Departmentation by Different Strategies

Departmentation by Different Strategies

1 Departmentation

Departmentation  is  the  process  of  grouping  of  work  activities  into  departments, divisions, and other homogenous units. Key Factors in Departmentation

ü It should facilitate control.

ü It should ensure proper coordination.

ü It should take into consideration the benefits of specialization.

ü It should not result in excess cost.

ü It should give due consideration to Human Aspects.

Departmentation takes place in various patterns like departmentation by functions, products,customers, geographic location, process, and its combinations.

2 Functional Departmentation

Functional  departmentation  is  the  process  of  grouping  activities  by  functions

performed.

Activities can be grouped according to function (work being done) to pursue economies of scale by placing employees with shared skills and knowledge into departments for example human resources, finance, production, and marketing. Functional departmentation can be used in all types of organizations.

3 Product Departmentation

Product departmentation is the process of grouping activities by product line. Tasks can also be grouped according to a specific product or service, thus placing all activities related to the product or the service under one manager. Each major product area in the corporation is under the authority of a senior manager who is specialist in, and is responsible for, everything related to the product line. Dabur India Limited is the India’s largest Ayurvedic medicine manufacturer is an example of company that uses product departmentation.

4 Customer Departmentation

Customer  departmentation  is  the  process  of  grouping  activities  on  the  basis  of common customers or types of customers. Jobs may be grouped according to the type of customer served by the organization. The assumption is that customers in each department have a common set of problems and needs that can best be met by specialists. UCO is the one of the largest commercial banks of India is an example of company that uses customer departmentation. Its structure is based on various services which includes Home loans, Business loans, Vehicle loans and Educational loans.

5 Geographic Departmentation

Geographic  departmentation  is  the  process  of  grouping  activities  on  the  basis  of territory. If an organization's customers are geographically dispersed, it can group jobs based on geography. For example, the organization structure of Coca-Cola Ltd has reflected the company’s operation in various geographic areas such as Central North American group, Western North American group, Eastern North American group and European group.

6 Process Departmentation

Geographic  departmentation  is  the  process  of  grouping  activities  on  the  basis  of product or service or customer flow. Because each process requires different skills, process departmentation allows homogenous activities to be categorized. For example, Bowater Thunder Bay, a Canadian company that harvests trees and processes wood into newsprint and pulp. Bowater has three divisions namely tree cutting, chemical processing, and finishing (which makes newsprint).

7 Martix Departmentation

In  actual  practice,  no  single  pattern  of  grouping  activities  is  applied  in  the organization structure with all its levels. Different bases are used in different segments of the enterprise. Composite or hybrid method forms the common basis for classifying activities rather than one particular method,. One of the mixed forms of organization is referred to as matrix or grid organization’s According to the situations, the patterns of Organizing varies from case to case. The form of structure must reflect the tasks, goals and technology if the originations the type of people employed and the environmental conditions that it faces. It is not unusual to see firms that utilize the function and project organization combination. The same is true for process and project as well as other combinations. For instance, a large hospital could have an accounting department, surgery department, marketing department, and a satellite center project team that make up its organizational structure.