Organizing (management): Difference between revisions

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Organizing (alternative spelling: Organising) is the act of rearranging elements following one or more rules.

Anything is commonly considered organized when it looks like everything has a correct order of placement. But it's only ultimately organized if any element has no difference on time taken to find it. In that sense, organizing can also be defined as to place different objects in logical arrangement for better searching.

Organizations are groups of people frequently trying to organize some specific subject, such as political issues. So, even while organizing can be viewed as a simple definition, it can get as complex as organizing the world's information.

History

Historically, as humans, we have always tried to organize ourselves. The organizing of information can be seen since the time man began to write. Prior to that, history was passed down through song and word. Be it with religion, books and spoken word, science, through journals and studies, or in many other ways, organizing not only is history, but also helps communicate history. Writing ideas in a book, as opposed to verbally communicating with someone, and more specifically cataloging ideas and thoughts, is also an attempt to organize information.

Science books are notable by their organization of a specific subject. Encyclopedias, instead, usually try to organize any subject into one place, for faster indexing and seeking of meanings.

Nature of organization

The following are the important characteristics of organisation.

Division of work or specialization

The entire philosophy of organisation depends on the concept of specialization. In specialization, various activities are assigned to different people who are specialists in that area. Specialization improves efficiency. Thus, organisation helps in division of work and assigning duties to different people.

Orientation towards goals

Every organisation has its own purposes and objectives. Organizing is the function employed to achieve the overall goals of the organisation. Organisation harmonies the individual goals of the employees with overall objectives of the firm.

Composition of individuals and groups

Individuals form a group and the groups form an organisation. Thus, organisation is the composition of individual and groups. Individuals are grouped into departments and their work is coordinated and directed towards organizational goals.

Differentiated functions

The organisation divides the entire work and assigns the tasks to individual in-order to achieve the organizational objectives each one has to perform a different task and tasks of one individuals must be coordinated with the tasks of others.

Continues process

An organization is a group of people with defined relationship to each other that allows them to work together achieve the goals of the organisation. This relationship do not come to end after completing a task. Organisation is a never ending process.

Purpose or Importance of Organisation

Helps to achieve organizational goal

Organisation is employed to achieve the overall objectives of business firms. Organisation focuses attention of individuals objectives towards overall objectives.

Optimum use of resources

To make optimum use of resources such as men, material, money, machine and method, it is necessary to design an organisation properly. Work should be divided and right people should be given right jobs to reduce the wastage of resources in an organisation.

To perform managerial function

Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing and Controlling cannot be implemented without proper organisation.

Facilitates growth and diversification

A good organisation structure is essential for expanding business activity. Organisation structure determines the input resources needed for expansion of a business activity similarly organisation is essential for product diversification such as establishing a new product line.

Human treatment of employees

Organisation has to operate for the betterment of employees an must not encourage monotony of work due to higher degree of specialization. Now, organisation has adapted the modern concept of systems approach based on human relations and it discards the traditional productivity and specialization approach.

Applications

Organizing, in companies point of view, is the management function that usually follows after planning. And it involves the assignment of tasks, the grouping of tasks into departments and the assignment of authority and allocation of resources across the organization.

Structure

The framework in which the organization defines how tasks are divided, resources are deployed, and departments are coordinated.

1. A set of formal tasks assigned to individuals and departments.
2. Formal reporting relationships, including lines of authority, decision responsibility, number of hierarchical levels and span of managers control.
3. The design of systems to ensure effective coordination of employees across departments.

Work specialization

• The degree to which organizational tasks are sub divided into individual jobs; also called division of labour
• With too much specialization, employees are isolated and do only a single, tiny, boring job.
• Many organizations enlarge jobs or rotate assigned tasks in order to provide greater challenges.

Chain of command

• An unbroken line of authority that links all individuals in the organization and specifies who reports to whom.
  • Unity of Command - one employee is held accountable to only one supervisor
  • Scalar principle - clearly defined line of authority in the organization that includes all employees

Authority, responsibility, and accountability

• Authority - formal and legitimate right of a manager to make decisions, issue orders, and allocate resources to achieve organizationally desired outcomes.
• Responsibility - duty to perform the task or activity an employee has been assigned
• Accountability - the fact that the people with authority and responsibility are subject to reporting and justifying task outcomes to those above them in the chain of command

Delegation

• The process managers use to transfer authority and responsibility to positions below them in the hierarchy
• Organizations today tend to encourage delegation from highest to lowest possible levels
• Can improve flexibility to meet customers’ needs and adaptation to competitive environments
• Managers often find delegation difficult

Types of authority (and responsibility)

• Line authority - in which individuals in management positions have the formal power to direct and control immediate subordinates.The superior orders and is responsible for the result; the subordinate obeys and is responsible only for executing the order according to standing or given instructions.

• Functional authority - in which individuals in management positions have formal power over a specific subset of activities. For instance, the Production Manager may have the line authority to decide whether and when a new machine is needed but the Controller demands that a Capital Expenditure Proposal is submitted first, showing that the investment will have a yield of at least x%; or, a legal department may have functional authority to interfere in any activity that could have legal consequences. This authority would not be functional but it would rather be staff authority if such interference is "advice" rather than "order".

• Staff authority - granted to staff specialists in their areas of expertise. It is not a real authority in the sense that a staff manager does not order or instruct but simply advises, recommends, and counsels in the staff specialists' area of expertise and is responsible only for the quality of the advice (to be in line with the respective professional standards etc) It is a communication relationship with management. It has an influence that derives indirectly from line authority at a higher level.

Span of management

Factors influencing larger span of management.

1. Work performed by subordinates is stable and routine.
2. Subordinates perform similar work tasks.
3. Subordinates are concentrated in a single location.
4. Subordinates are highly trained and need little direction in performing tasks.
5. Rules and procedures defining task activities are available.
6. Support systems and personnel are available for the managers.
7. Little time is required in non-supervisory activities such as coordination with other departments or planning.
8. Managers' personal preferences and styles favour a large span.

Tall versus flat structure

• Tall - A management structure characterized by an overall narrow span of management and a relatively large number of hierarchical levels. Tight control.
• Flat - A management structure characterized by a wide span of control and relatively few hierarchical levels. Loose control. Facilitates delegation.

Centralization, decentralization, and formalization

• Centralization - The location of decision making authority near top organizational levels.
• Decentralization - The location of decision making authority near lower organizational levels.
• Formalization - The written documentation used to direct and control employees.

Departmentalization

The basis on which individuals are grouped into departments and departments into total organizations.

Approach options include;

1. Functional - by common skills and work tasks
2. Divisional - common product, program or geographical location
3. Matrix - combination of Functional and Divisional
4. Team - to accomplish specific tasks
5. Network - departments are independent providing functions for a central core breaker

Importance of organizing

• Organizations are often troubled by how to organize, particularly when a new strategy is developed
• Changing market conditions or new technology requires change
• Organizations seek efficiencies through improvements in organizing

See also

• Order theory
• Sorting
• Community organizing
• Union organizer
• Professional organizer
• The organization of the artist

References

This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Organizing" management – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Further reading

• Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern, Owl Books 1998 ISBN 0-8050-5649-1
• Eliminate Chaos...The 10-Step Process to Organize Your Home & Life by Laura Leist, Sasquatch Books 2006 ISBN 1-57061-467-9

Look up organize in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.