Chapter 6 Organizing and Delegating Work 1

CHAPTER 6
ORGANIZING AND DELEGATING WORK

Chapter Outline

I. PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION
A. Unity of Command and Direction
B. Chain of Command
C. Span of Management
D. Division of Labor
E. Coordination
F. Balanced Responsibility and Authority
G. Delegation
H. Flexibility

II. AUTHORITY
A. Formal and Informal Authority
B. Levels of Authority
C. Line and Staff Authority
D. Centralized and Decentralized Authority

III. ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN

A. Organization Chart
B. Departmentalization
C. Multiple Departmentalization
D. New Approaches to Departmentalization

IV. JOB DESIGN

A. Job Simplification
B. Job Expansion
C. Work Teams
D. The Job Characteristics Model

V. ORGANIZING YOURSELF AND DELEGATING

A. Setting Priorities
B. Delegation
C. Delegation Decisions
D. Delegating with the Use of a Model

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Lecture Outline

I. PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION
Organizing is the second function of management and was defined as the process of delegating and coordinating
tasks and resources to achieve objectives. On an organization wide basis, organizing refers to grouping activities and
resources.

A. Unity of Command and Direction

Unity of command means that each employee should report to only one boss. Unity of direction means that all
activities should be directed toward the same objective.

B. Chain of Command
Chain of command, also known as the Scalar Principle, is the clear line of authority from the top to the bottom of the
organization. All members of the firm should know to whom they report and who, if anyone, reports to them.

C. Span of Management

The span of management refers to the number of employees reporting to a manager. The fewer employees
supervised, the smaller or narrower the span of management.
With the span of management comes the height of the organizational levels. A flat organization exists when there
are few levels with wide spans of management. A tall organization exists when there are many levels with narrow
spans of management.

D. Division of Labor
With the division of labor, employees have specialized jobs.

Lawrence and Lorsch coined the terms differentiation and integration. Differentiation refers to the need to break the
organization into departments, while integration refers to the need to coordinate the departmental activities.

E. Coordination

Coordination means that all departments and individuals within the organization should work together to
accomplish the strategic and operational objectives and plans. Coordination is the process of integrating
organizational/departmental tasks and resources to meet objectives.

Other means of coordination include:

• Direct contact between people within and between departments.
• Liaisons who work in one department and coordinate information and activities with one or more other
departments.
• Committees made up of people from the different departments being coordinated.
• Integrators who do not work for any department but coordinate departmental activities to reach an objective.
• Boundary roles in which employees coordinate efforts with people in the external environment.

F. Balanced Responsibility and Authority

Balanced responsibility and authority mean that the responsibilities of each individual in the organization are clearly
defined. Each individual is also given the authority needed to meet these responsibilities and is held accountable for
meeting them.

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Responsibility is the obligation to achieve objectives by performing required activities. Authority is the right to
make decisions, issue orders, and utilize resources. Accountability is the evaluation of how well individuals meet
their responsibility.

G. Delegation
Delegation is the process of assigning responsibility and authority for accomplishing objectives. Delegation is
covered in detail later in this chapter.

H. Flexibility
Flexibility means that there will always be exceptions to the rule.

II. AUTHORITY
See Exhibit 6-3 Authority for a list of the four dimensions of authority covered in this section.

A. Formal and Informal Authority

1. Formal Authority: Formal authority (or structure) includes the specified relationships among employees. It is
the sanctioned way of getting the job done. Formal authority starts at the top of the organization and is
delegated down the chain of command.
2. Informal Authority: Informal authority (or structure) includes the patterns of relationships and
communications that evolve as employees interact and communicate to get their jobs done. It is the
unsanctioned way of getting the job done.
3. Scope of Authority: The scope of authority narrows as it flows down the organization. Responsibility and
authority are delegated and flow down the organization, whereas accountability flows up the organization.
B. Levels of Authority

1. Inform authority. The person informs the boss of possible alternative actions. The boss has the authority to
make the decision.
2. Recommend authority. The person lists alternative actions, analyzes them, and recommends one action.
However, the manager may not implement the recommendation without the boss's okay.
3. Report authority. The person may freely select a course of action and carry it out. However, afterward the
person must report the action taken to the boss.
4. Full authority. The person may freely make decisions and act without the boss's knowledge.

