Group 2-CENG26

Calub, Paola N.
Gonzalez, Albert John G.
Poblete, Carmelita May B.
BSECE 4-2

ORGANIZING TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES

REASONS FOR ORGANIZING

 To facilitate implementation of plans.

 Effective organizing – steps were undertaken to breakdown the total job into more
manageable man-size jobs
 Assigning particular task for particular persons
 Facilitates the assignment of authority, responsibility, and accountability for certain
functions and tasks.

ORGANIZING DEFINED

 A management function that refers to “the structuring of resources and activities to

accomplish objectives in an efficient and effective manner.”
 Arrangement or relationship of positions within an organization is structure

THE PURPOSE OF THE STRUCTURE

 Defines relationships between tasks and authority for individuals and departments
 Defines formal reporting relationships number of levels in the hierarchy of organization,
and span of control
 Defines groupings of individuals into a departments and department into organization
 Defines the system to effect coordination of effort in both vertical (authority) and
horizontal (tasks) directions

When structuring an organization, an engineer manager must be concerned with

 Division of labor
 Delegation of authority
  Departmentation
 Span of control
 Coordination

THE FORMAL ORGANIZATION

 “the structure that details lines of responsibilities, authority, and position”

Formal structure is described by management through:

 Organization chart-diagram of the organization’s official positions and formal lines of

authority
 Organizational manual-written descriptions of authority relationships, functions of major
organizational units and job descriptions
 Policy manuals-personnel activities and company policies

INFORMAL GROUPS

 members of an organization spontaneously form a group with friendship as a principal

reason for belonging
 useful because it is vulnerable to expediency, manipulation, and opportunism

TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES

1. Functional organization - part of departmentalization which anyone who is engaged in

one functional activity is grouped into one unit. Ex. engineering, marketing
2. Product or market organization – organization of a company by divisions that bring
together anyone who is involved with a certain product or client
3. Matrix organization – an organizational structure which an employee reports to both a
division manager and to a project manager
 INFORMED

GROUP

FORM JOIN

FRIENDSHIP GROUP GOALS

COMMON INTEREST COLLECTIVE POWER

PROXIMITY NEED SATISFACTION

Figure 1 Reasons or Factors For Joining Or Forming A Group

FUNTIONAL ORGANIZATION

Advantages of functional organizations:

1. The grouping of employees who perform common task permit economies of scale and
efficient resource use.
2. Since the chain of command converges at the top of the organization, decision-making is
centralized, providing a unified direction from the top.
3. Communication and coordination among employees within each department are
excellent.
 4. The structure promotes high-quality technical problem-solving.
5. The organization is provided with in depth skill specialization and development.
6. Employees are provided with career progress within functional departments.

Disadvantages of functional organizations:

1. Communication and coordination between the departments are often poor.

2. Decisions involving more than one department pile up at the top management level and
are often delayed.
3. Work specialization and division of labor which are stressed in a functional organization,
produce routine, nonmotivating employee tasks.
4. It is difficult to identify which section or group is responsible for certain problems.
5. There is limited view of organizational goals by employees.

PRODUCT OR MARKET ORGANIZATION

Advantages of product or market organization:

1. The organization is flexible and responsive to change.

2. The organization provides a high concern for customer’s needs.
3. The organization provides excellent coordination across functional departments.
4. There is easy pinpointing of responsibility for product problems.
5. There is emphasis on overall product division goals.
6. The opportunity for the development of management skills is provided.

Disadvantages of the product or market:

1. There is a high possibility of duplication of resources across divisions.

2. There is less technical depth and specialization in divisions.
3. There is poor coordination across divisions.
4. There is less top management control.
5. There is competition for corporate resources.
MATRIX ORGANIZATION

According to Thompson and Strickland, “is a structure with two (or more) channels of
command, two lines of budget authority, and two sources of performance and reward.”

Higgins declared that “the matrix structure was designed to keep employees in a central
pool and to allocate them to various projects in the firm according to the length of time they were
needed.”

The matrix organization is afforded with the following advantages:

1. There’s more efficient use of resources than the divisional structure.

2. There is flexibility and adaptability to changing environment.
3. The development of both general and functional management skills is present.
4. There is interdisciplinary cooperation and any expertise is available to all
divisions.
5. There are enlarged tasks for employees which motivate them better.

The matrix organization has some disadvantages, however. They are the following:

1. There is frustration and confusion from dual chain of command

2. There is high conflict between divisional and functional interests.
3. There are many meetings and more discussion Than action.
4. There is a need for human relations training for key employees and managers.
5. There is a tendency for power dominance by one side of the matrix.

TYPES OF AUTHORITY

The delegation of authority is a requisite for effective organizing. It consists of three types. They
are as follows:

1. Line Authority – a manager’s right to tell subordinates what to do and then see
that they do it. They perform tasks that reflect the organization’s primary goal and
mission.
2. Staff Authority – a staff specialist’s right to give advice to a superior. Includes
all those that provide specialized skills in support of line departments.
Example of Staff Authority
 a. Personal staff – Those individuals assigned to a specific manager to
provide needed staff services.
b. Specialized staff – Those individuals providing needed staff services for
the whole organization.
3. Function Authority – a specialist’s right to oversee lower level personnel
involved in that specialty, regardless of where the personnel are in the
organization. The one that is given to a person or a work group to make decisions
related to their expertise even if these decisions concern other departments.

PURPOSE OF COMMITTEES

A committee is a formal group of persons formed for a specific purpose.

When certain formal groups are deemed inappropriate to meet expectations, committees are
often times harnessed to achieve organizational goals. Committees are very useful most specially
to engineering and manufacturing firms. When a certain concern, like product development, is
under consideration, a committee is usually formed to provide the necessary line-up of expertise
needed to achieve certain objectives. Committees may be classified as follows:

1. Ad hoc committee – one created for a short-term purpose and have a limited life.
2. Standing committee – It is a relatively permanent committee that deals with
issues on an ongoing basis

If committees are not properly managed or may not work properly, Delaney suggests that “It
might be useful to set up some procedures to make the committee a more effective tool to
accomplish our goals.”