The Organizing Function .com



The Organizing FunctionThe Organizing FunctionIntroductionOrganizing is an important tenet of management. It can be likened to building a house with a set of building blocks. Different shapes of blocks - round, square, triangular would have to be used to complete the structure. Similarly in an organization, management needs to put together or assemble different kinds of building blocks to achieve the organizational goals. This would involve determining major tasks required, designing jobs and grouping jobs into departments. It also involves creating authority and reporting relationships and delegating authority to subordinate managers. 1. Designing JobsIn any organization, a number of activities have to be performed. Indeed, these activities cannot be performed by one person and as such there is the need for activities to be assigned to individuals. In other words, individuals have to be assigned work-related responsibilities. For example, a secretary’s job designation may include a list of the general tasks or functions, and responsibilities of that position such as receiving and making telephone call, writing minutes and so on. The obvious starting point for designing jobs is determining the level of desired specialization. Job Specialization Job specialization has been defined as the breaking up of jobs into small component parts and assigning specialists to do each part. It has also been defined as the separation of organizational activities into distinct tasks and the assignment of different tasks to different people. This concept was first noted by Adam Smith (1776) when he observed how workers in a pin factory divided tasks into smaller components. It is common to find job specialization in manufacturing and service industries such as the Clothing industries, the beverage industry such as Coca Cola Bottling Company or the service industry such as the telecommunications industry such as Tigo, Kasapa. There are a number of benefits to be derived when jobs are broken down and tackled in bits by different people. But before we look at the benefits, let me explain two terms that I used earlier – job and task. A job is a collection of tasks and responsibilities that an employee is responsible to carry out. A task is a unit of work, that is, a set of activities needed to produce some result. For example, writing minutes by the secretary is a task. Benefits and limitations of specializationBenefitsJob specialization provides four benefits to an organization. First, workers performing small, simple tasks will become very proficient or good at that task. Second, transfer time between tasks decreases. If workers perform several different tasks, some time is lost when they stop doing the first task and start doing the next. For example, a dress maker who has to cut and also sew loses some time when he stops one tasks and embark on another. The third benefit is that the more narrowly defined the job is, the easier it is to develop specialized equipment to assist with that job. The final benefit is that when a worker who performs a highly specialized job is absent, the manager is able to train someone new at a relatively low cost. LimitationsJob specialization also has limitations. Let us consider some of them. Workers become bored and dissatisfied with the mundane jobs. This may result from the job being so specialized that it does not offer any challenge nor does it stimulate the worker. Workers then tend to be absent from work and this affects the quality of work. Consequently, the anticipated benefits of specialization does not always occur. Thus, although some degree of specialization is necessary, it should not be carried to extremes because of the possible negative consequences.Several alternative approaches to designing jobs have been developed. Some of theses are discussed below:Alternatives to specializationIn their effort, to counteract the problems associated with specialization, managers have come up with other approaches to job design. The approaches are designed to achieve a better balance between the organizational demands for efficiency and the individual or workers needs for creativity. Five alternative approaches are recommended and these are job rotation, job enlargement, job enrichment, job characteristics approach and work teams. Job Rotation This involves systematically moving workers from one job to another. A worker in a warehouse might unload trucks on a particular day, or carry incoming inventory to storage on another day or verify invoices on the next day. The purposes of job rotation are to give employees experience with all organizational activities as a training process and also to offset boredom, which can occur when performing the same job over an extended period of time.Job enlargementThis means increasing the scope of a job through extending the range of its job duties and responsibilities. Job enlargement contradicts the principles of specialization and the division of labour whereby work is divided into small units, each of which is performed repetitively by an individual worker. Job enlargement seeks to motivate workers through reversing the process of specialization. For example instead of a worker repeating the same step on each product, he/she performs several tasks on a single item. In order for workers to be provided with job enlargement they will need to be retrained in new fields which can prove to be a lengthy and costly process. There are other disadvantages such as unions contending that workers deserve more pay for doing more tasks and the possibility of the work being still dull and routine. Job EnrichmentThis increases both the number of tasks the worker does and the control the worker has over the job. It can be contrasted to job enlargement which simply increases the number of tasks without changing the challenge. Job enrichment gives the worker additional authority, autonomy and control over the way the job is accomplished. For example, giving workers more control over how a task is to be