•Organisational design refers to a diagram or chart which shows the lines of authority and layers in the hierarchy of the business.
•A hierarchy is a system in a business where employees are ranked due to their status and authority
•The chain of command in a business is the flow of information power and authority through the organisation •Those at the top have more power and authority
•This is a number•An employee that works as a Head of Department in a school may have 6 teachers working for them. Their span of control is therefore 6.
span control- •In a hierarchy it’s the number of people that a manager is responsible for.
Decentralisation – where a business divides up the organisation of its business into areas
Centralisation – where a business has its organisation of management and administration at one central head office
advantages of centralised- managers get a overview of the whole business to ensure that decisions are consistent
Disadvantages of centralised- it can exclude employees from decision making which can be demotivating
disadvantages of decentralised- lack of consistency across different departments or regions, higher costs due to duplication of resources such as IT systems
organsisatiol charts show- 1.Names of departments e.g. production, finance, marketing and HR
2.Job roles e.g. Directors, Managers, supervisors
3.Responsibilities and accountability e.g. definition of duties
•In a tall structure there maybe lots of opportunity for promotion• Information takes a long time to get from the bottom to the top of the organisation, it takes a long time for decisions to be made
Advantages of a tall hierarchical structure- •Supervisors normally have a small span of control so they can get to know their subordinates really well
Disadvantages of a tall hierarchical structure- •Lots of layers and a long chain of command can mean that the business is very inflexible