Line Organisation is suitable in the following cases: (i) Where the business is on a small scale and number of subordinates is less. Superior at each level makes decisions within the scope of his authority. Sound Decisions: In this type, the decisions are made by experts and hence, there is a possibility of making sound managerial decisions. (i) Less Expensive It is less expensive as no expenditure on staff personnel is involved. Moreover, an employee knows to whom he/she is responsible and who are responsible to him/her. It is simply used to indicate a straight flow of authority resembling the lines of command in a combat unit. (iv) Advice given by the staff is not always sound. Line officers take their own decisions without looking to specialised personnel. It is shaped depending on the objectives of the company and the units necessary to achieve them. 1. This may lead to wrong adjustments or wrong decision-making on the part of the executives. This type of organisation is largely existing in modern industry. All other types of organization structure have mostly been either modifications of this organization. Advantages of Line Organisation: ADVERTISEMENTS: Line organisation offers the following advantages: (a) It is simple to operate and easy to understand. Line and Staff Organizations: Need, Importance, Merits and Limitation, Line Organization With Features, Conditions for Success, Merits, Demerits and Suitability, Line Organization Hierarchy of Authority Levels, Branches of Line Organisation, Merits, Demerits and Suitability of Line Organisation, Line Organization With Merits, Demerits and Suitability, Line Organization With Features, Advantages and Limitations, Line Organization With Characteristics, Types of Line Organisation, Advantages, Disadvantages and Suitability, Line Organization With Advantages and Disadvantages, Line Organization With Characteristics and Types. An advantage of a line-and-staff organization is the availability of technical specialists. General Manager. Every employee is responsible to his immediate superior. 4. Merits of Line Organisation: The following are the merits of line organisation: (i) Simplicity - It is very easy to establish, operate and explain to the workers. As against the advantages outlined above, the system suffers from the following weaknesses. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Thus, they lose their capacity for independence thinking. Co-ordination: . The adjustments in the organisation can be easily made to suit the changing conditions. from top to bottom. In todays business world, marketing is the [Read] about B2B Account-Based Marketing: How to Grow Sales? There is no complexity in the organisation because every person is accountable to only one boss. If superiors take a wrong decision, it would be carried out without anybody having the courage to point out its deficiencies. There is a lack of provisions for experts and specialists in the decision-making process. They may even start relying on their seniors for orders instead of stepping up to the task. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Development of Employees: In this way, responsibility is easily fixed. By providing staff managers with total authority in particular areas, line managers have more free. You may choose the one that suits your companys needs the best. So, there is a lack of stability in enterprise performance. Moreover, there is a benefit of specialization, as in work is divided between the line and staff executives, and they focus on their respective area. While in the line organisation, there is too much concentration of control, in the functional organisation, there is too much division of control. Modern business is so complex that it is extremely difficult for one person to carry in his head all the necessary details about his work in his department. A foreman heads each department. Accountability This approach makes it much easier to assign responsibility for actions and results. Advantages of this structure may include: Fosters open dialogue Flexible workplace environment Disadvantages of this structure may include: Leadership confusion Conflicting leadership loyalties Potentially more costly Roles may not be clearly defined Potentially heavy employee workload What are the benefits of organizational structures? Image Guidelines 4. ul. This finding underscores the increasingly recognized need for companies to improve their I&D engagement with core-business managers. Merits 4. This helps an executive to learn many things and develop his capabilities. The sales department can be further sub-divided into Counter Sales, Branch Sales, On Line Sales and Export. Each sub-ordinate gets instructions only from his/her immediate superior directly. The line officers only have to perform the routine work and leave the rest to staff officers. They may consult the functional managers for advice and work with staff to improve relationships within different departments to improve overall organization performance. All the departmental heads are responsible to their immediate superior i.e. One of the most commonexamples of line organizationis small businesses with the owner overseeing daily operations. 5. There may be a good deal of nepotism and jobbery and personal prejudices. Organizational structure refers to how individual and team work within an organization are coordinated. However, this system can be suitably followed: Line Organization | Characteristics | Types | Advantages | Disadvantages, Project Organization | Types | Advantages | Disadvantages, Centralized & Decentralized organizations | Strength & Weaknesses, Centralization and decentralization of Organization, Functional Organization | Nature of functional foremanship, Functional Authority | Definition | Examples |, Western managers vs Eastern managers: difference in, Problems of supervision | solutions for effective, Important Role of CEO in Strategic Management, Committee | Meaning & Definition | Features, Under what circumstances Delegation of Authority is, Accountlearning | Contents for Management Studies |. If they are not able the enterprise will not be successful. As a small-business owner, Ingram regularly confronts modern issues in management, marketing, finance and business law. The modern military organisations do not entirely rely on line organisation. Hence, less expenses is incurred for adopting line organization. 4. In such a situation, the problem of imbalance in the managerial decision may arise. 