C. Line and Staff Authority

Line authority is the responsibility to make decisions and issue orders down the chain of command. Staff authority
is the responsibility to advise and assist line personnel. Line managers are primarily responsible for achieving the
organization's objectives, and staff people provide them with a service to help them.

1. Functional Authority: Functional authority is the right of staff personnel to issue orders to line personnel in
established areas of responsibility.
2. Dual Line and Staff Authority: Staff managers may have both staff and line authority.
3. General and Specialist Staff: General staff work for only one manager. They are often called "assistant to"
and help the manager in any way needed. Specialist staff help anyone in the organization who needs it. Human
resources, finance, accounting, public relations, and maintenance offer specialized advice and assistance.

D. Centralized and Decentralized Authority

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The major difference between centralized and decentralized authority is who makes the important decisions. With
centralized authority, important decisions are made by top managers. With decentralized authority, important
decisions are made by middle- and first-level managers.

III. ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN

Organizational design refers to the arrangements of positions into work units/departments and the interrelationship
among them within the organization.

See Exhibit 6-4 Organization Chart as an illustration of an organization chart.

A. Organization Chart

An organization chart is a graphic illustration of the organization's management hierarchy and departments and
their working relationships. Each box represents a position within the organization, and each line indicates the
reporting relationships and lines of communication.
An organization chart shows four major aspects of a firm:
• The level of management hierarchy.
• Chain of command. As you follow the vertical lines you can see it.
• The division and type of work. GM divides work is by type of automobile.
• Departmentalization. An organization chart shows how the firm is divided into permanent work units.

An organization chart does not show the day-to-day activities performed or the structure of the informal
organization.

B. Departmentalization
Departmentalization is the grouping of related activities into units. Departments may be created with an internal or
external focus. Departmentalization around the internal operations or functions that the employees perform and the
resources needed to accomplish the unit's work is called functional departmentalization. External or output
departmentalization is based on activities that focus on factors outside the organization and is called product,
customer, and territory departmentalization.

1. Functional Departmentalization: This involves organizing departments around essential input activities, such
as production, sales, and finance that are managerial or technological functions.
2. Product (Including Service) Departmentalization: This involves organizing departments around products or
services. Product departmentalization is commonly used by companies with multiple products. Each department
may become a self-contained company, making and selling its own product or service.
3. Customer Departmentalization: This involves organizing departments around the needs of different types of
customers. The product may be changed, and a different sales team may serve each group of customers.
4. Territory (Geographic) Departmentalization: This involves organizing departments in each area in which the
enterprise does business.

C. Multiple Departmentalization

Many organizations, particularly large, complex organizations, use several of the departmental structures described
to create a hybrid organization. Any mixture of structures can be used.

1. Matrix Departmentalization: This combines the functional and product departmental structures. With matrix
departmentalization, the employee works for a functional department and is also assigned to one or more
products or projects.
2. Divisional Departmentalization: Divisional structure departmentalizes based on semiautonomous strategic
business units (Chapter 5). In essence, you have coordinated companies within a company. Within the
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divisional, or M-Form structure, any mixture of the other forms of departmentalization may also be used by
the company and within divisions. Divisional structure is common for large, complex global businesses with a
diversity of products and services to aid in portfolio management (Chapter 5).
The conglomerate- holding company or H-Form- structure departmentalizes based on autonomous profit
centers. Companies with unrelated diversified business units use the conglomerate structure. Top management
focuses on portfolio management to buy and sell businesses without great concern for coordinating divisions.

