Elements of Organizational Structure

• Organizing is a function of management that involves vertical and horizontal coordination, which are factors of an organizational structure.

Elements of Organizational Structure

• Job design involves the assignment of tasks and responsibilities
• Departmentalization involves clustering positions into units, then units into departments
• Vertical coordination involves top-to-bottom coordination
• Horizontal coordination involves linkages across departments

Vertical Coordination

• Links activities at the top of the organization with those at the middle and lower levels.
• Without it, different parts of the organization would struggle to effectively work together.
• Formalization is the degree to which written policies, rules, procedures, and other documents specify actions within the company.
• Span of management involves how many subordinates report to a specific manager, which directly influences the number of levels of hierarchy in an organization.

Organizational Structure

• Tall structures have many hierarchical levels and a narrow span of control.
• Flat structures have few hierarchical levels and a wide span of control.
• Narrow spans of control likely indicate a tall structure.
• Downsides of tall organizations:
  • Higher administrative overhead
  • Slower communication and decision making.
  • Difficult pinpointing responsibility
  • Routing jobs.
• Downsizing reduces middle management layers, increases spans of control, and shrinks the workforce to improve efficiency.
• Restructuring involves major changes in the organizational structure, including reducing management levels and changing components.

Centralization vs. Decentralization

• Centralization involves retaining power and authority at the top.
• Decentralization delegates power and authority to lower levels.
• Affects vertical coordination by influencing the amount of decision-making at different levels.
• Centralization facilitates easier coordination and strong leadership.
• Decentralization eases executives' workloads and enriches lower-level employees' jobs.

Delegation

• Involves assigning part of a manager's work to others, along with the necessary responsibility and authority to achieve expected results.
• Managers sometimes struggle to delegate due to fear of subordinate failure, lack of time to train, or a desire to maintain authority.

Effective delegation steps

• Trust staff
• Avoid perfectionism
• Give effective instructions
• Know true interests
• Follow up on progress
• Praise staff efforts
• Delegate early
• Solicit questions and assist employees
• Provide sufficient resources
• Delegate to the lowest possible level

Line and Staff Positions

• Line positions have authority and responsibility for achieving the organization's goals.
• Staff positions provide specialized expertise and assistance to line positions.
• Line vs. staff roles depend on the type of organization.
• Line authority follows the chain of command, while staff authority (functional authority) relates to their expertise.

Methods of Horizontal Coordination

• Horizontal coordination provides additional means of processing information in organizations, which is important when addressing complex and/or changing technology, environmental uncertainty, and growth.
• Horizontal Coordination facilitates information processing, promotes innovations
• Sharing diverse views, awareness, involving others sparks creativity and implements new ideas.

Promoting Horizontal Coordination

• Using slack resources
• Information system usage
• Lateral relations

Relations

• Direct contact is the communication between two or more people at similar levels.
• Liaison roles involve a specific individual facilitating communication between two or more departments.
• Task forces are temporary interdepartmental groups formed to make recommendations.
• Teams solve problems and implement solutions related to a particular area.
• Managerial integrators coordinate related work involving several functional departments.
• Project, product, and brand managers help coordinate activities across departments.