Housing exploration is the Week 5 question in DDBA 8511, answered in a structure memo that picks a separate unit or existing teams and names who may depart from routine. Searches like "ddba 8511 week 5 assignment example", "ddba8511 week 5 sample" and "ddba 8511 week 5 example" land here.
What a finished DDBA 8511 Week 5 structure memo looks like
Five to seven pages in memo format, addressed to the executive who would authorize the change, with an organization chart or two as exhibits: the current arrangement and the proposed one. The memo takes one side of a live dispute. O'Reilly and Tushman (2004) argued for structural separation, exploratory units with their own processes and cultures, integrated only at the senior team. Gibson and Birkinshaw (2004) argued that ambidexterity can be contextual, built into a unit whose systems let people divide their own time between alignment and adaptability. The memo applies both to this firm's routines, drawing on Feldman and Pentland (2003) to ask whether change here must come from outside a routine or can come from people performing it differently.
How a DDBA 8511 Week 5 example is structured
Its recommendation and the cost of the change come first, in one paragraph. A current-state section describes the routines that govern new work at this firm, who approves a departure from them, and what happened to the last few departures. The options section sets out the separated and the contextual arrangements, each with its literature and its known failure mode: isolated units that the core later rejects, and contextual designs where daily pressure consumes the time meant for exploration. The analysis section argues which failure mode this firm is more exposed to, using its own history, and states what evidence from the first year would show the choice was wrong. Implementation names reporting lines, shared resources, and the person authorized to approve deviations. Risks and references close.
Routines as they run now
The memo describes the standard procedures that new work must pass through and who can waive them. Without this description, a structural recommendation has nothing to change.
Two arrangements, two failure modes
Separation risks an exploratory unit the core business later refuses to absorb; contextual designs risk exploration time that daily targets quietly consume. The memo states both honestly.
This firm's history as evidence
Past attempts at new work inside the firm show which failure mode it tends toward. The memo uses them to choose, rather than choosing from the literature alone.
Who may deviate
The memo names the role authorized to approve a departure from routine, the limits of that authority, and how a departure is recorded so the organization can learn from it.
What the two units share
Under separation, the memo specifies what the exploratory unit borrows from the core, such as sales channels, brand, or manufacturing, and on whose terms. Those interfaces decide whether the unit's output can ever be absorbed.
Where marks go in DDBA 8511 Week 5
The memo is graded on the fit between the recommendation and the evidence about this firm. Most sections reserve the analytic share for memos that choose one arrangement on the basis of the organization's own history and routines, and give much less to memos choosing on the basis of which article is more persuasive in general. Both literatures are expected, each stated accurately, with the finding separated from the memo's application of it. Implementation detail is credited: a named approving role, stated limits, and specified interfaces with the core. Memo conventions and an executive-ready summary are checked in many classrooms. The risk section earns when it names the failure mode of the chosen arrangement rather than generic change resistance.
Get a DDBA 8511 Week 5 example written to your instructions
Attach the Week 5 memo prompt, your rubric, and the firm the memo addresses, and a structure memo arrives within 24-48h at no cost for a first request. Say whether an organization chart is expected as an exhibit. The routines described in the sample belong to its firm; your own organization's procedures are what your memo must describe.
DDBA 8511 Week 5 questions, answered
Is structural separation always the stronger answer?
No, though it is the better-known one. Separation suits firms whose core processes are tightly controlled and whose exploratory work needs different economics. Contextual designs suit firms where the same people hold the relevant knowledge and cannot be moved without losing it. Most real firms mix the two, and a memo may recommend a blend if it says which decisions follow which logic.
What is the difference between a routine and a process in this memo?
In this literature a routine is a repeated pattern of interdependent actions, and Feldman and Pentland (2003) separated its ostensive aspect, the general idea of how things are done, from its performative aspect, what particular people actually do on particular days. The distinction matters because change can start in the performance without anyone rewriting the procedure.
Can the memo recommend keeping the current structure?
Yes, if the evidence supports it. Some firms already have a workable arrangement that is poorly used, and the stronger recommendation may be to change who holds authority to deviate rather than to redraw the chart. A memo arguing for continuity still has to name the failure mode it accepts and how that risk will be watched.