Pfizer Organizational Structure

Pfizer, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world, was established in 1849 by cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart in Brooklyn, New York. Since then, Pfizer has grown into a global company with over 81,900 employees in 150 countries. The year 1951, under the leadership of then President John McKeen, marked as the beginning of Pfizer’s successful expansion. The company’s strategy was to organize international teams that have autonomy in decision making. Today, Pfizer adopts the same organizational structure, as illustrated in the figure below.
In 2000, Warner-Lambert merged with Pfizer, making Pfizer the fastest-growing pharmaceutical company. This year, Pfizer becomes the biggest pharmaceutical company by merging with Wyeth. According to RTT News dated April 7, 2009, Pfizer has a new organizational structure concerning the Research and Development Division to further strengthen the scientific capabilities of the two companies. The said division will be divided to BioTherapeutics Research Group headed by Mikael Dolsten as president and PharmaTherapeutics Research Group with Martin Mackay as president.
These two presidents and all other presidents in the different divisions of Pfizer are all lead by the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Jeffrey B. Kindler. The strength of Pfizer’s organizational structure is the Executive Leadership Team. It is the company’s decision making body comprised of senior-most leaders representing different divisions. Based on the Company Profile of Pfizer’s website, the team has 11 members including the CEO. Leadership and critical decisions exercised collectively by the best employees of Pfizer fosters credibility, transparency and trust among its stakeholders.

It also gives employees the opportunity to grow, aspire and be one of its leaders. On the other hand, this kind of organizational structure may lead to politicking and bureaucracy. It may also lead to weak accountability among the leaders, especially if the company will leadership controversies. Pfizer values community, customer focus, innovation, integrity, leadership, performance, respect for people, teamwork and quality. These values contribute towards achieving their goal to “bring good health for all people at a manageable cost.
” To realize all these, Pfizer has policies and procedures that will govern their employees and their operations. These include policies on Business Conduct, Lobbying and Political Contributions, Sales and Marketing, Research and Clinical Trials, Workplace HIV/AIDS Standards, Stem Cell Research and Laboratory Animal Care. The Blue Book summarizes Pfizer’s policies on business conduct. The Compliance Program serves as venue to resolve issues on communication, control, cooperation and authority and it is comprised of Chief Compliance Officer, Corporate Compliance Committee, Corporate Compliance Groups and Compliance Liaisons.
It is also supported by an informal network of local managers, corporate functions, and specialized audit groups. The book includes responsibilities of Pfizer colleagues and lists possible consequences for non-complying colleagues. Bluebook also explains Pfizer’s Open Door Policy that encourages employees to present ideas, raise concerns and ask questions. The company provides a Compliance Hotline available for 24 hours for colleagues who have concerns that cannot be resolved locally. In the same book, Pfizer makes a commitment to compete lawfully and ethically in the marketplace by providing their colleague’s lists of what and what not to do.
Examples of what to do are:
1) Comply with all healthcare laws and respect our regulatory requirements; 2) Market products and interact with healthcare professionals honestly in accordance with laws and regulations, etc. On the other hand, what not to do are: 1) Make illegal payments to government officials or business partners and
2) Offer or accept inappropriate gifts or entertainment. In addition, the Corporate University Exchange shared some information about Pfizer’s strategies in resolving communication and control issues. According to the article, Pfizer tapped Fort Hill Company to identify leadership development a business process.Read about advantages of formalization in organization
In the process, Pfizer discovered job experience, coaching and learning activities as critical factors to leadership development. Thus, Pfizer emphasized on the integration of coaching and action plan development among colleagues. It greatly improved the relationship between the supervisors and the employees, especially through coaching. Further, Pfizer teams up with the Ken Blanchard Companies and adopts the Blanchard’s Situational Leadership II process. This is a reflection of Pfizer’s commitment to align their goals with the training need of their people.
In addition, Pfizer also have training in Situational Team Leadership and Situational Self Leadership from Blanchard to develop individual and team empowerment. In summary, Pfizer’s goal and values are integrated successfully with the company’s organizational structure. The autonomy is given to Pfizer’s colleagues balanced by their Compliance Program help all the stakeholders of the company – employees, investors, clients, their surrounding community – grow.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Company Profile. Pfizer Website. (2009) Available from: http://www. pfizer. com/about/history/timeline.
Company Profile. Pfizer Website. (2009) Available from: http://www. pfizer. com/about/history/timeline. jsp. 14 April 2009.
Leadership Development at Pfizer. Corporate University Exchange. (2008). Availabe from: http://www. corpu. com. 14 April 2009.
Pfizer. Ken Blanchard and Companies Websited. Availabe from: http://www. blanchardtraining. com. 14 April 2009. Pfizer Inc. Corporate Watch. (2009) Available from: http://www.
Pfizer Inc. Corporate Watch. (2009) Available from: http://www. corporatewatch. org. uk/? lid=328. 14 April 2009. Pfizer unveils organization structure and leadership plan for post-Wyeth merger –Update. (2009) RTT News. Available from: http://www.
Pfizer unveils organization structure and leadership plan for post-Wyeth merger –Update. (2009) RTT News. Available from: http://www. rttnews. com. 14 April 2009. The Blue Book. Pfizer. Available from: http://integrity. pfizer. com. 14 April 2009.
The Blue Book. Pfizer. Available from: http://integrity. pfizer. com. 14 April 2009.