Improving Organisational Design Flashcards
What does organisational design show?
Structure and Hierarchy
What does an organisational chart set out?
Who has authority and responsibility to make decisions
What does an organisational chart show?
Who individual employees are accountable to and who employees are responsible for
What is a ‘tall’ structure?
Organisations with lots of levels
What do tall structures have?
Long chains of command
What is the chain of command?
The path of communication and authority up and down the hierarchy
Why can tall structures affect communication? 2 reasons
Messages can take a long time to get from each side of the hierarchy.
Decisions take a long time to make.
What is a ‘flat’ structure?
Organisations with only a few levels in their hierarchy
What can flat structures lead to?
Managers getting overwhelmed by too many people reporting to them.
What is the span of control?
The number of people who report directly to a manager
What can happen if the span of control is too wide?
Managers can find it hard to manage effectively
What kind of span of control do tall structures have?
Narrow
What can happen if the span of control is too narrow?
Workers can become demotivated
What is delayering?
Removing parts of the hierarchy
What can delayering do? 3 benefits
Create a flatter structure with wider spans of control.
Lower costs
Improve communication
