Organizing Flashcards
the process of arranging people and other resources to work together to
accomplish a goal. It creates a division of labor and then coordinates results to achieve a
common purpose.
Organizing
a group of individuals who work together toward a common goal
organization
defined as the identification and classification of required activities; grouping
of activities necessary to attain objectives; assignment of each grouping to a manager with
authority (delegation) necessary to supervise it; and provision for coordination horizontally
and vertically
Organizing
a process involving decisions about six key elements
Organizational Design
six key elements:
- Work specialization
- Departmentalization
- Chain of command
- Span of control
- Centralization and decentralization
- Formalization
dividing work activities into separate job tasks
Work specialization
Individual employees
“specialize” in doing part of an activity rather than the entire activity in order to increase
work output. It’s also known as division of labor. At some point, the human diseconomies from division of labor—
boredom, fatigue, stress, low productivity, poor quality, increased
absenteeism, and high turnover—exceed the economic advantages.
Work specialization
How jobs are grouped together
Departmentalization
line of authority extending from upper organizational levels to lower
levels, which clarifies who reports to whom
Chain of command
How many employees can a manager efficiently and effectively manage?
Span of control
The traditional view was that managers could not—and
should not—directly supervise more than five or six subordinates
Span of control
Determining the _______________ is importantbecause to a large degree, it determines the number of levels and
managers in anorganization —an important consideration in how efficient an organization will be
span of control
Studies of effective spans have identified the following conditions as affecting the number of people a manager can effectively supervise:
● Subordinate training
● Nature of jobs supervised
● Rate of change of activities and personnel
● Clarity of instruction and delegation
● Staff assistance
The more completely subordinates are trained for their jobs, the
fewer demands they place on supervisors.
Subordinate training
The simpler the tasks supervised are, the greater is the similarity
between the jobs supervised; and the less subordinates work at dispersed locations, the
easier it is to supervise more people. On the other hand, when subordinates need
frequent contact with people in other parts of the organization to do their job effectively
(as may planners and coordinators), supporting these relationships can increase the
supervisor’s burden.
Nature of jobs supervised
Events move more rapidly in some types of
organization than in others. An army must be staffed for the rate of decision making
required in a combat situation (and for the rapid turnover of commanders). On the other
hand, changes of policy and procedure in the Roman Catholic Church take place only after many years (or even centuries), and priests are well educated and have relatively
few different assignments in a lifetime of service; thus, there are very few levels—typically
parish pastor, bishop, and sometimes an archbishop —between the individual believer
and the papal office.
Rate of change of activities and personnel
The more clearly the work to be done can be
described, and the more completely the supervisor delegates to the subordinate the
resources needed to accomplish this well-defined job, the less subsequent supervision
should be required (and the more people the supervisor should be able to handle).
Clarity of instruction and delegation
Usually, administrative activity is not confined to the manager, but
involves some (or all) of the time of one or more other people. While most managers h
“access to” clerical and secretarial support, higher level managers usually have “administrative assistants” or “assistants to” the manager of considerable capability who
relieve the manager of much office routine, expanding the time they have available for
work that only they can do. Even the first -line supervisor often delegates some of the
short-term leadership: the engineering design supervisor may have 20 engineers, but
some will be more experienced “lead engineers” who are responsible for the day-to-day
activities of younger engineers and technicians in completing a common task. In the
military, senior managers commonly have deputies who are fully qualified to act in their
absence, almost doubling the effective leadership potential of the office.
Staff assistance
an organization were those that accomplished the
main mission or objectives of the organization, and these were thought to include
production, sales, and finance in the typical manufacturing organization
“line functions”
were those that helped the line accomplishes these
objectives by providing some sort of advice or service
“Staff functions”
superior subordinate relationships and can be traced in a “chain of
command” from the organization president through a succession of levels of managers to
the lowest worker.
Line relationships
advisory in nature
Staff relationships
Four types of staff relationships:
(1) providing advice only on request,
(2) recommending where the staff office deems appropriate,
(3) “consulting authority,” in which line managers must consult (but need not obey) staff in their area,
(4) “concurring authority,” in which the staff specialist has a veto authority over the line manager
a special type of staff authority over others who are
not their line subordinates. Usually, it controls “how to” accomplish some action falling in
the area of responsibility of the staff office, and it is delegated to staff because of the
need for uniformity or special expertise. Examples include specification of budget formats
by the financial officer and of criteria for documenting research findings or for reducing
product liability by the legal counsel
Functional (specialized) authority
“facilitative activities” that are centralized for economy of scale,
uniformity, or special capability, but are only supportive of the main mission. Examples
include custodial, security, and medical services
Service relationships
the degree to which decision making takes place at upper levels of the
organization. If top managers make key decisions with little input from below, then the
organization is more centralized
Centralization
On the other hand, the more that lower-level employees
provide input or actually make decisions, the more _____________there is.
decentralization
how standardized an organization’s jobs are and the extent to
which employee behavior is guided by rules and procedures. In highly formalized
organizations, there are explicit job descriptions, numerous organizational rules, and
clearly defined procedures covering work processes. Employees have little discretion over
what’s done, when it’s done, and how it’s done. However, where formalization is low,
employees have more discretion in how they do their work.
Formalization
