Difference between Hierarchical and flat businesses

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  • OrganisationalStructures
    • Difference between Hierarchical and flat businesses
      • Flat Strcutre
        • Advantages
          • Elevates employees level of responsibility
          • Fewer levels of management
          • Removes excess layers of managements improving coordination and communication
        • Refers to an organisation structure with few/no levels of management between management and other staff.
        • Disadvantages
          • Employees lack a specific boss to report to, creating confusion and possibly power struggles.
          • They tend to produce generalists, no specialists.
          • Larger organisations struggle to adapt to flat structures.
      • Hierarchical Structure
        • It follows the layout of a pyramid. Every employee is usually subordinate to someone else within the organisation.
        • Disadvantages
          • Communication tends to be less effective than flat organisations.
          • Rivalry between departments may inflame as each departments makes their own decisions.
        • Advantages
          • Employees become less loyal to their departments and look out for the best interest of their area.
          • Opportunities for promotion motivate employees.
          • Employees recognise defined levels of leadership within the organisation; authority and levels of responsibility are obvious
    • Chain Of Command
      • The chain of command within a structure is how instructions and decisions are passed down from one layer to another.
      • From the top donwards
      • Decisions passed down, problems passed up
    • Matrix Strcture
      • Advantages
        • A good way of sharing resources across departments
        • Likely to result in greater motivation
        • Allows indivuduals to use particular skills in a range of context.
      • Disadvantages
        • Difficult to co-ordinate
        • Members of project teams may have divided loyalties as they report to two line managers.
        • It takes time for people to get used to working in this sort of structure
        • Members may neglect their functional responsibliities
    • Delegation
      • Fits in to a strcture that is centralised meaning decisions are made at head office
    • Span of Control
      • Advantages - Narrow Span of Control
        • Allows manager to communicate quickly with employees
        • Feedback of ideas from workers is more effective
        • Less management skill required as few employees required.
      • Advantages - Wide Span Of Control
        • Less layers of management to pass a message through. reaching employees faster
        • Costs less
    • Roles within a Business
      • Directors
        • Appointed by shareholders to control a business.
        • Manage activities and affairs of the business.
        • The tole is largely strategic as they have to identify opportunities and set corporate objectives for the business
      • Manager
        • Carries out variety of activities
        • Activities grouped under 4 main functional headings
          • Planning
          • Organising
          • Motivting
          • Controlling
      • Supervisours
        • They provide links between manager, the operatives stagg and support staf.
        • Classed as first line of management, taking on some management functions through delegation of authority.
        • Responsibilities include
          • Controlling day-to-day work of operational and support staff
          • Monitoring the work they do to ensure targets are being met
          • Advising management of problems that arise in the work of the business
          • aking corrective action to get back  on target if there are any shortcomings
      • Operational and Support Staff
        • The role can depend on the type of business they work in
        • Operational staff have lower levels of authority than a supervisor.
        • Operational Staff usually have a routine in nature.
        • Support staff provide a specialist structure to staff at all levels in the business.
        • The level of decision making and responsibility depends on the extent and nature of the role.

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