Communication Journal

Chap 5 Note

Authority: How and why vertical differentiation occurs

The Emergence of the Hierarchy

The organization gets bigger in size which makes it difficult to measure, evaluate, and reward employees. It does 2 things to improve its ability to control:

* Increase the number of managers it uses to monitor evaluate, and reward employees

* Increase the number of levels in its managerial hierarchy so that the hierarchy of authority becomes taller over time

 Do these will increase vertical differentiation and give the organization direct face-to-face control over its members-managers personally control their subordinates.

 Direct supervision allows managers to shape and influence the behavior of subordinates in positive ways. Increase the efficiency of the work and increase subordinates personal management skills.

Size and height limitations

A&B have same number of employees

A: few levels in its hierarchy

B: more levels in its hierarchy

Limit: 3000 Employees Company typically has 7 levels

10k-100k Employees Comp has no more than 9 levels

Problems with tall Hierarchies

* Communication problems: too many levels may slowdown decision making process. Information can be distorted as it flows up and down through many levels of management. Moreover, managers up and down the hierarchy may deliberately manipulate information to promote their own interests. (i.e restricting the flow of info/ selecting feeding info to upper level-> the top level may lose control over the bottom)

* Motivation problems: Level in the hierarchy increases so as the relative difference in the authority possessed by managers at each level decreases. Also, mangers from lower level can shift their responsibility to the manger above them that lead to slow decision making and poor communication

* Bureaucratic costs: Cost more money to pay for middle managers

The ideal number of hierarchal levels: The minimum chain of command

To prevent the unnecessary tall hierarchy level, any new recruitment has to be approved by the CEO.

Organization has to be kept as flat as possible. Top managers should be evaluated for their ability to monitor and control its activities with the fewest managers possible.

A flat structure organization will experience fewer communication, motivation, and cost problems than a tall structure organization.

An organization chooses tall structure when it needs a high level of direct control and personal supervision over subordinates.

Span of Control

Is the number of subordinates that a manager directly manages

Two factors that affect the span of control:

* Task complexity: Manager has to build relationship among subordinates. Too many subordinates could cause lose in control of a manager over them since a manger can't hold them accountable for their actions.

* Task interrelatedness: What one person does has a direct effect on what another person does, so coordination and control are greater challenges for a manager.

Control: Factors affecting the Shape of the Hierarchy

Horizontal Differentiation

Centralization

Bigger organization requires lot of time for monitoring and supervising their subordinates and less time for planning the goal. Decentralization would be the only solution. It doesn't eliminate the need for many hierarchical levels in a large complex organization. However, it enables even a relatively tall structure to be more flexible in its responses to changes in the external environment as it reduces the amount of