D. New Approaches to Departmentalization

1. The Horizontal Team Organization. Hierarch is changing from a vertical top down focus to a horizontal
organization with an all-directional Firms are breaking down barriers between departments and using work
processes rather than departmental functions.
New venture units, or skunkworks, consist of a group of employees who volunteer to work to develop new
products or ventures for companies. They use a form of matrix structure. New products become a part of
traditional departmentalization, are developed into new departments, or grow into divisions.
High involvement- greenfields- use a team approach to organize a new facility.

2. Network Structures and the Virtual Organization. Networks are boundaryless interrelationships among
different organization. Network firms focus on what they do best and outsource the rest (accounting, design,
engineering, manufacturing, marketing, distribution) to separate companies and coordinates their activities form
a small headquarters organization. The firm may be viewed as a central hub surrounded by a network of outside
specialists that change when needed.
A further development of the network is the virtual (network) organization. A virtual organization is a
continually evolving group of companies that unite temporarily to exploit specific opportunities or attain
strategic advantages and then disband when objectives are met. The virtual organization has no central hub as
each independent company gives up some control to temporarily become part of a new larger organizational
system.
3. The Learning Organization. There is no agreement of what the learning organization looks like or operates
like. However, it does use the horizontal team structure with open information and knowledge sharing. Learning
organizations are also characterized by decentralized decision making, participative strategy, empowered
employees who share responsibility, and it has a strong adaptive culture.

IV. JOB DESIGN

Job design is the process of combining tasks that each employee is responsible for completing.

A. Job Simplification
Job simplification is used to make jobs more specialized. It is based on the organizing principle of division of labor
and Taylor’s scientific management (Chapter 1). The idea behind job simplification is to work smarter, not harder.
Job simplification is the process of eliminating, combining, and/or changing the work sequence to increase
performance. Break the job down into steps (flowchart) and see if you can:

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• Eliminate. Does the task have to be done at all? If not, don’t waste time doing it.
• Combine. Doing more than one thing at a time often saves time.
• Change sequence. Often a change in the order of doing things results in a lower total time.

Job that are too simple and boring can lead to lower levels of productivity. However, when used appropriately, job
simplification can be effective at motivating employees.

B. Job Expansion

Job expansion is the process of making jobs less specialized. Jobs can be expanded through job rotation, job
enlargement, and job enrichment.

1. Job Rotation: This involves performing different jobs for a set period of time.
2. Job Enlargement: This involves adding tasks to broaden job variety.
3. Job Enrichment: Job enrichment is the process of building motivators into the job itself by making it more
interesting and challenging. Job enrichment works with jobs of low motivation potential with employees who
want their jobs enriched. A simple way to enrich jobs is for the manager to delegate more variety and
responsibility to employees.

C. Work Teams
The traditional approach to job design has been to focus on individual jobs. Today, the trend is shifting to designing
jobs for work teams, or rather, teams are redesigning members’ jobs. The development of work teams is a form of
job enrichment.

1. Integrated Work Teams: These are assigned a number of tasks by the manager and the team gives specific
assignments to members and is responsible for rotating jobs.
2. Self-Managed Wok Teams: These are assigned a goal, and the team plans, organizes, leads, and controls to
achieve the goal.

D. The Job Characteristics Model

The job characteristics model provides a conceptual framework for designing enriched jobs. Individuals or a team
can use the model to enrich jobs. The job characteristics model comprises core job dimensions, critical
psychological states, and employee growth-need strength to improve quality of working life for employees and
productivity for the organization.

1. Core Job Dimensions: These include five dimensions that determine a job’s personal (quality of working life
for employees) and work (productivity for the organization) outcomes.
1. Skill variety is the number of diverse tasks that compose a job and the number of skills used to perform the
job.
2. Task identity is the degree to which an employee performs a whole identifiable task.
3. Task significance is the perception of the importance of the task to others--the organization, the department,
coworkers, and/or customers.
4. Autonomy is the degree to which the employee has discretion to make decision in planning, organizing, and
controlling the task performed.
5. Feedback is the extent to which employees find out how well they perform their tasks.