completed often leads to job enrichment because workers can think out their own way of tackling the task, change their pattern of working when they want, and feel more responsible for achieving the end product.Job characteristics approachThis deals with both the work system and the individual’s preferences. It is the most comprehensive alternative to job specialization which suggests that jobs should be analyzed and improved along five core dimensions: These are:Skill variety, or the number of things that a worker does on the jobTask identity, or the extent to which the worker does a complete or identifiable portion of the total jobTask significance, or the perceived importance of the taskAutonomy, or the amount of control the worker has over how the work is performedFeedback, or the extent to which the worker knows how well the job is being performedAccording to this approach, the higher a job rates on these dimensions, the more employees will experience various psychological states. Experiencing these states will lead to high motivation, high quality performance, high satisfaction and low absenteeism and turnover. Work TeamsThis approach calls for giving a group the responsibility for designing the work system to be used in performing an interrelated set of jobs. It allows the group to assign specified tasks to group members, to monitor and control its own performance and has autonomy over work scheduling. For example, in a typical assembly line system, the work flows from one worker to the next, and each worker has a specified job to perform. However, in a work team, the group itself decides how jobs will be shared. 2. Grouping Jobs: Departmentalization Once jobs have been analyzed and tasks assigned, the next step is to group the jobs in some logical order. This process is known as departmentalization. Organizations are eager to know how workers should be grouped together or how many workers should be in each unit. DepartmentalisationRationale for DepartmentalizationDepartmentalization is the process of grouping jobs according to some logical order. It has become necessary for organizations to departmentalize because the organizational growth exceeds the owner-manager’s capacity to personally supervise all the organization. Additionally, managers are employed and assigned specific employees to supervise. These form the basis for all departmentalization.Types of DepartmentalisationThere are two main types of departmentalization, namely functional and divisional. Examples of functional departmentalizationPage 109 of 21Functional departmentalizationThis involves the grouping of people on the basis of their overall function or the grouping of jobs involving the same or similar activities. University of Ghana for example, has different functional areas such as the academic section, the finance section, the public affairs relations section and so on and workers are assigned to these sections based on certain criteria. There are a number of advantages and disadvantages in having functional departmentalization. Let us look at some of the advantages.It is suited to a stable environment and fosters in depth skill specialization and developmentit allows task assignment consistent with technical training and reduces the technical demand on supervisorsit allows economies of scale within functions, nurtures career progress within functional areas and allows excellent coordination within functions.it facilitates high–quality technical problem solving, facilitates top management direction and control and also requires fewer interpersonal skills.Some disadvantages are:it provides poor communication across functional departments and causes slow response times to external changes.it causes decisions to be concentrated at the top, resulting in delays and also creates an atmosphere in which it is difficult to pinpoint responsibility for problems.it nurtures narrow self-centred perspective within functions and limits the understanding of overall organizational goals among employees.it reduces accountability for overall product and customer service, causes bottlenecks due to sequential task performance and fails to encourage innovation and creativity. It also fails to foster the development of general managers. Divisional departmentalizationTypically, divisional departmentalization takes one of the three forms – product, customer and geographic. Product departmentalization is a technique of creating a division or department for each product or product line. Many large corporations use a divisional breakdown at the top that follows its line of products. An example is Shoprite supermarket in Accra which has different managers for the different products that it sells. Advantages:Product departmentalization provides high product visibility, it is well suited for rapid change and allows parallel processing of multiple tasks.it allows full-time concentration on tasks, it clearly defines responsibility and fosters the training of general managers.Disadvantages: it promotes neglect of long-term priorities, causes conflicts between divisional tasks and corporate priorities and nurtures the use of politics in the resource allocation processit fails to encourage the coordination of activities among divisions and allows indepth competencies to decline Another type of divisional departmentalization that I will examine is that of customer departmentalizationThis involves grouping activities to respond to and interact with specific customers and customer groups. For example, a hospital may departmentalize according to its different customer services such as maternity care, cardiac care, paediatrics and so on. Advantages and disadvantages of customer departmentalization are as followsAdvantages it fosters an intense focus on the unique needs of the customer and promotes the establishment of a strong public imageit facilitates the development of a strong marketing philosophy, facilitates the parallel processing of multiple tasks and is very adaptive to environmental changeit provides a clear placement of