CHAPTER CONTENT

 REASONSFORORGANIZING
 ORGANIZINGDEFINED
 THEPURPOSEOFSTRUTURE
 THEFORMALORGANIZATION
 INFORMALGROUP
 TYPESOFORGANIZATIONALSTRUCTURES
 TYPES OF AUTHORITY
 THEPURPOSEOFCOMMITTEES

INTRO
The engineer manager needs to acquire various skills in management, including those for organizing technical
activities. In this highly competitive environment, unskilled manager will notbeabletobringhisunit,orhiscompany,asthe
case maybe, to success.
The opportunities offered by skillful organizing are too important for an engineer manager to ignore. This chapter
is intended to provide him with some background and insight in organizing.

REASONS FOR ORGANIZING

Organizing is undertaken to facilitate the implementations of plans. In effective organizing, steps are
undertaken to breakdownthetotaljobintomore manageable man-size jobs. Doing these will make it possible to assign
particular task to particular persons. In turn this will help facilitate the assignment of authority, responsibility, and
accountability for certain functions and tasks.

ORGANIZING DEFINED
 Organizing is a management function which refers to “the structuring of resources and activities
to accomplish objectives in an efficientmanner.”
 The arrangement or relationship of positions within an organization is called the structure. The
result of the organizing process is the structure.

THE PURPOSE OF THESTRUCTURE

The structure serves some very useful purposes. They are the following:

1. It defines the relationships between tasks and authority for individuals and departments.
2. It defines formal reporting relationships. The number of levels in the hierarchy of the organization, and the span
of control.
3. It defines the groupings of individuals into departments into organizations.
4. It defines the system to effect coordination of effort in both vertical (authority) and horizontal
(tasks) directions.

W hen structuring an organization, the engineer managermustbeconcerned with the following:

1. Division of labor-determining the scope of work and how it is combined in a job.

2. Delegation of authority-the process of assigning various degrees of decision-making
authority to subordinates.
3. Departmentation-the grouping of related jobs, activities, or processes into major organizational
subunits.
4. Span of control-the number of people whoreportdirectlytoagivenmanager.
5. Coordination-The linking of activities in the organization that serves to achieve a common goal
or objectives.

THE FORMAL ORGANIZATION

The formal organization is “the structure that details lines of responsibilities, authority, andposition.”What is depicted
in the organization chart is formal organization. Itis “the planned structure” and it “represent the deliberate attempt
to establish patterned relationships among components that will meettheobjectiveseffectively.”

THE FORMAL STRUCTURE IS DESCRIVBE BY MANAGEMENT TROUGH

1
.ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
2.ORGANIZATIOINAL MANUAL AND
3.POLICY MANUAL

 The organization chart is a diagram of the organization’s official positions and formal lines of authority.
 The organizational manual provides written description of authority relationships, details the
functions of major organizational units and describes job procedures.
 The policy manual describes personnel activities and company policies.

INFORMAL GROUPS
There some instances when members of an organization spontaneously form a group with friendship as a principal
reasons for belonging. This group is called an informal group. It is not a part of formal organization and it does not
have a formal performance purpose.
The informal organization, useful as it is, is “vulnerable to expediency, manipulation, and opportunism,”accordingto
Valentine.Itslow visibility, Valentine added, makes it “difficult for management to detect these previsions, and
considerableharmcanbedonetothecompany.”

TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONALSTRUCTURES
y
Before the commencement of activities, thedecision makers in an organization will haveto decide on what
structure to adapt.Depending on the size and type of operations, a certain structural type may best fit
the requirements.
Organizations may be classified intothree types. They are the following:
1
.
Functional organization-his is a form of departmentalization in which everyone engaged onefunctional
activity, such as engineering or marketing, isgrouped into a unit.
2.
Product or market organization-this refers to theorganization of the company by divisions that
bringstogether all those involved with a certain type of productorconsumer.
3.
Matrix organization-an organizational structure in which each employee reports to both a functional
ordivisionmanagerandtoaprojectorgroupmanager.
FUNCT
I
ONAL ORGAN
IZ
AT
I
ON
y
F u n c t i o n a l o r g a n i z a t i o n s t r u c t u r e s a r e v e r y e f f e c t
i v e i n s m a l l e r f i r m s , e s p e c i a l l y s i n g l e -
b u s i n e s s f i r m s w h e r e k e y a c t i v i t i e s r e v o
l v e a r o u n d w e l l -
d e f i n e d s k i l l s a n d a r e a
o f specialization .

Functional organizations havecertain advantages. They arethe following:

1
.
The grouping employees who perform a common taskpermit economies of scale and efficient resource use.
2.
Since the chain of command converges at the top of theorganization, decision-making
is centralized, providing aunified direction from the top.
3.
Communication and coordination among employees within each department are excellent.
4.
The structure promotes high-quality technical problem-solving.
5.
The organization is provided with in dept skillspecialization and development.
6.
Employees are provided with career progress withinfunctional department.

