Organisational structure
Organisational structure
- An organisational structure shows who reports to whom and who does what.
- Key terms:
- hierarchy — the levels from top to bottom (tall = many; flat = few),
- chain of command — the line orders pass down,
- span of control — the staff one manager directly controls (wide = many).
- A tall structure has narrow spans and slow messages; a flat one has wide spans and needs more trust.
Practice
The span of control is the:
Span of control = staff per manager; the chain of command is the line orders pass down.
Practice
A tall structure tends to have:
Tall structures have many levels and narrow spans, slowing communication.
Centralisation vs decentralisation
- centralisation — most decisions at the top: strong control, consistent, but ignores local knowledge.
- decentralisation — decisions shared to lower levels: faster, more motivating, but weaker control.
Practice
An advantage of decentralisation is that it:
Decentralisation pushes decisions to lower levels — faster and motivating, but with weaker central control.
You've got it
Key idea
- hierarchy (tall vs flat), chain of command, span of control (wide vs narrow)
- tall = narrow spans, slow messages; flat = wide spans, more trust
- centralisation = control at the top; decentralisation = faster, more motivating, weaker control