Corrective action can include changes made to the performance standardssetting them higher or lower or identifying new or additional standards. Simple structure an organizational design with low departmentalization, wide spans of control, centralized authority, and little formalization. Designing organizational structure organizational chart the visual representation of an organizations structure. What is span of control and organizational structure. Either shrink the organization so that with a given span, the hierarchy will have fewer layers as the number of members in the organization contracts. It is debatable point in organizational theory whether there exist some universally valid principles of organization. The hierarchychain of command in a business refers to the organizational structure based on a ranking system. Each type has its inherent advantages and disadvantages. Functional structure an organizational design that groups together similar or related occupational specialties. As an example, a manager with five direct reports has a span of control. Span of control is a function of the formal decision rights embedded in an. Hotels using narrow spans of control delegate management authority to assistant managers, department heads and supervisors for dayto.
Unity of command and span of control the two basic concepts and principles of unity of command and span of control will be looked at separately in this article because of their distinct roles in the study of organizational theory and practice. The levels in case of organisation b5 where span of control is 4 appears as follows. Measuring scope and span of control interpreting results span of control tool evaluated by university of pittsburgh statistician main purpose was to establish tiers for allocating administrative support and to determine the validity of the tool defining tiers statistician recommended the 10th and 90th percentiles. September 28, 2015 referred to october 28, 2015 for receipt of a presentation to. Throughout the 20th century, many organizations chased the notion of finding and using one ideal universal span of control socthe magic number of employees a manager could oversee to achieve optimal effectiveness and efficiency. Whereas, with the narrow span, the hierarchical levels increases, hence the. The span of 4 prevails for each functional area at each level. Span of control 9 span of control refers to the number of employees a supervisor oversees expressed as a ratio e. The span of control is expressed in one of two ways.
If the span of control is narrow, then there will be many management levels. Span of control and span of attention working paper harvard. Organizational effectiveness, chapter, organizational design page 275 a tall organizational structure with a narrow span of control allows for closer control over subordinates and greater personal contact between manager and subordinate. As shown in figure 1, keeping the organization layers to five while increasing the span of control from five to eight means management can support six times the number of people, enabling managers. Pdf the span of control expresses how many subordinates correspond to one manager, while determined by many factors and unable to be expanded. Overall, the ttcs span of control was found to be comparable to similar public sector organizations and inline with benchmark standards. Individual adjustment and organizational performance this analysis focuses upon the control aspects of organizations. Span of control refers to the number of subordinates that can be managed effectively and efficiently by supervisors or managers in an organization. As explained in organizational lifecycle and decline, the relationship complexity to be managed increases exponentially as more reports are added to a managers portfolio. Two concepts related to organizational designspan of control and organizational layerscan affect an organizations efficiency and effectiveness. Span of control is the term now used more commonly in business management, particularly human resource management. If the same organization has narrow spans of control with many supervisory levels. This is an important topic as it is normally agreed that the wider the span of control the.
The term span of control is used to describe the chain of authority in a hotel organizational structure. In an outcomebased organization design, the concept of span of control begins to shift to a span of support model. In the hierarchical business organization of some time in the past. The different functional departments within the business marketing, finance, production, human resources, etc. The results of one study, and particularly the questions which it raises, con. Work specialization departmentalization chain of command span of control centralization and decentralization formalization 10 4. In a narrow span of control, a manger has fewer subordinates under him. Pdf span of control in teamwork and organization structure. Meeting and exceeding expectations, a vice president, for instance, usually manages fewer than four people while the lowerranking assembly line supervisor might manage oversee 15. Part 3 organizing chapter 5 organizational structure and design. Innovation and change have become major catalysts for growth. This is an important topic as it is normally agreed that the wider the span of control the fewer levels of hierarchy the business needs. How to identify the right spans of control for your. Span of control describes how many subordinates a manager directly supervises.
Organizational control is an inherently communicative activity that consists of verbal and physical actions designed to overcome resistance and exercise authority over others. Span of control theory there is no standard for span of control. Span of management or span of control management study hq. Span of control plays an important role in organizations and has implications for organizational structure, how decisions are made, the interactions between supervisors and subordinates and is an important aspect of a managers coalition. Supervisors managing few employees have a narrow span of control. How to identify the right spans of control for your organization. It adds more layers or levels of management and so leads to tall organization. Organizational control theory theories of organizational control examine the process by which one party attempts to influence the behavior of another within a given system. The paper uses the empirical approach to propose a method of defining optimal span of control for an enterprise, and leads to a conclusion, that efficiency of organizational function performance within company management can be estimated with the use of span of control criteria.
Defining optimal span of control for an enterprise. Span of control it refers to number of direct reports per manager. Low spans of control and high numbers of organizational layers increase the operating costs of departments, especially when these. In these sessions, we can unearth situational factors for example, a new group or line of business thats just been launched, so isnt yet standardized but someday will be that can help our clients set their own spanofcontrol targets that are rooted in our archetype methodology but customized to their organizational needs.