responsibilities and promotes the training of managers.Disadvantagesit encourages politics in the resource allocation process and creates conflict between divisional tasks and corporate priorities. it does not promote the coordination of activities across divisions, it wastes resources through duplication of effort and tends to lessen top management control. Location / geographic departmentalizationThis is the grouping of jobs on the basis of defined geographic sites or areas. It could also be the creation of divisions or departments for an organization’s various territories. For example, universities these days tend to have various campuses spread over different territories. The University of Education, Winneba has the Kumasi and Mampong campuses which can be considered location departmentalization. AdvantagesThe advantages are as followsit promotes concern for regional customer needs and facilitates the pinpointing of responsibility of regional product/customer problems.it nurtures fast responses to the environment, promotes flexibility in unstable environments and strengthens the focus on regional goals.it fosters coordination across functional departments and aids in the development of general management.Disadvantagesit fails to produce technical depth and specialization and encourages competition for resources.it promotes the duplication of efforts and resources across divisions, fails to produce good coordination across divisions and tends to lessen top management control. 3. Positions and Reporting RelationshipsIt is important for the hierarchy of the organization to be established so that there is a clear line of authority and cohesiveness among workers. It is important also to establish who will report to whom, how many levels of managers should be available as well as how many subordinates can each manager properly supervise. Positions and Reporting RelationshipsChain of commandThis is a clear and distinct line of authority among the positions in an organization. The concept of the chain of command is based on two underlying management principles namely, the unity of command and the scalar principle. The unity of command suggests that each person within an organization must have a clear reporting relationship to one and only one boss. This principle ensures clarity in the transmission of orders down the chain of command as well as well as the continuity of work assignment. There are occasions when this principle is violated when a high-level manager bypasses a person’s immediate supervisor and in giving orders to that person.The scalar principle suggests that there must be a clear and unbroken line of authority that extends from the lowest to the highest position in the organization. Note that the popular saying. The buck stops here is derived from this idea that someone in the organization must ultimately be responsible for every decision. There are occasions when organizations try to extend their scalar chains as they grow in size. The scalar chain then gets longer and longer as additional levels of management are added. This results in organizations becoming inefficient and unproductive after a period of time. Span of managementAnother part of establishing reporting relationships is determining how many people will report to each manager. The span of management or the span of control refers to the number of subordinates that a single manager can effectively supervise. There is no ideal or optimal span of control. A manager can have a narrow or wide span of control and both have advantages and disadvantages. Let us look at what they are. Narrow span This means having a few subordinates to control. It permits the manager to have greater interaction with each subordinate and exercise close supervision. However, one disadvantage is that it fosters more communication problems because of the increased number of people through whom information must pass. Narrow span results in tall organizational structures. Tall organizations have many levels in the hierarchy and are more expensive to operate because of the larger number of managers involved. Tall OrganizationDirectorWide span Having a wide span of control means having so many subordinates to control. Wide span of management results in flat organizations. One benefit of this kind of structure is that communications are usually improved because there are fewer layers in the organization and fewer levels of management. However, this type of structure may result in a manager having more administrative responsibility because there are fewer managers) and more supervisory responsibility. If these additional responsibilities become excessive, the flat organization suffers because of the have fewer levels in the hierarchy. Flat Organization Director Determining the appropriate spanAlthough the correct span of control is still being debated, its impact on the structure and shape of the organization is clear. When the span of control is smaller, or narrower, that is, when managers have fewer people to supervise, we tend to see an organization with a taller or narrower structure. Conversely, when the span of control is wide, that is when managers have many people to supervise, we tend to see an organization with a flat or wide structure. Many researchers have theorized about the factors affecting the span of management. Here they are.Routineness and simplicity of work Managers supervising people with simple and repetitive jobs are able to manage more immediate subordinates than those who supervise people with complex, non repetitive tasks. It is important to note that tasks are more repetitive at lower levels than at upper levels of an organization. This is a partial explanation of why spans vary at different organizational levels. Geographic dispersion of subordinates Normally, when a manager’s subordinates are scattered over a wide geographic region, he/she is not able to supervise as many subordinates as a manager whose subordinates are in one building. Subordinate training and experience The amount of training, experience