2.2 Organisational Structure

Question 1

What is an organisational chart?

Answer 1

An organisational chart is a way to present the structure of a business, representing the roles, responsibilities and reporting lines between individuals in the business

Question 2

What does levels of hierarchy mean?

Answer 2

Levels of hierarchy refers to how many levels of responsibilities there are in a business

Question 3

What does chain of command mean?

Answer 3

Chain of command refers to the
route in which a decision travels through from the top of the hierarchy to the bottom

Question 4

What does span of control mean?

Answer 4

Span of control refers to how many subordinates are under authority of a manager

Question 5

What does delegation mean?

Answer 5

Delegation refers to when a manager assigns authority to a subordinate for a certain decision. This is more likely to happen when the span of control is wide

Question 6

What does centralised business mean?

Answer 6

Centralisation refers to a small group of managers that make all the major decision making. This is usually when a business has many levels of hierarchy and a narrow span of control

Question 7

What does a decentralised business mean?

Answer 7

Decentralisation refers to when senior managers maintain the core strategic decisions but other decisions are delegated to middle managers

Question 8

What does bureaucracy mean?

Answer 8

Bureaucracy refers to how important a the roles and procedures in a business are

Question 9

What does delayering mean?

Answer 9

Delayering refers to when a level of hierarchy is removed by removing layers of management. This is intended to reduce the bureaucracy and increase decision making of middle managers

Question 10

What does matrix structure mean?

Answer 10

Matrix structure refers to when projects require involvement from different people with different expertise. People work in teams and report to the people with different expertise

Question 11

What are the two types of organisational structures?

Answer 11

-Tall or vertical organizational structure
-Flat or horizontal organisational structure

Question 12

Describe the features of a tall or vertical organisational structure?

Answer 12

-Many levels of hierarchy
-Narrow span of control
-Centralised decision making
-Long chains of command
-Autocratic leadership style
-Decreased delegation

Question 13

Describe the features of a flat or horizontal organisational structure?

Answer 13

-Few levels of hierarchy
-Wide spans of control
-Decentralised decision making
-Short chain of command
-Democratic leadership style
-Increased delegation

Question 14

How can organisational structures be shown by?

Answer 14

-Hierarchy
-Function
-Product
-Region

Question 15

How does a project based organisation?

Answer 15

A project based organisation works by managers having their own team of employees that focus on individual projects. Once the project is finished the team separates- re assembles and starts a new project

Question 16

What is a Shamrock organisational structure?

Answer 16

This is an organisational structure where trims their workforce to only have multiskilled core, which creates or delivers a good or service.

Question 17

What does the first leaf of nthe shamrock represent?

Answer 17

The first leaf of the shamrock represents core managers, employees that are essential to the business

Question 18

What does the second (right) leaf of the shamrock represent?

Answer 18

The second leaf of the shamrock represents contractual workers were non-core activities are subcontracted out to specialists

Question 19

What does the third (left) leaf of the shamrock represent?

Answer 19

The third leaf of the shamrock represents flexible workforce such as part time, temporary and seasonal workers