Departmentation is the process of grouping the activities (tasks) to be performed into an organisation's unit to accomplish some common purpose.
Departmentation is therefore, the creating of a number of subunits, usually called department. The method or methods used to divide the work of the entire organisation should reflect the grouping that would contribute to the attainment of the organisational objectives and the goals of individual units.
Basis of Departmentation
Departmentation can be accomplished through the following ways :
- Function
- Product/service
- Customer/client
- Geographical area/location
- Number of persons
- Process
- Time
Departmentation by function is the process of grouping activities according to similar work, skills, knowledge, and technology. As shown is the figure, a plant manager might organise phisher plant by separating engineering, manufacturing, accounting, personnel, and purchasing specialists into common departments. Note that departmentation by function can be used in all types of organisations. Only the functions change to reflect the organisation's objectives and activities.
Advantages
- Such grouping on the basis of similar activities may increase specialisation and employee expertise.
- This form of structure maintains the power and prestige of major function, simplifies training, and allows tights control by top management. It minimises costly duplication or resources. For examples, having a centralised X-ray department in a hospital is more effective than having X-ray machines scatters throughout.
- It may create over specialised personnel with narrow view points. This over-specialisahon may then reduce cooperation between functions. For examples, given the same problem to analyse, Engineering managers tend to perceive engineering problems, and manufacturing people tend to perceive manufacturing problems.
- The responsibility for profits may be concentrated with top management instead of being shared by all managers. Without sound controls, these specialised departments may consider only their own operations instead of considering the organisation as a whole.
The particular type of
customer/client the organisation seeks to reach can also be used to
group employees. The basic assumption underlying customer
departmentation is that customers in each department have a common set
of problems and needs that can best be met by having departmental
specialists for each.
Examples
The
sales activities in an office supply firm can be broken down into three
departments to service retail, and government customers.
The
hospital activities can be divided into four departments to service
different types of particular obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics,
medicine, psychiatry.
Advantage
Facilitates grouping of activities in such a way as to meet customers/clients spiced needs
Disadvantage
Increased
difficulty in coordination and the possibility of under utilisation of
specialised groups when times/condition change.
Departmentation by Location
Many organisatious form departments based on the geographical locations/territories where tours are performed. Many time these regional departments are based on differ mas in the markets. For instance, the sales function of an organisation may have Southern. Northern, Eastern, and Western regions. So that selling efforts can suit the needs of each region. Sometimes, unique geographic characteristics require specialists with knowledge of the specific region.
Departmentation by Number of Persons
If an organisation has large number of employees working in the same general location and doing essentially the something for the same clients. Departmentation may be on the basis of the number of persons. In a large office, clerks are often grouped into a number of sections with a supervisor for each section.
Departmentation by Process
Departmentation by Location
Many organisatious form departments based on the geographical locations/territories where tours are performed. Many time these regional departments are based on differ mas in the markets. For instance, the sales function of an organisation may have Southern. Northern, Eastern, and Western regions. So that selling efforts can suit the needs of each region. Sometimes, unique geographic characteristics require specialists with knowledge of the specific region.
Departmentation by Number of Persons
If an organisation has large number of employees working in the same general location and doing essentially the something for the same clients. Departmentation may be on the basis of the number of persons. In a large office, clerks are often grouped into a number of sections with a supervisor for each section.
Advantages
- Decision-making authority can be shifted to lower levels and emphasis can be placed on the requirements of the geographic region served such as client preferences, employees differences, competition etc.
- Promotes better communication with clients and improves service.
Disadvantages
- Makes it harder for help for top management to exercise control of the total organisation.
- Makes the use of centralized services difficult.
Process departmentation can be used for processing customers as well as products. For examples, if you want to get a driving license from the Regional Transport office, you may have to go through several departments before receiving your license.
You can also identify various production departments in an aluminum plant as shown in the figure.
Departmentation by Time
Many organisations cannot stop their activities at a fixed time each day. For example, steel mills, refineries, and hospitals operate around the clock. A hospital may have a Nursing Supervisor for each of the three shifts as shown in figure.
Many organisations cannot stop their activities at a fixed time each day. For example, steel mills, refineries, and hospitals operate around the clock. A hospital may have a Nursing Supervisor for each of the three shifts as shown in figure.
No comments:
Post a Comment