and ability that subordinates have is directly related to a manager’s span of control. Knowledgeable subordinates who work well on their own require less supervision than inexperienced, poorly trained workers do. Worker turnover also limits span of control. Management by exception This is a philosophy of supervision that encourages lower-level managers to make decisions on routine matters within set guidelines. It requires decentralized decision making. It frees managers from time-consuming involvement in routine matters and lets them use their time more efficiently. A manager who delegates authority and manages by exception can have more immediate subordinates who make routine decisions on their own. Use of assistants the number of assistants that a manager has is related to span of management. That is, the greater the support given a manager, including the more assistants the manager has to help handle details, the wider the span of management can be. 4. Authority, Responsibility and Accountability AuthorityAuthority has been defined severally by different authors. For some, it is power that has been legitimized by the organization. For others, it is the right to give orders and the power to exact obedience. Yet others see it as the right to command subordinates’ action. Authority rests in organizational positions. Usually, the higher your position in an organization, the greater your authority. In addition, the amount of authority a manager can exercise depends on his/her boss’s willingness to let the manager make decisions. There are two issues that managers must address when distributing authority. These are delegation and decentralization. DelegationIt is the process by which managers assign a portion of their total workload to others. It may also be considered as the process of allocating tasks to subordinates, giving them adequate authority to carry out those assignments and making them obligated to complete the tasks satisfactorily.Process of delegationWhen managers delegate, they set a four-step sequence of events in motion. These steps includeAssignment of Tasks: the first step is to determine clearly what the subordinates are supposed to do. Then the capabilities of each subordinate should be considered to match them with the assigned duties.Delegation of decision making authority: the second step is to give authority to subordinates to make and implement decisions regarding procurement of resources and supervision of activities that are relevant to the duties assigned to them.Creation of obligation: the third step is the creation of obligation on the part of the subordinates to perform their duties satisfactorily. The person assigned the task is morally responsible to do his best since he has willingly accepted these tasks.Creation of accountability: the fourth step is holding subordinates accountable for results. Being answerable to some one for your actions creates accountability, an obligation to accept the consequences, good or bad.Advantages of delegation Delegating is important for several reasons. First, it frees a manager from some time-consuming duties that can be adequately handled by subordinates and lets the manager devote more time to problems requiring his or her full attention.Second, decisions made by lower-level managers usually are more timely than those that go through several layers of management. Third, subordinate managers can reach their full potential only if given the chance to make decisions and to assume responsibility for them.Problems with delegationThere are reasons why managers hesitate to delegate authority to subordinates. First, some managers feel the need to be in total control of every aspect of an organization. Second, some managers lack confidence in their subordinates or fear the consequences of having subordinates make decisions. Third, some subordinates are reluctant to assume an equal amount of responsibility and inhibit the delegation process in a variety of reasons: It’s easier to let the boss make the decisions; subordinates usually feel that making decisions is the boss’s job. Subordinates fear criticism for making bad decisions Subordinate managers don’t have enough factual information on which to base a decision. Subordinates are already overworked Subordinates lack self-confidence There is a lack of incentive or reward for assuming a greater workloadDecentralization and CentralizationThese are issues which managers must address when distributing authority. Decentralization is the process of systematically delegating power and authority throughout the organization to middle and lower-level managers. There is on the other hand centralization where authority for most decisions is concentrated at the top of the managerial hierarchy. There are advantages as well as disadvantages with both types of structures. It is worth noting that a pure form of centralization is not practical except in small companies whilst a pure form of decentralization almost never exists. The decision to swing in either direction depends on a number of factors such asthe mission, goals and objectives of the organization. Where organizations have a democratic power sharing structure that is usually a high defence of decentralized form. An example is the university where committees are formed to take major decisions. the size and complexity of the organization. Large organizations with diverse product line would find decentralization to be more effectivelocations of target market Organizations located far away geographically from target market would favour a more decentralized approachcompetency of top level management. When top level managers are more knowledgeable, then the tendency of the organization is towards consolidating decision-making at the central management petency of subordinates. Where subordinates are trained, experienced and knowledgeable the tendency is to have a decentralized structure. Advantages of Decentralization One of the benefits is that it relieves the top executive from excessive work load since most of