Line organisation
Line organisation: Line
organisation is the oldest and
simplest method of administrative organisation. According to this type of
organisation, the authority flows from top to bottom in a concern. The line of
command is carried out from top to bottom. Persons having the greater decision–
making authority are placed at the top, and those having the least decision –
making authority are at the bottom. In between, there are other levels of
management, such as intermediate and supervisory.
Line
executives are the people who are directly involved in the basic activities of
an organisation.
The Superiors
at each level makes decisions within the scope of the authority delegated to
him by his own boss. He communicates his decisions and orders to his
subordinates, and it is the duty of the subordinates to follow the orders and
instructions given by his superior.
Each position
in the structure has general authority over lower positions. Similarly, each
position derives authority from the one above. Every person in the organisation
is supposed to be accountable to one and only, who delegates authority and
assign duties to him. Any departure from this may create problems. For example,
if the production manager by passes a foreman and gives instructions directly
to a machine-man, he may put the machine-man in a difficult position of being
accountable to two persons at one and the same time. This may also upset the
foreman’s control over his subordinates (including this particular machine-man)
in general.
In this type
of organisation there is a vertical line of authority. For this reason, it is
given the name “line organisation”.
Line
organisation can be of two types:
1. Pure line
organisation and
2. Departmental
line organisation
1. Pure line organisation: In a pure line
organisation, at any given level of work, all the individuals perform the same type of work.
2. Departmental line organisation:
In a departmental line organisation, there is
a chief executive at the top, under
him there are number of departments each headed by a departmental manager.
Each
departmental head derives his authority from the general manager and delegates’
authority to his immediate subordinates. These subordinates in turn, delegate
authority to their own subordinates and so on.
All
departmental heads enjoy equal status and authority, also they function
independently from one another. For example, the production manager will not
interfere in the decision making of sales manager or finance manager and vice
versa. Further, no executive in a line organisation should be burdened with
supervising a large number of subordinates.
Simple: A line organisation is easy to establish. There are no complications in
defining the relationships.
Clear division
of authority and responsibility: Each
individual has his area of authority
clearly indicated. He also wants to know that he is responsible for his work
performance.
Unity of control: Employees are given orders by only one superior and hence a
subordinate does not want to carry out the orders of number of superiors.
Speedy action: Decisions can be made and
executed promptly due to unity of command and clear division of authority and
responsibility.
Flexibility: Each
executive understands his role and responsibility and make suitable adjustment
to realize the goals set for him.
Lack of specialisation: Line executives are
responsible for both planning and execution of the work assigned to them which
amounts for too much relying on the capacity and capability of individual
executives.
Over burdening of key men: An executive with
line authority has complete control over his unit and he is solely responsible
for the performance of his subordinates. This places a great burden on a
individual.
Limited communication: A Line organisation
does not usually provide communication from the subordinate i.e. upward
communication. This hinders creativity and capacity for independent thinking of
the employee as they develop the habit of working as per orders of their
superior.
Subjective approach: A line executive has monopoly
over decision – making and he is not obliged to seek advice or listen to line
organisation.
Even with its
drawback, line system of organisation will be quite suitable for enterprises
which are small in size or where the work involved is of a routine nature or
machine based.
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