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Description of the Five Components of Vertical Structure
Authority in organization
Hierarchical levels
Span of control
Delegation
Decentralization
Description
Authority in organizations
According to (Bateman, & Snell 222), the authority of organizations states that the functioning of every organization depends on the use of authority, the legitimate right to make decisions, and to tell other people what to do.
Hierarchical levels
The authority structure is the glue that holds vertical levels together and it is comprised of multiple levels (Bateman, & Snell 223).
Span of control
The number of subordinates who report directly to an executive or supervisor (Bateman, & Snell 223)
Delegation
As work is spread out over various levels and spans of control, delegating work becomes paramount (Bateman, & Snell 224).
Decentralization
Delegating responsibility and authority decentralizes decision-making (Bateman, & Snell 225).
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Paraphrasing the Definitions in Other Terms
Authority in organizations
This refers to the legitimate right to make decisions or to forcefully command others to accomplish certain tasks for the organization. Normally, a position contains power hence, a person who occupies a certain position accesses the authority or power that comes with the position. The role of vice president is more authoritative than that of other positions irrespective of the number of people occupying other positions (Bateman, & Snell, 2019). For example, the owner of a company has definitive authority. In most small-sized organizations, the owner performs the roles of the manager. Occasionally, the owner appoints an individual to the company’s managerial position. Additionally, the owner oversees the company through the manager, however, the manager remains responsible for the entire decision-making process and reports everything to him. Most of the formal positions rely on authority to drive the daily business of the company. A command moves from the upper sections to the lower sections of the entire organization. As this takes place, the organization attains its immediate objectives. Nevertheless, sometimes authority is not dependent on the position held but on
Hierarchical levels
An organization is made up of a series of departments known as a hierarchy. This structure facilitates most of an organization’s functions and ensures other activities remain sustainable. For the sake of coming up with more than one way of effectively managing corporate activities, hierarchical levels pertain to corporate administration together with security and exchange issues (Bateman, & Snell, 2019). In the current corporate world, businessmen are trying to reduce the hierarchical level size to create a comparatively flat structural system. The underlying reason for reducing hierarchical size is to increase effectiveness, reduce expenditure and fasten the completion of processes. This can be illustrated through financial institutions as it increases operational proficiency than other institutions which have a larger hierarchical level.
Span of control
This refers to a workforce that gives the executive feedback after the performance of certain tasks. Therefore, the role of the span of control is to increase the effectiveness of an organization's input and output. The span of control does not affect the organizational structure of the entire organization because the role of the span of control is simple and straightforward. Nevertheless, an organization’s size can produce a narrow span made up of numerous reporting levels. Additionally, wide spans generate flat organizational structures with lesser reporting levels (Bateman, & Snell, 2019). Therefore, a span of control can either be wide or narrow. The ideal span of control increases efficiency due to its narrow size consequently allowing administrators to sustain and regulate all the direct reports. However, if it is too narrow, the managers will be able to extensively regulate it hence causing more managers to supervise a minute number of people. According to experts, an ideal number of direct reports is five. Most of the administrators prefer number five as the best ideal number for the span of control.
Delegation
This is assigning work from the higher levels of the hierarchy to the lower levels of the organizational hierarchy (Bateman, & Snell, 2019). Delegation does not need any specialization as its main aim is completing excessive work. More so, delegation is one of the most basic procedures in the organization as it assists to spread work from the top to the bottom of the hierarchy. This process takes place between two or more people.
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Examples
Authority in an organization
A manager yields the authority to order people subordinate to him. He can give deadlines, hire or fire, and even rectify mistakes made in the line of duty. Also, the workforce is to perform duties according to the strategies outlined by the manager.
Hierarchical levels
The chief executive officer is at the top of the hierarchy followed by the duty and then the other managerial positions (Bateman, & Snell, 2019). This way, each position can effectively coordinate with one another and bring about the desired result.
Span of control
Six environmental officers are called into the minister's office each Friday. These officers report on weekly occurrences in the department.
Delegation
The chief executive officers told the human resource department to generate a list of names that would receive a monthly bonus.
Decentralization
All the team members guided each other on how to achieve the operations.
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The CEO is the highest level and all other duties are coordinated and handled according to the specific roles of each department. Also, the department span control from one department to another.
References
Bateman, T., & Snell, S. (2019). Management: Leading & Collaborating in Competitive World, 13e.
