CHAPTER 7:ORGANIZING AND DELEGATING WORK

CH 7© 2015 SAGE Publications

Organizational Considerations• Mechanic Organizations

• Are bureaucratic• Follow rules through tight control• Specialized jobs• Decisions made by top managers• Work well in stable environments

• Organic Organizations• Are flexible• Minimal focus on rules• Broadly defined jobs decisions made at lower levels• Work well in dynamic environment

Command and Direction• Unity of Command:

• Requires that each employee report to only one boss• Unity of Direction:

• Requires that all activities be directed toward the same objectives

• Chain of Command or the Scalar Principle:• The clear line of authority from the top to the bottom of an

organization

Span of Management• The number of employees reporting to a manager

• Tall organization: • Many levels with narrow spans of management

• Flat organization:• Few levels with wide spans of management

Authority

• Based on the specified relationship among employees

• Sanctioned way of getting the job done

• Common in mechanistic organizations

• Based on patterns of relationship that evolve as employees interact

• Unsanctioned way of getting the job done

• More accepted in organic organizations

Formal Authority Informal Authority

Centralized and Decentralized Authority

• Important decisions are made by top managers

• Allows for control and reduced duplication of work

• Mechanic organization use centralized authority

• Important decisions are made by middle and first-line managers

• Pushes authority and accountability further down the line

• Allows for efficiency and flexibility

• Organic tend to use decentralized authority

Centralized Authority Decentralized Authority

Levels of Authority• The Authority to Inform:

• May inform the supervisor alternative actions• The Authority to Recommend:

• May list alternative decision and actions, analyze them and recommend one action

• The Authority to Report:• May select a course of action but must report the action

• Full Authority: • May make decisions without the supervisor’s knowledge

Line and Staff Authority• Line authority:

• The responsibility to make decisions and issue orders down the chain of command

• Staff authority:• The responsibility to advise and assist other personnel

Organization Chart• Graphic illustration of the organizations management

hierarchy and departments and their working relationships• The Level of Management Hierarchy

• Top, middle and first line• Chain of Command

• Who reports to whom• Division of work

• Who is responsible for what function• Departmentalization

• The grouping of related activities into units

Internal Departmentalization• Based on Internal Operations or Functions

• Also called “Functional Departmentalization”• Involves organizing department around essential input

activities• Sales, production, and finance

• Used by small organizations

External Departmentalization• Based on the external or output and activities outside

the organization• Product Departmentalization

• Organizing departments around goods or services• Customer Departmentalization

• Organizing department around the needs of different types of customers

• Territory Departmentalization• Establishing separate units in each area in which enterprise does

business

Multiple Departmentalization• Many organizations, particularly large, complex ones,

use several types of departmentalization to create a hybrid structure

• Matrix departmentalization • Combines functional and product departmentalization• Divisional structure is based on semiautonomous strategic

business units

Conglomerate Structure• Based on autonomous profit centers or many unrelated

diversified business units• Top management focuses on business portfolio

management to buy and sell lines of business without great concern for coordinating divisions

Contemporary Organizational Designs • Networks

• Boundariless interrelationships among different organizations• Modular

• Firms that focus on what they do best, outsource the rest to other companies, and coordinate their activities

• Virtual Organization• Continually evolving network of companies that unite

temporarily to exploit specific opportunities or to attain strategic advantages and then disband when objectives are met

Job Design• The process of identifying tasks that each employee is

responsible for completing

Job Simplification and Job Expansion

• Changes in the work sequence enhance performance

• Makes job more specialized

• Work smarter, not harder• Three steps:

• Eliminate• Combine• Change sequence

• Makes jobs less specialized

• Jobs can be expanded through:• Rotation- performing

different jobs in certain period of time

• Enlargement- adding tasks to broaden variety

• Enrichment- building motivators into the job itself to make it more interesting.

Job Simplification Job Expansion

Setting Priorities• Make a to-do list of tasks• Assign each task a priority• Focus on accomplishing only one task at a time

Priority Determination Questions• Do I need to be personally involved because of my

knowledge or skills?• Is the task my responsibility or will it affect the

performance of my department?• When is the deadline - is quick action needed?

Delegating• The process of assigning responsibility and authority for

accomplishing objectives• Obstacles to delegation: Managers believe that they can

perform the task more efficiently than others

Four Steps in the Delegating Process• Explain the need for delegating and the reasons for

selecting the employees• Set objectives that define responsibility, level of

authority and deadline• Develop a plan• Establish control checkpoints and hold employees

accountable