living organization because the Company is an open system, which is involved in a number of environmental targets. The Company has built up a comprehensive management system to implement these targets: it matches the overarching strategy to day-to-day activities and ensures that the reduction targets are achieved in the specified period. The management for environmental protection is responsible for the following programs:

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^[1] http://Wasd.urz.uni-Magdeburg.de 02-09-07 12:47

^[2] www.wdr.de 2002-09-07 12:23

^[3] www.dtag.de 2002-09-06 11:14

^[4] Morgan, G, 2001