MMM132 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Centralisation, Absenteeism
12 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
MMM132 Management
Kieu Trang Nguyen
Study notes
TOPIC 7- Foundations of organising
1.Describe six key elements in organisational design
*ELEMENTS OF ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN
Work specialisation
1. Departmentalisation
2. Authority and responsibility (and accountability)
3. Span of control
4. Centralisation vs decentralisation
5. Formalisation
Authority - the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.
Responsibility - the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control
over someone and delivering assigned tasks.
Accountability - The obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, by
owning and disclosing the results in a transparent manner.
1. Work Specialisation
= economies and diseconomies of work
Todas Vie
Most managers today see work specialisation as an important organising mechanism
eause it helps eploees e oe effiiet. Fo eaple, MDoalds uses high
specialisation to get its products made and delivered to customers efficiently. However,
managers also have
to recognise its limitations. At some point, the routine and repetitive nature of work that
results from division of labour causes boredom, fatigue, stress, low productivity, poor
quality, increased absenteeism and high turnover, and exceeds the economic advantages
(see Figure 5.1).
So managers have to think carefully about how they can design jobs to allow employees to
focus on what they are good at without getting bored and de-motivated.
2. DEPARTMENTALISATION
Functional - manager might organise the workplace by separating functions. The major
advantage to functional is the achievement of economies of scale by placing people with
common skills and specialisations into common units.
Product - focuses attention on major product areas in the corporation. Each product is
under the authority of a senior manager who is a specialist in, and is Responsible for,
everything having to do with their product line.
Customer - can also dictate employee grouping. The sales activities in an office supply firm,
for instance, can be divided into three departments that serve retail, wholesale and
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Document Summary
Authority - the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. Responsibility - the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone and delivering assigned tasks. Accountability - the obligation of an individual or organization to account for its activities, by owning and disclosing the results in a transparent manner: work specialisation. Most managers today see work specialisation as an important organising mechanism (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause it helps e(cid:373)plo(cid:455)ees (cid:271)e (cid:373)o(cid:396)e effi(cid:272)ie(cid:374)t. fo(cid:396) e(cid:454)a(cid:373)ple, m(cid:272)do(cid:374)ald(cid:859)s uses high specialisation to get its products made and delivered to customers efficiently. However, managers also have to recognise its limitations. At some point, the routine and repetitive nature of work that results from division of labour causes boredom, fatigue, stress, low productivity, poor quality, increased absenteeism and high turnover, and exceeds the economic advantages (see figure 5. 1).