the routine managerial responsibilities are delegated to subordinates. It also provides foundations for development of future executives. It is highly motivational for subordinates because it gives them the freedom to act and freedom to make decisions. Decentralization also leads to prompt actions and quick decisions. it results in effective control over operations and processes.Advantages of CentralisationOne benefit is that it is a means for adopting and enforcing uniform polices as it achieves coordination and conformity since all decisions are made at one central point. Another benefit is that the quality of decisions is expected to be higher since it is the top management who make such decisions. Top management is usually more experienced and knowledgeable about organizational problems and situations than the subordinates. Again, centralization makes it easier to achieve balance among the activities of different departments and functional areas. It is better equipped to handle any emergencies that might affect all the units of the organization. It can be highly motivating and morale boosting for executives. 5. Responsibility and AccountabilityResponsibility actually complements authority. It is a felt obligation. It is in a sense accountability for authority. Responsibility is considered to be the duty to perform the assigned tasks in a satisfactory manner. The source of responsibility lies within the individual. If an individual accepts a job or responsibility he/she must see that the job is completed to the best of his ability. Thus authority and responsibility for a given job are governed by contractual as well as moral obligations. Since responsibility is an obligation that a person accepts, it cannot be delegated to the subordinate even if the authority is delegated and the activity is performed by the subordinate. Unlike authority, responsibility cannot be assigned or given away. It must be willingly accepted. For this reason, authority should be given only to managers who are willing to assume an equal amount of responsibility. Although responsibility can not be delegated, a manager certainly can hold subordinates accountable for their actions. Line and Staff PositionsOrganisations have two types of positions, line and staff positions.Line position A line position is a position in the direct chain of command that is responsible for the achievement of an organization’s goals. Line positions are occupied by line personnel and line managers. Line managers have line authority to make the majority of the decisions and direct line personnel to achieve company goals. Line personnel carry out the primary activities of a business and are considered essential to the basic functioning of the organization. A line position is directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the organization, such as producing or selling a product or service. Staff positionNow, let us look at staff position. A staff position is intended to provide expertise, advice and support within the organization. Staff positions serve the organization by indirectly supporting line functions. Staff positions consist of staff personnel and staff managers. Staff personnel use their technical expertise to assist line personnel and aid top management in various business activities. Staff managers seldom have line authority but they have either advisory authority or functional authority. Although staff managers are not part of the chain of command related to direct production of products or services, they do have authority over personnel.There are four different types of staff positions. These are assistant-to, general staff, specialized staff and operating services staff. An assistant-to is a personal assistant to someone holding an office or position that is usually high in the organization. The assistant to a manager has a wide range of duties but may not carry formal authority over other positions in the organization.The idea of general staff was originally conceived by the military Recently large corporations have created general staff positions to help develop strategic, long-range plans.Specialized staff positions are filled by people with special training, skills and experience. They include accountants, engineers, personnel managers, corporate attorneys and so on. Line-and-staff authorityLine authorityThis is the right to carry out assignments and exact performance from other individuals. Line authority flows down the chain of command. For example, line authority gives a production supervisor the right to direct an employee to operate a particular machine, and it gives the vice president of finance the right to request a certain report from a department head. Therefore, line authority gives an individual a certain degree of power relating to the performance of an organizational task.There are two important issues to note when discussing line authority. The first is that line authority does not ensure effective performance, and the second is that line authority is not restricted to line personnel. The head of a staff department has line authority over his or her employees by virtue of authority relationships between the department head and his or her directly-reporting employees.Staff authorityStaff authority is the right to advise or counsel or support those with line authority. For example, human resource department employees help other departments by selecting and developing a qualified workforce. A quality control manager aids a production manager by determining the acceptable quality level of products or services at a manufacturing company, initiating quality programs, and carrying out statistical analysis to ensure compliance with quality standards. Therefore, staff authority gives staff personnel the right to offer advice in an effort to improve line operations.Functional authorityThis is referred to as limited line authority. It gives a staff person power over a particular function, such as safety or accounting. Usually, functional authority is given to specific staff personnel