NOTE: The following is in Exhibit 6-8 but is not discussed in the text section of the book.
2. Critical Psychological States: These include three states developed through core job dimensions that
determine a job’s personal and work outcomes.
A. Experienced meaningfulness of the work is based on 1. skill variety, 2. task identity, and 3. task
significance.
B. Experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work is based on 4. autonomy. The greater the autonomy,
the greater the experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work, and the greater is the personal and
work outcomes.
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C. Knowledge of the actual results of the work activities is based on 5. feedback. The greater the feedback,
the greater is the knowledge of results of the work, and the greater the personal and work outcomes.

3. Performance and Work Outcomes: These are the four benefits of the critical psychological states that are
created by the five core job dimensions.
1. High internal work motivation.
2. High quality work performance.
3. High satisfaction with the work.
4. Low absenteeism and turnover.
4. Employee Growth-Need Strength: This determines the employees’ interest in having the five core dimensions
improved, which determines the critical psychological states, and the personal and work outcomes. Generally,
the stronger the employees growth-need, the more interested they are in improving the five core dimensions and
the critical psychological states, and the greater the personal and work outcomes.

V. ORGANIZING YOURSELF AND DELEGATING

A. Setting Priorities

How managers select the priority order of what needs to be accomplished affects their career success.

1. Priority Determination Questions: To determine the importance of tasks, you ask yourself three questions
about the task that needs to be completed. Priority determination questions ask: Do I need to be personally
involved? Is the task within my major area of responsibility or will it affect the performance or finances of my
department? When is the deadline, is quick action needed?
2. Assigning Priorities: After the three questions are answered, a high, medium, or low priority can be assigned to
each activity:
• Delegate (D): The task is delegated if the answer to Question 1 (Do I need to be personally involved?) is no.
• High (H) Priority: A high priority is assigned if you answer yes to all three questions.
• Medium (M) Priority: A medium priority is assigned if you answer yes to Question 1 (you need to be
involved) but no to Question 2 (it is not your major responsibility) or not to Question 3 (quick action is not
needed; it can wait).
• Low (L) Priority: A low priority is assigned if you answer yes to question 1 (you need to be involved) but
no to both questions 2 and 3. It is not your major responsibility, and quick action is not needed.

3. The Prioritized To-Do List: Refer to Model 6-1 for a copy of the prioritized to-do list. The steps to using the
prioritized to-do list are:
1. Write the task that you must perform on the task line.
2. Answer the three priority questions by placing a Y (yes) or N (no) in the column.
3. Assign a priority to the task by placing the letter D (delegate), H (high), M (medium), or L (low) in the priority
column.
4. Determine which task to complete now. You may have more than one high priority, so select the most important
one. When all high priorities are completed, go to medium followed by low.
Update the tasks on the prioritized to-do list and add new ones. As time passes, the items that were prioritized
medium and low become high.

B. Delegation
Delegation is the process of assigning responsibility and authority for accomplishing objectives. Telling employees
to perform the tasks that are part of their job design is issuing orders, not delegating. Delegating refers to giving
employees new tasks.
1. Benefits of Delegation: When managers delegate they have more time to perform high-priority tasks.
2. Obstacles to Delegation: Managers become used to doing things themselves. Managers fear that the employee
will fail to accomplish the task.
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3. Signs of Delegating Too Little: Two of the seven signs include: taking work home, and performing employee
tasks.

C. Delegation Decisions
The following are in Exhibit 6-10
1. What to Delegate: As a general guide, use your prioritized to-do list and delegate anything that you do not
have to be personally involved with because of your unique knowledge or skill. Some possibilities include the
following: Paperwork. Routine tasks. Technical matters. Tasks with developmental potential. Solving
employees' problems.
2. What Not to Delegate: As a general guide, do not delegate anything that you need to be personally involved
with because of your unique knowledge or skill. Typical examples include: Personnel matters, Confidential
activities, Crises, and Activities delegated to you personally.
3. Determining to Whom to Delegate: Once you have decided what to delegate, you must select an employee to
do the task.

