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REASONSFORORGANIZING
ORGANIZINGDEFINED
THEPURPOSEOFSTRUTURE
THEFORMALORGANIZATION
INFORMALGROUP
TYPESOFORGANIZATIONALSTRUCTURES
TYPES OF AUTHORITY
THEPURPOSEOFCOMMITTEES
INTRO
The engineer manager needs to acquire various skills in management, including those for organizing technical
activities. In this highly competitive environment, unskilled manager will notbeabletobringhisunit,orhiscompany,asthe
case maybe, to success.
The opportunities offered by skillful organizing are too important for an engineer manager to ignore. This chapter
is intended to provide him with some background and insight in organizing.
ORGANIZING DEFINED
Organizing is a management function which refers to “the structuring of resources and activities
to accomplish objectives in an efficientmanner.”
The arrangement or relationship of positions within an organization is called the structure. The
result of the organizing process is the structure.
1. It defines the relationships between tasks and authority for individuals and departments.
2. It defines formal reporting relationships. The number of levels in the hierarchy of the organization, and the span
of control.
3. It defines the groupings of individuals into departments into organizations.
4. It defines the system to effect coordination of effort in both vertical (authority) and horizontal
(tasks) directions.
The organization chart is a diagram of the organization’s official positions and formal lines of authority.
The organizational manual provides written description of authority relationships, details the
functions of major organizational units and describes job procedures.
The policy manual describes personnel activities and company policies.
INFORMAL GROUPS
There some instances when members of an organization spontaneously form a group with friendship as a principal
reasons for belonging. This group is called an informal group. It is not a part of formal organization and it does not
have a formal performance purpose.
The informal organization, useful as it is, is “vulnerable to expediency, manipulation, and opportunism,”accordingto
Valentine.Itslow visibility, Valentine added, makes it “difficult for management to detect these previsions, and
considerableharmcanbedonetothecompany.”
TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONALSTRUCTURES
y
Before the commencement of activities, thedecision makers in an organization will haveto decide on what
structure to adapt.Depending on the size and type of operations, a certain structural type may best fit
the requirements.
Organizations may be classified intothree types. They are the following:
1
.
Functional organization-his is a form of departmentalization in which everyone engaged onefunctional
activity, such as engineering or marketing, isgrouped into a unit.
2.
Product or market organization-this refers to theorganization of the company by divisions that
bringstogether all those involved with a certain type of productorconsumer.
3.
Matrix organization-an organizational structure in which each employee reports to both a functional
ordivisionmanagerandtoaprojectorgroupmanager.
FUNCT
I
ONAL ORGAN
IZ
AT
I
ON
y
F u n c t i o n a l o r g a n i z a t i o n s t r u c t u r e s a r e v e r y e f f e c t
i v e i n s m a l l e r f i r m s , e s p e c i a l l y s i n g l e -
b u s i n e s s f i r m s w h e r e k e y a c t i v i t i e s r e v o
l v e a r o u n d w e l l -
d e f i n e d s k i l l s a n d a r e a
o f specialization .
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The disadvantages offunctional organization are thefollowing
:
1
.
Communication and coordination between thedepartmentareoftenpoor.
2.
Decisions involving more than one department pile upthetopmanagementlevelandareoftendelayed.
3.
W
ork specialization and division of labor and division of labor, which are stressed in functional
organization,produce routine, non motivating employee task.
4.
It is difficult to identify which section or group isresponsible for certain problems.
5.
There is limited view of organizational goals by employees.
6.
There is limited general management training foremployees.
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pk
et
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i
e
s
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s
:
1
.
Thereisahighpossibilityofduplicationofresourcesacrossdivisions.
2.
There is less technical depth and specializations indivisions.
3.
Thereispoorcoordinationacrossdivisions.
4.
Thereislesstopmanagementcontrol.
5.
Thereiscompetitionforcorporateresources.
MATR
IX
ORGAN
IZ
AT
I
ON
y
A matrix organization, according toThompson and Strickland, is a structure with two(or more) channels
of command,twolinesofbudgetauthority,andtwosourcesofperformanceandreward. Higgins declared that matrix
structure wasdesigned to keep employees in a central pooland to allocate them to various projects inthe firm
according to the length of time they wereneeded.
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TYPES OF AUTHORITY
1
.
Line authority-a manager s right to tellsubordinates what to do and then see thatthey do it.
2.
Staff authority-a staff specialist s right togiveadvicetoasuperior.
3.
Functional authority-a specialist s right tooversee lower level personnel involved inthat
specialty, regardless of where thepersonnel in the organization.
Line departments perform tasks thatreflect the organization primary goaland mission. In
a construction firm,the department that negotiates andsecures contracts for the firm is a linedepartment.
The constructions divisionis also line function.
Staff departments include all those thatprovide specialized skills in support of linedepartment. Examples of
staff departmentsinclude those which perform strategicplanning, labor relations, research,accounting, and
personnel.
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STAFF OFF
I
CER MAY BECLASS
I
F
I
ED
I
NTO THE FOLLOW
I
NG:
1
.
Personal staff-those individuals assignedto a specific manager to provide neededstaff services.
2.
Specialized staff-those individualsproviding needed staff services for the whole organization.