This diagram is called an organizational structure. It refers to the levels of management and division of responsibilities found within a business.

ADVANTAGES:

• All employees are aware of which communication channel is used to reach them
• Everyone can see their position in the organization. so, the know who they’re accountable to and for
• It shows the links and relationships between different departments
• Everyone is in a department so it increases the sense of belonging

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN ORGAIZATIONAL STRUCTURE:

1. SPAN OF CONTROL

• Includes the number of subordinates working directly under a manager in an organizational structure
• In the diagram above, the span of control of the manager is 3 (A&F, sales, and administration) whereas of the CEO, it’s 1 (the manager)

2. CHAIN OF COMMAND

• Shows the pathway of a message from the senior managers in an organization to the lower levels of management
• In the diagram above, the chain of command starts from the CEO and ends in the bottom 3 departments

Businesses choose to have either a short span of control with a long chain of command or the opposite: a long span of control and a short chain of command. But what is the difference?

THE VARIATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES:

1. SHORT/NARROW SPAN OF CONTROL + LONG CHAIN OF COMMAND

• This would translate into having a smaller amount of people being directly controlled by 1 person/department therefore the structure would look taller as shown in the diagram below

• Advantages: 

1. Higher/more promotion opportunities

• Disadvantages: 

1. Communication throughout the entire organization is slow
2. Slow decision making

2. LONG SPAN OF CONTROL + NARROW CHAIN OF COMMAND:

• This translates to having more subordinates controlled by 1 person thus a shorter structure as shown in the diagram below

• Advantages: 

1. Communication is faster so quick decision making, managers will encourage delegation

• Disadvantages: 

1. Harder to get promoted

DELEGATION:

• Giving a subordinate authority to perform a task
• Advantages:

1. Increases the employees’ job satisfaction
2. Makes employees more loyal to the firm
3. Gives the managers more time to focus on more important tasks/decisions
4. Managers can assess the employee’s performance and can promote them

• Disadvantages: 

1. The employees may not be qualified to perform this task so it could lead to bad quality, managers may be afraid to be outperformed 

TYPES OF MANAGERS:

1. Staff managers: are professionals who assist line managers and give them knowledge and help
2. Line managers: they have authority over the employees directly below them

MANAGEMENT ROLES:

They give employees a sense of direction. Without managers, a business would fail. Managers have 5 main roles with the acronym CCCPO to remember it

1. COMMAND:

• Giving the employees orders and instructions to guide them towards a goal/deadline

2. CONTROL:

• Managers evaluate the performance of their employees and check how to improve the performance of the ones that didn’t meet the required result

3. COORDINATE:

• Checking if all the departments in the organization are working together to meet the same business goals through effective communication and decision making

4. PLAN:

• Setting targets for the business in order to achieve them and to give the employees a sense of direction
• Not only will the managers plan the target, but also plan the finance needed, resources, etc.

5. ORGANIZE:

• Organizing the resources and responsibilities for each employee

LEADERSHIP STYLES:

They include the different approaches of decision making in businesses. There are 3 main styles: autocratic, democratic, and Laissez-Faire 

1. AUTOCRATIC STYLE:

• Same idea of dictatorship: managers perform all the decision-making without consolidating the employees or asking for their opinion. Therefore, communication is one-way only (goes from managers to employees and not the other way around)
• Advantages: 

1. Fast decision making since less people are involved
2. Decisions are more likely to be successful since managers are qualified to take them

• Disadvantages: 

1. Decreases the sense of belonging of the employees

2. DEMOCRATIC STYLE:

• Same idea of democracy: employees also take part in the decision making of the business. Therefore, communication is two-way (from managers to employees and from employees to managers)
• Advantages: 

1. Increases the sense of belonging of the employees
2. Makes employees more loyal to the business because they feel important in the organization

• Disadvantages: 

1. Slow and may have inaccurate decisions 

3. LAISSEZ-FAIRE:

• Employees are responsible for the decisions and managers do not take part in the decision-making process. Communication is harder since there isn’t a clear direction

TRADE UNIONS:

• They are organizations made of workers that aim at promoting and protecting their interest
• In a nutshell, whenever an employee has an inquiry with work conditions, for example, the trade union discusses the issue with the employer/the business and tries to find a solution to the employee’s problem. 
• If the employer refuses to fix the working conditions, the union can threaten to use an industrial action (discussed in the end)

ADVANTAGES TO WORKERS IN JOINING A TRADE UNION:

• Financial support
• Improved conditions of employment
• Improved working conditions

DISADVANTAGES TO WORKERS IN JOINING A TRADE UNION:

• A membership fee is required (can be expensive)
• Can be forced into taking an action they don’t agree with just because other employees in the union are doing it

INDUSTRIAL ACTIONS

They are protest actions done by workplace employees and include:

1. Go slow: where the employee works at a very slow pace as specified in the contract of employment
2. Overtime ban: where the employee refuses to work for a specific amount of time
3. Strike: where the employee refuses to work completely and protests instead