Organizing Technical Activities
Organizing Technical Activities
When structuring an organization, the engineer manager may be concerned with the following:
Division of Labor – determining the scope of work and how it is combined in a job
Delegation of authority – the process of assigning various degrees of decision-making authority
to subordinates.
Department ion – the grouping of related jobs, activities, or processes into major organizational
sub-units.
Span of Control- the number of people who report directly to a given manager
Coordination- the linking of activities in the organization that serves to achieve a common goal
or objective
4. How the formal organization is described based on the following:
THE FORMAL ORGANIZATION
The formal organization is “the structure that details lines of responsibilities, authority, and
position”
Oftentimes very useful in the accomplishment of major tasks, especially if these tasks conform
with the expectations of the members of the informal group
Classification of Organizations
i. Functional Organization
ii. Product or market Organization
iii. Matrix organization
I. Functional Organization
Functional Group
Functional organization structures are very effective in a smaller firms, especially “single-
business firms where key activities revolve around well-defined skills and areas of specialization.
Advantages:
The grouping of employees who perform a common task permit economies of scale and
efficient resource use
Since the chain of command converges at the top of the organization, decision-making is
centralized, providing a unified direction from the top
Communication and coordination among employees within each department are
excellent
The structure promotes high-quality technical problem-solving
The organization is provided with in depth skill specialization and development
Employees are provided with career progress within functional departments
Disadvantages:
The product or market organization, with its feature of operating by divisions, is “appropriate for
a large corporation with many product lines in several related industries”
Advantages:
The organization is flexible and responsive to change
The organization provides a high concern for customer’s needs
The organization provides excellent coordination across functional departments
There is easy pinpointing of responsibility for product problems
There is emphasis on overall product and division goals
The opportunity for the development of general management skills is provided
Disadvantges:
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”
According to Higgins, “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.”
Advantages
There is more efficient use of resources than the divisional structure
There is flexibility and adaptability to changing environment
The development of both general and functional management skills are present
There is interdisciplinary cooperation and any expertise is available to all divisions
There are enlarged tasks for employees which motivate them better
Disadvantages:
Classification:
Ad hoc Committee
Standing Committee
Committees may not work properly, however, if they are not correctly managed.
Delaney suggests that “it might be useful to set up procedures to make the committee a more
effective tool to accomplish our goals.”
10. Describe your reflections based on what you have learned in the video