organisational design

• Structure:

  •hierarchy

  •chain of command

  •span of control

  •centralised and decentralised
• •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