Key Concepts in the Design of an Organization

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    Key Concepts in the Design of an Organization

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    of this topic came from this book:
    Consulting and Organization Development - Book Cover

    © Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.

    A house should be designed to meet
    the needs of the people living in it. Builders of houses must
    consider, e.g., the number of people in the house, how much the
    owners can afford to pay, etc. The ultimate design of an organization
    should be whatever structure best helps the organization to achieve
    its goals. The following are the standard concepts in the design of an
    organization.

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    Key Concepts in Design of Organization

    Span of control

    – the range of employees who to report to
    a managerial position

    Authority

    – the formally-granted influence of a position
    to make decisions, pursue goals and get resources to pursue the
    goals; authority in a managerial role may exist only to the extent
    that subordinates agree to grant this authority or follow the
    orders from that position

    Responsibility

    – the duty to carry out an assignment or
    conduct a certain activity

    Delegation

    – process
    of assigning a task to a subordinate along with the commensurate
    responsibility and authority to carry out the task

    Chain of command

    – the lines of authority in an organization,
    who reports to whom

    Accountability

    – responsibility for the outcome of the process

    Line authority

    – the
    type of authority where managers have formal authority over their
    subordinates’ activities (the subordinates are depicted under
    the manager on a solid line in the organization chart); departments
    directly involved in producing services or products are sometimes
    called line departments

    Staff departments

    – the
    type of authority where managers influence line managers through
    staff’s specialized advice; departments that support or advise
    line departments are called staff departments and include, e.g.,
    human resources, legal, finance, etc.


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