IMAGE
The disadvantages offunctional organization are thefollowing
:
1
.
Communication and coordination between thedepartmentareoftenpoor.
2.
Decisions involving more than one department pile upthetopmanagementlevelandareoftendelayed.
3.
W
ork specialization and division of labor and division of labor, which are stressed in functional
organization,produce routine, non motivating employee task.
4.
It is difficult to identify which section or group isresponsible for certain problems.
5.
There is limited view of organizational goals by employees.
6.
There is limited general management training foremployees.

PRODUCT OR MARKET ORGAN

IZ
AT
I
ON
y
The product or market organization, with itsfeature of operating by divisions, is appropriate for a large
corporation withmany product lines in several relatedindustries.

IMAGE

The advantages of a product or marketorganization are as follows:

1
.
The organizations are flexible and responsive to change.
2.
The organization provides a high concern for customer'sneeds.
3.
The organizations provides excellent coordination acrossfunctional departments.
4.
There is easy pinpointing of responsibility for productproblem.
5.
There is emphasis on overall product and division goals.
6.
The opportunity for the development of generalmanagement skills is provided.

es

e
pk
et
i
t
i
e

s
ll
s
:
1
.
Thereisahighpossibilityofduplicationofresourcesacrossdivisions.
2.
There is less technical depth and specializations indivisions.
3.
Thereispoorcoordinationacrossdivisions.
4.
Thereislesstopmanagementcontrol.
5.
Thereiscompetitionforcorporateresources.

MATR
IX
ORGAN
IZ
AT
I
ON
y
A matrix organization, according toThompson and Strickland, is a structure with two(or more) channels
of command,twolinesofbudgetauthority,andtwosourcesofperformanceandreward. Higgins declared that matrix
structure wasdesigned to keep employees in a central pooland to allocate them to various projects inthe firm
according to the length of time they wereneeded.
IMAGE

The matrix organization isafforded with followingadvantages:

1
.
Thereismoreefficientuseofresourcesthanthedivisional structure.
2.
There is flexibility and adaptability to changingenvironment.
3.
The development of both general and functionalmanagementskillsarepresent.
4.
Thereisinterdisciplinarycooperationandanyexpertiseisavailabletoalldivisions.
5.
Thereareenlargetasksforemployeeswhichmotivatethembetter.

The matrix organization hassome disadvantages, however.There are the following:

1
.
Thereisfrustrationandconfusionfromdualchainofcommand.
2.
Thereisahighconflictbetweendivisionalandfunctional interests.
3.
Therearemanymeetingsandmorediscussionthanaction.
4.
Thereisaneedforhumanrelationstrainingforkeyemployeesandmanager.
5.
Thereisatendencyforpowerdominancebyonesideof the matrix.

TYPES OF AUTHORITY
1
.
Line authority-a manager s right to tellsubordinates what to do and then see thatthey do it.
2.
Staff authority-a staff specialist s right togiveadvicetoasuperior.
3.
Functional authority-a specialist s right tooversee lower level personnel involved inthat
specialty, regardless of where thepersonnel in the organization.
Line departments perform tasks thatreflect the organization primary goaland mission. In
a construction firm,the department that negotiates andsecures contracts for the firm is a linedepartment.
The constructions divisionis also line function.

Staff departments include all those thatprovide specialized skills in support of linedepartment. Examples of
staff departmentsinclude those which perform strategicplanning, labor relations, research,accounting, and
personnel.

IMAGE

STAFF OFF
I
CER MAY BECLASS
I
F
I
ED
I
NTO THE FOLLOW
I
NG:
1
.
Personal staff-those individuals assignedto a specific manager to provide neededstaff services.
2.
Specialized staff-those individualsproviding needed staff services for the whole organization.

Functional authority is one given to a personoraworkgrouptomakedecisionsrelatedtheir expertise even if this decisions

concernother departments. This authority is given tomost budget officers of organizations, as well as other officers.

THE PURPOSE OF COMM

I
TEES
y
A committee is a formal group of personsformed for a specific purpose. For instance,the
product planning committee, asdescribed by Millevo, is often staffed by topexecutive from marketing,
production,research engineering, and finance, who workpart-timetoevaluateandapproveproductideas.
COMM
I
TTEES MAY BE CLASS
I
F
I
EDAS FOLLOWS
:
1
.
Ad hoc committee-one created for a short-termpurpose and have a limited life. An example isthecommitteecreatedto
managetheanniversaryfestivities of a certain firms.
2.
Standing committee-it is a relatively permanentcommittee that deals with issues on an ongoingbasis. An
example is the grievance committee setup to handle initially complaints from employeesof the organization.