D. Delegating with the Use of a Model

The delegation model steps are: (1) explaining the need for delegating and the reasons for selecting the employee;
(2) setting objectives that define responsibility, the level of authority, and the deadline; (3) developing a plan; (4)
establishing control checkpoints and holding employees accountable.
Step 1. Explain the Need for Delegating and the Reasons for Selecting the Employee: It is helpful for the
employee to understand why the assignment must be completed.

Step 2. Set Objectives That Define Responsibility, the Level of Authority, and the Deadline: The objectives
should clearly state the end result the employee is responsible for achieving by a specific deadline. You should also
define the level of authority the employee has.

Step 3. Develop a Plan: Once the objectives is set, a plan is needed to achieve them.

Step 4. Establish Control Checkpoints and Hold Employees Accountable For simple short tasks a deadline
without control checkpoints are appropriate. However, it is often advisable to check progress at predetermined times
(control checkpoints) for tasks that have multiple steps and/or will take some time to complete.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES AND ANSWERS
These learning objectives are included in the test bank in the concepts section.
1. Explain the difference between a flat and tall organization.
With a flat organization, there are a few levels with wide spans of management. With a tall organization there are
many levels with narrow spans of management.
2. Describe the similarity and difference among liaisons, integrators, and boundary roles.
They are similar because they all are coordination techniques. Liaisons and integrators are similar because they
coordinate internally whereas boundary roles coordinate efforts with customers, suppliers, and other people in
the external environment. Liaisons and integrators are different because liaisons work in one department and
coordinate with other departments, whereas integrators coordinate departmental activities without working for
any department.
3. Discuss the difference between formal and informal and central and decentralized authority.
Formal authority is the specified relationships among employees and the sanctioned way of getting the job done,
whereas informal authority is patterns of relationships and communication among employees and the
unsanctioned way of getting the job done. With centralized authority, important decisions are made by top
managers; whereas with decentralized authority, important decisions are made by middle- and first-level
managers.
4. List and briefly explain the four levels of authority.
1. Inform- the person simply presents alternatives. 2. Recommend- the person presents alternatives and suggests
one. 3. Report- the person takes action and then tells the boss. 4. Full- the person takes action and does not have
to tell the boss about it.
5. Describe the relationship between line and staff authority.
The staff personnel advise and assist line personnel who are responsible for making decisions and issuing orders
down the chain of command.
6. Explain what an organization chart is and list the four things it shows.
An organization chart is a graphic illustration of the organization's management hierarchy and departments and
their working relationships. It shows the level of management hierarchy, chain of command, division and type of
work, and departmentalization.
7. Discuss the difference between internal and external departmentalization.
Internal, or input, departmentalization focuses on functions performed within the organization. External, or
output, departmentalization focuses on the product, customer, or territory in which the organization does
business.
8. State the similarities and differences between matrix and divisional departmentalization.
They are similar because both are multiple departmentalization methods. Matrix departmentalization combines
the functional and product departmental structures to focus on projects. Divisional structure departmentalizes
based on semiautonomous strategic business units to focus on portfolio management.
9. Explain the difference between job simplification and expansion.
Job simplification is used to make jobs more specialized by eliminating, combining, and/or changing the work
sequence. Job expansion is used to make jobs less specialized by rotating jobs, enlarging jobs, and/or enriching
jobs to make them more interesting and challenging.
10. Describe the job characteristics model and what it is used for.
The job characteristics model is a conceptual framework for designing enriched jobs. It comprises core job
dimensions, critical psychological states, and employee growth-need strength. It is used to improve quality of
working life for employees and productivity for the organization.
12. List the four steps in the delegation model.
(1) Explaining the need for delegating and the reasons that the employee was selected; (2) setting objectives that
define responsibility, the level of authority, and the deadline; (3) developing a plan; (4) establishing control
checkpoints and holding employees accountable.