5. (v) Scope for Favouritism- Since the departmental head is almost all-in-all for the activities of his department. Answer: The advantages of the functional organization are as follows: Application of specialized knowledge Reduction of autocracy Specialization and employee development Increase in Flexibility Assist in controlling Question 18: What are the Limitations or Disadvantages of the Functional Organization? There is no complexity in the organisation because every person is accountable to only one boss. (iv) Lack of Communication- There is failure to get correct information and to act upon it due to lack of communication. This means relying a little too much on their individual capability, knowledge and experience. All persons at the same level of authority should be independent of one another. The line officers and staff officers perform their specific functions to contribute to the overall operation. Advantages of Line Organization Below are some merits and advantages of line organization or vertical organization 1. Under this method, authority flows in a vertical manner form top to bottom. Further it is easier to fix up the responsibility if there is any lapse anywhere in the performance of activities. Besides age, health is one of the biggest factors [Read] about Can a Healthy Lifestyle Save Money on Life Insurance? to improve overall organization performance. 3. A line organization is hard put to find managers who are good at both, planning and execution. Many subordinates do so because they lack ability to judge whether the decision is right or wrong, but the mischievous ones among them may carry out even apparently wrong decisions to pinpoint the incompetence of manager. Line managers make formal decisions within their sphere of authority that directly influence the way a company does business, including production goals, organizational policies and compensation decisions. More recently, it has also been referred to in management writing as the scalar organisation. Such decisions are executed promptly also. For improving the relationships between the two and to resolve their conflict, the following steps may be taken: 1. Among the advantages of a line structure, experts most often include: clear division of authority, competencies and responsibilities; employees are accountable to one person - the manager; possibility of quick interaction between employees and management; maximum speed of execution of orders; The term Line has been borrowed from the military administration. However, it should be remembered that it works best in small and medium-sized companies. Where the labor and management problems are not difficult to solve. This affects their creativity and capacity for independent thinking. They are expected to take numerous decisions and supervise the work of subordinates under them. The staff offers specialized/technical suggestions, advice and ideas to the senior management. Line organisation is easy to operate and less expensive. Your email address will not be published. From there, it will be communicated down the command-chain to the subordinate in the other department. An organization where information is disseminated from one person to the other based on rank and position follows aline organizational structure. The subordinates start keeping distance from the superiors. Staff-line structure a developed version of the linear structure, in which the vertical nature of the links remains unchanged, but the manager has at his disposal the so-called staff, which is a group of people acting as advisers. (f) Flexibility This type of organisation is elastic. Minimum number of employees are required to adopt line organization. A line-staff organizational structure attempts to render a large and complex enterprise more flexible without sacrificing managerial authority. put an organization on the path to competitive advantage. The executive may appoint and promote his own men in various positions ignoring the claim of efficient persons. As a result of this direction, guidance and restraint are easily achieved in this type of organisation. One cannot defy the claim. (i) Heavy Burden of Work- Since the departmental head has to look after all the activities of his department, he is over burdened with work. It is also easy to explain to the workers. 2. Simplicity: It is very simple to establish and operate. The viewpoints of both line and staff of this conflict are given below: A. Advice Ignored: As the staff officers lack authority to put their recommendations into practice, their advice may be ignored by the line executives. Advantages of the Divisional Organization Structure The key points in favor of the divisional structure involve placing decision making as close to the customer as possible. Image: Departmental line organization chart. David Ingram has written for multiple publications since 2009, including "The Houston Chronicle" and online at Business.com. Effective Management 7. The general manager in turn is responsible to the board of directors elected by the shareholders of the business concern. It does not involve a large number of people. Line organization is simple to design, understand and operate. Disclaimer 8. Your email address will not be published. Matthew was a floor manager at a local restaurant in Wales. Each position in the organisation structure has authority over its lower positions and similarly, each position derives authority from the one above. Based on this statistical analysis, remote work is not going anywhere . In spite of these drawbacks, the line organisation structure is very popular particularly in small organisations where there are less number of levels of authority and a small number of people. For example, the person heading the IT department will have the education and skill necessary to shoulder this responsibility and successfully run his team. Every organization needs to make practical decisions timely for progress and success. For example, at the lowest level of an organisation, workers may be performing a similar type of work, but for the sake of control and supervision, they may be divided into different groups and each group is placed under the control of a foreman. Line and staff organization is a little more complicated than the line system. The Line Viewpoint. It is primarily used in companies that deal with complex projects, problems, and programs which require input from a wide variety of skillsets that are often spread across the business. 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