Organisation - Span of Control: A span of control is the number of people who report to one manager in a hierarchy.

The more people under the control of one manager - the wider the span of control. Less means a narrower span of control. An example of a narrow span of control is shown in the diagram below:

The advantages of a narrow span of control are:

A narrow span of control allows a manager to communicate quickly with the employees under them and control them more easily Feedback of ideas from the workers will be more effective It requires a higher level of management skill to control a greater number of employees, so there is less management skill required

An example of a wide span of control is shown in the diagram below:

The advantages of wide span of control are:

There are less layers of management to pass a message through, so the message reaches more employees faster It costs less money to run a wider span of control because a business does not need to employ as many managers

The width of the span of control depends on: The type of product being made products which are easy to make or deliver will need less supervision and so can have a wider span of control Skills of managers and workers a more skilful workforce can operate with a wider span of control because they will need less supervision. A more skilful manager can control a greater number of staff A tall organisation has a larger number of managers with a narrow span of control whilst a flat organisation has few managers with a wide span of control. A tall organisation can suffer from having too many managers (a huge expense) and decisions can take a long time to reach the bottom of the hierarchy BUT, a tall organisation can provide good opportunities for promotion and the manager does not have to spend so much time managing the staff

A Skills matrix is a tool used to assess training needs, also known as a competency framework. It is a table that displays all tasks and skills of individuals in an area or team; it displays all current team members and current competency/ability levels for each task. A skill matrix is a table that matches personnel, or other resources, with desired skills to provide views of the need for additional development, training or the acquisition of new resources. This consists of a list of skills, and a grading system, with a definition of what it means to be at particular level for a given skill. To be most useful, skills management must be an ongoing process, where individuals assess and update their recorded skill sets regularly. These updates should occur at least as frequently as employees' regular line manager reviews, and certainly when their skill sets change. Skills management systems record the results of this process in a database, and allow analysis of the data. To perform management functions and assume multiple roles, managers must be skilled. Robert Katz identified three managerial skills essential to successful management: technical, human, and conceptual*. Technical skill involves process or technique knowledge and proficiency. Managers use the processes, techniques and tools of a specific area. Human skill involves the ability to interact effectively with people. Managers interact and cooperate with employees. Conceptual skill involves the formulation of ideas. Managers understand abstract relationships, develop ideas, and solve problems creatively. Thus, technical skill deals with things, human skill concerns people, and conceptual skill has to do with ideas. A manager's level in the organization determines the relative importance of possessing technical, human, and conceptual skills. Top level managers need conceptual skills that let them view the organization as a whole. Conceptual skills are used in planning and dealing with ideas and abstractions. Supervisors need technical skills to manage their area of specialty. All levels of management need human skills so they can interact and communicate with other people successfully. As the pace of change accelerates and diverse technologies converge, new global industries are being created (for example, telecommunications). Technological change alters the fundamental structure of firms and calls for new organizational approaches and management skills. There are different types of skills in the corporate world. Soft Skills, communication skills, business writing, corporate presentation, public speaking, sales, maketing, leadership and managerial skills are few of the skills.

Programmed Decisions Programmed decisions are those that a manager has encountered and made in the past. The decision the manager made was correct because she used the assistance of company policies, computations or a set of decision-making guidelines. In addition to being well structured with predetermined rules regarding the decision-making process, programmed decisions may also be repetitive or routine as their outcome was successful in the past. It generally does not take a manager as long to come to a conclusion when faced with a business-related programmed decision because the challenge faced is not new. As a result, programmed decisions allow a manager to make streamlined and consistently effective choices. Examples of Programmed Decisions Individuals naturally make programmed decisions on a daily basis. For example, in an emergency, most people automatically decide to call 9-1-1. From a business perspective, a company may create a standard routine for handling technical issues, customer service problems or disciplinary matters. An employees duties may become routine with repetition, like the process a mechanic uses to troubleshoot problems with a customers car.