Organising

Question 1

Define organising

Answer 1

1. Management functions that involves making decisions about:
2. 1 What activities and tasks have to be undertaken
3. 2 Who is to undertake them; and
4. 3 How they are to be grouped and schedules
5. Organising also entails putting in place a reporting structure that features a chain of command so that decision making authority can be formally recognised

Question 2

Define Authority

Answer 2

Authority: power to command or control others

Line authority: is the common and basic form of command structure and clearly demarcates superior from subordinates.

Staff authority: those who have the right to support, advise and assist those with line authority.

Functional authority: gives certain staff members the power to initiate actions in a designated area of expertise.

Question 3

Define Chain of command

Answer 3

line of authority that extends from top to bottom in an organisation

Question 4

Define Span of control

Answer 4

the area of activity and number of functions, people, or things for which an individual or organization is responsible.

Question 5

Define Centralisation

Answer 5

Level to which decision making powers are concentrated among a few people at the top level of an organisation.

Question 6

Advantages of Centralisation

Answer 6

1. Cost effectiveness
2. Top managers retain strategic control
3. Decisions benefits the whole organisation
4. Better use of executive skills
5. Focus on top level leadership

Question 7

Define Decentralisation

Answer 7

Level to which decision making powers are delegated to lower levels within an organisation

Question 8

Advantages of Decentralisation

Answer 8

1. Frees up time for executives to concentrate on strategic issues
2. Empowers workers
3. Increases moral, loyalty and goodwill
4. Builds flexibility and speed into decision making

Question 9

Define and explain Gantt charts

Answer 9

A Gantt chart, commonly used in project management, is one of the most popular and useful ways of showing activities (tasks or events) displayed against time. On the left of the chart is a list of the activities and along the top is a suitable time scale. Each activity is represented by a bar; the position and length of the bar reflects the start date, duration and end date of the activity.

Question 10

Define work schedules and give examples.

Answer 10

Work Schedules: detailed account of what work tasks need to be undertaken, the order in which they are to be completed, who is to undertake the tasks, and the timeframe for completion.

1, Part time work: restricted hours

2. Flexitime: workers choose hours to work
3. Compressed work week: limited working hours/week
4. Telecommuting: agreed time working from home
5. Job sharing: share the job with one of more others
6. Expanded leave: agreed elongated time away from work

Question 11

Define Work specialisation and explain advantage and disadvantage

Answer 11

The extent to which tasks and activities within an organisation are broken down into separate jobs.

Managed properly work specialisation can deliver:
Increases in production and efficiency

Too much specialisation can lead to:
Boredom, fatigue and low morale.

Link to the work of Taylor, Weber and Ford