The Organizing Process

     This chapter examined the nature, purpose, and function of organizing, Organizing involves the assignment of duties and the coordination of efforts among all organizational personnel to ensure maximum efficiency in the attainment of predetermined objectives. The process covers a broad area and offers the manager many alternatives in both routine and critical situations. The numerous forms of departmentalization include functional,  product, territorial, simple numbers, time, customer, and equipment or process. Another common organizational form, often used in conjunction with departmentalization, is committees. The two general types of committees are ad hoc and standing. The chapter showed that committees can be effectively used to complement the basic organizational structure

     Span of control is the phrase used to refer to the number of people reporting to a given superior. A wide span of control results in a flat organization chart, while a narrow span results in a tall organization chart.

     There are three basic types of authority: line, staff, and functional. Line authority is direct authority, as illustrated by a manager who gives orders directly to a subordinate. Staff authority is auxiliary authority to supportive in nature, as in the case of the lawyer who has authority to advise the president on legal matters. Functional authority is authority in a department other than one's own, as in the case of the vice-president of finance who can give orders to the head of a product division in regard to financial matters.

     The chapter devoted particular attention to problem areas such as line-staff' conflicts, which shown that organizing is certainly no mechanical function. For example, line people tend to be highly action-oriented, while staff people are concerned with studying problems in depth before making recommendations.

     The last part of the chapter examined the topics of decentralization and the informal organization. Decentralization is influenced by a number of factors, including cost, uniform policy, company size, philosophy of top management, philosophy' of subordinate managers, and the functional area in which one works. The informal organization is the organizational arrangement created by the individuals who work in the structure. Their informal relationships supplement formal authority. Authority thus consists of two factors: formal authority, which is delegated by one's superior, and personal power, which can be attained in a number of different ways, including experience, drive, and education.

     With the introduction of the informal organization, it becomes obvious that organizing is a dynamic process. While this chapter has set forth some of the basic ideas every manager must know about organizing, nevi: organization structures are now emerging. Drawing upon the ideas presented here, modern structures are novo' adapting these concepts to meet the demands of' the external environment. The result has been the emergence of adaptive structures, the focus of attention in the next chapter.