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Homework answers / question archive / The broken organizational chart (Connect) The president of United Office, Jerene Johnson, recently hired a consultant to help her create a more effective structure for the company
The president of United Office, Jerene Johnson, recently hired a consultant to help her create a more effective structure for the company. Last week, the consultant gave Jerene a chart with three letters on it, indicating where there are problems in the structure. Unfortunately, the consultant neglected to provide a key for the chart. The consultant did mention, however, that one of United’s problems had to do with chain of command. In particular, United violated the scalar principle, which says that the chain of command should be unbroken throughout the organization. It is now up to you to label the types of problems United has in its organizational structure.
Use your knowledge of organizational design to identify the kind of problem associated with each letter on the United Office organizational chart. The area of each problem is highlighted in Yellow.
A.Inconsistent departmentalization
Points:
0 / 1
B.Scalar principle broken
Points:
0 / 1
C.Inconsistent departmentalization
Points:
1 / 1
Close Explanation
Explanation:
| A. | Because the head of finance has only one direct report, and the other department heads have three reports, the span of management is too narrow here. |
| B. | Because the pencils, pens, and folders departments are all reporting to an engineering team, each employee will have multiple managers, which violates the unity of command principle. Unity of command says that each employee should have only one manager. |
| C. | The human resources and sales departments are organized by function, but the southern region is organized by division, based on geography. This results in an inconsistent departmentalization, which can create confusion in the organization. |
One of the disadvantages of work specialization is:
Work specialization can prevent employee collaboration
Employees may spend too much time in meetings
Employees may become less efficient at their jobs
Line and staff employees may experience confusion about their work roles
Points:
1 / 1
Close Explanation
Explanation:
Work specialization reduces an employee’s job to a narrow set of prescribed tasks. This can create bored employees, and it can separate employees from each other because they do not share a common goal. As work becomes less specialized and more collaborative, employees can coordinate their efforts more effectively.
