Audubon zoo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Audubon zoo - Essay Example Park personnel need new challenges and the zoo needs to be constantly improved to prevent falling into a pattern that could lead to a decline. The recent political decision to give control to the City of New Orleans offers an opportunity for reorganization towards a more learning organization which would be flexible enough to make future adjustments as needed. The organization is actually getting too large not to be flexible. Currently, the Audubon Park Zoo operates within the revenues it generates, which is actually a plus, since most such projects require more public support. Financial data is found on the graph below. A questionable suggestion to lease the concessions to third party vendors needs to be examined. The concessions operated at a tiny fraction of current volume before the Friends of the Zoo took it over. While the fact that the labor is volunteer may account for some of the profit, giving up control is probably not advisable. Financially, the zoo is doing well, but it any improvements or expansions are done the funding needs to be developed. New projects are needed in order to maintain momentum. Anything that does not move forward stagnates. The vertically hierarchical structure has worked for the park until now, but the park has grown and will continue to grow, and large organizations which stick strictly to this kind of structure sacrifice flexibility for a sense of stability due to the efficient nature of this organizational structure. In the beginning of a company or during the time when it is being revamped, efficiency is of prime importance. However, as an organization matures, it must become a â€Å"learning organization† so that it can make changes as needed in response to changes in the marketplace. Becoming a learning organization is essential to the bottom line, as Hanvanich et al proved in their study. â€Å"Specifically, under low environmental turbulence, learning orientation and organizational memory