with expertise in a certain area. For example, members of an accounting department might have authority to request documents they need to prepare financial reports, or a human resource manager might have authority to ensure that all departments are complying with equal employment opportunity laws. Functional authority is a special type of authority for staff personnel, which must be designated by top management.Line-and-staff conflictLet us now look at possible sources of conflict between the two structures. Due to different positions and types of authority within a line-and-staff organization, conflict between line and staff personnel is almost inevitable. Although some conflict, due to differences in viewpoints is natural, conflict on the part of line and staff personnel can disrupt an entire organization. There are many reasons why conflicts occur. These can be attributed to poor human relations, overlapping authority and responsibility, and misuse of staff personnel by top management. For example, since the staff generally advise and the line decides and acts, the staff often feels powerless. The staff may be impatient with the conservative and slow manner in which line managers put the staff ideas to work. On the other hand, staff employees may be resented because of their specialized knowledge and expertise. Also staff may have easier access to top management which may be resented by line management. These are some reasons why feelings of resentment can occur between line and staff personnel. Ways to minimize conflict Fortunately, there are several ways to minimize conflict. One way is to integrate line and staff personnel into a work team. The success of the work team depends on how well each group can work together in efforts to increase productivity and performance.Another solution is to ensure that the areas of responsibility and authority of both line and staff personnel are clearly defined. With clearly defined lines of authority and responsibility, each group may better understand their role in the organization. A third way to minimize conflict is to hold both line and staff personnel accountable for the results of their own activities. In other words, line personnel should not be entirely responsible for poor performance resulting from staff personnel advice.CoordinationCoordination is the process of linking the activities of the various department of the organization. The primary reason for coordination is that departments and work groups are interdependent. They depend on each other for information and resources to perform their respective activities. The greater the interdependence between departments, the more coordination the organization requires if departments are to be able to perform effectively. There are three major forms of interdependence and these are pooled, sequential and reciprocal. Let us explain what each means.In pooled interdependence, departments tend to operate with little interaction with other departments in the organization. Departments or divisions that operate at this level tend to have their own separate budget, staff and objectives. The profits or losses from each of these rather independent departments are pooled or added together at the overall organizational levelIn sequential interdependence, the output of one unit becomes the input for another in a sequential fashion. This creates a moderate level of interdependence. In reciprocal interdependence activities flow both ways between units. This form is clearly the most complex. This kind of interdependence can be seen in a chain of hotels where the reservation department, front-desk check in and housekeeping are all reciprocally interdependent. Techniques for achieving coordinationThere are ways of achieving coordination among interdependent units in an organization. Notable ways include managerial hierarchy, rules and procedures, liaison roles, task forces and integrating departments. The managerial hierarchy Organizations that use the hierarchy to achieve coordination place one manager in charge of interdependent departments or units. To ensure coordination and minimize conflict, one manager is in charge of the whole operation.Rules and proceduresRoutine coordination activities can be handled via rules and standard procedures. Liaison roles A manager in this role coordinates interdependent units by acting as a common point of contact. The manager may not have any formal authority over the groups but instead simply facilitates the flow of information between units. The liaison maintains familiarity with each group as well as with the overall project.Task forces A task force may be created when the need for coordination is acute. When interdependence is complex and several units are involved, a single liaison person may not be sufficient. Instead, a task force might be assembled by drawing one representative from each group. The coordination function is thus spread across several individuals each of whom has special information about one of the groups involved. When the project is completed, task force members return to their original positions.Integrating departments They are similar to task forces but are more permanent. An integrating department generally has some permanent members as well as members who are assigned temporarily from units that are in need of coordination. An integrating department usually has more authority than a task force and may even be given some budgetary control by the organization. To conclude, I would like to stress that the greater the degree of interdependence, the more attention the organization must devote to coordination. When interdependence is pooled or simple sequential, the managerial hierarchy or rules and procedures are often sufficient. When more complex forms of sequential or simple forms of reciprocal interdependence exits, liaisons or task forces may be more useful. When reciprocal interdependence is complex, task forces or integrating departments are needed. ................
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