Span of control determines the structure of an organization, a narrow span of control results in hierarchal. Typically, it is either narrow or wide resulting in a flatter or more hierarchical organizational structure. Finally, we complemented the time use data with information from manual. The basic concepts and principles of unity of command and.
In general, the more subordinates an individual has, the more time and. Span of control refers to the number of subordinates a supervisor has. Organizations are characterized as orderly arrangements of individual human interactions, in which control is an essential ingredient. However, calculating and reporting span of control can vary. Wide span of control means a single manager or supervisor oversees a large number of subordinates. Within an organization, taller organizational structures are relatively more expensive than flatter and wider organizational structures due to the increased number of managers required. A broader spanofcontrol helps in improving the overall efficiency by reducing the overhead costs of.
Organizational control typically involves four steps. Although the ideal span of control will vary from company to company, one can see sometimes dramatic results by increasing the span of control. Each level in the chart refers to a different rank and degree of authority. Pdf span of control, unity of command, coordination adnan. Defining optimal span of control for an enterprise sciencedirect. A hotel using a wide span of control requires every department to report to the general manager directly. Organizational design a process involving decisions about six key elements. Early studies on span of control seek to determine how many. As an example, a manager with five direct reports has a span of control of five. In simple words, span of control means the manageable number of subordinates of a superior. A manageable span of control that provides for a desirable rescuertosupervisor ratio of between three and seven rescuers per supervisor common terminology that contributes to effective communication and shared understanding effective communication among team members and with professional responders, including the use of radios.
Feb 11, 2012 span of control and span of activity oriana bandiera, andrea prat, raffaella sadun and julie wulf february 11th, 2012 abstract for both practitioners and researchers, span of control plays an important role in defining and understanding the role of the ceo. Although numbers are reported, bureaus lack organizational structure goals span of control is defi ned as the number of subordinates in an organization who report directly to one supervisor. The difference between a narrow or wide span of control may be determined by a managers rank. A large span of control means that a manager has a large number of staff under their direct control, while a small span of control means that each manager looks after a small group of staff. When the work and authority is divided amongst many subordinates and a manager supervises and controls a small group of people, then narrow span of control exists. Leaders are measured not by how many people report to them, but by how many employees they can mentor and coach. Span of control and span of activity oriana bandiera, andrea prat, raffaella sadun and julie wulf february 11th, 2012 abstract for both practitioners and researchers, span of control plays an important role in defining and understanding the role of the ceo. Measuring scope and span of control interpreting results span of control tool evaluated by university of pittsburgh statistician main purpose was to establish tiers for allocating administrative support and to determine the validity of the tool defining tiers statistician recommended the. It also poses a very different challenge for the organizations leaders, while small organizations are build for. It also poses a very different challenge for the organizations leaders, while small organizations are build for innovation, large are meant for operational efficiency. This is emphasized repeatedly in the literature and in particular by jurisdictions that that have visited or revisited the question the concept of an ideal range often stated as 57, or 68 originates in the pioneering span of control research that took. This gives rise to a flat organizational structure. In this paper, we combine organizational chart information for a. In a wider span of control, a manager has many subordinates who report to him.
With the wider span, there will be less hierarchical levels, and thus, the organizational structure would be flatter. A basic feature in traditional organizational theory produces different groups of functional responsibility staffed by people believed to be especially or uniquely qualified to perform specific tasks crucial to effectiveness and efficiency in large. Program evaluation division north carolina general assembly summary. In a classical type of organizational structure, which is the most common form. Span of control is one measure of organizational and management eff ectiveness. Pdf span of control and span of activity researchgate. The span of control can be different in the same en terprise at different hierarchical levels, but can also be different at the same level of control mcmullen and nethersell, 2009. Organizations size and span of control organization s size is determined by number of its employees, the largeness of its operation, and its market reach and share. Simply, span of control refers to the number of subordinates under the managers direct control. A narrow span of control creates more levels in the organisational hierarchy than the wide span of control. Assuming we are focused on increasing span of control, we must first understand the conditions in. Is the span of control and management layers optimized to facilitate effective.
For both practitioners and researchers, span of control plays an important role in defining and understanding the role of the ceo. It is very important to understand span of control and organizational structure when describing an organization. The span of management is related to the horizontal levels of the organization structure. These three limitations on the capacity of human beings. The person directly above an employee on the hierarchy level is known as the line manager. Organization delayering do you have the agility to compete. Tannenbaum one of the advantages of programmatic research is the ability to pursue important problems through a series of related projects. Span of control is very simply defined as the number of subordinates a manager within an organization has reporting to him or her. It also poses a very different challenge for the organization s leaders, while small organizations are build for innovation, large are meant for operational efficiency. Span of management, also known as span of control, refers to the number of people a manager directly manages.