Span of control in management pdf

This article describes span of control in a practical way. Span of activity provides a direct measure of the ceos management style, including the attention devoted to specific subordinates and functions, the time devoted to individual work and outside. The number of people who report to one manager in a hierarchy the more people under the control of one manager the wider the span of control less means a narrower span of control example below shows a span of control of 4 for the marketing manager marketing manager market researcher telesales supervisor customer care. Economic consideration economic considerations also determines the span of control. At least since fayol 1918 the notion of span of control has occupied a central position in management, both in scholarly analysis and practical implementation. Each type has its inherent advantages and disadvantages. Span of management or span of control management study hq.

Span of control refers to the number of subordinates an executive can supervise. Police management studies from the 1950s through the 1980s featured the span of control concept. Thus, for any individual job, span of control can be either wide, indicating control of a wide range of resources, or narrow, indicating that a manager has direct control of relatively few resources. When a span is too wide, upper management is not connected to frontline issues, which can create increased stress at managerlevel due to excessive workload, reduced opportunities for continuous oneonone performance feedback, and potential for greater need for assistants or chief of staff roles. Multiple people in a department deal with a single superior. In simple words, span of control means the manageable number of subordinates of a superior. We typically see an opportunity to save between 10 to 15 percent of managerial costs by rightsizing spans and layers. A span of control tool for clinical managers article pdf available in nursing leadership toronto, ont. Simply, span of control refers to the number of subordinates under the managers direct control. The paper uses the empirical approach to propose a method of defining optimal span of control for an enterprise, and leads to a conclusion, that efficiency of organizational function performance within company management can be estimated with the use of span of control criteria. As more of the workforce has moved from manufacturing and production industries to servicedriven and knowledgebased sectors, the oldschool notion of span of control has become increasingly challenged. Graicunas as well as some commentary and a historical note about graicunas.

There are advantages and disadvantages to having a narrow span of control. Span of control or span of management is a dimension of organizational design measured by the number of subordinates that report directly to a given manager. A span of control is a concept that describes the number of people that are managed by someone. The functions of management are planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and control. Within an organization, taller organizational structures are relatively more expensive than flatter and wider organizational structures due to the increased number of managers required.

What is span of control and organizational structure. The number of people who report to one manager in a hierarchy the more people under the control of one. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a narrow span of. Journal of nursing management span of control increases, the leaders sense of attachment to the. Here the capacity means the ability of a superior to comprehend the problems quickly and gel up with the staff such that he gets respect from all. It refers to how many workers a manager is supervising.

Span of control in management has implications for work flow, communications, and opportunities for promotion in a company. Pdf span of control and span of activity researchgate. Evolution of our thinking on managers and management. Span of accountability, in contrast, represents the range of tradeoffs inherent in 2 2. Span of control, a management and leadership theory toolshero. What are the factors determining span of management. In a wider span of control, a manager has many subordinates who report to him. Sep 15, 2016 in such cases wide span of control is suitable and the supervisors can manage and control large number of subordinates at one time.

The larger an organisation, the more management layers it has. Whereas, with the narrow span, the hierarchical levels increases, hence the. Span of control plays an important role in organizations and has implications for organizational structure, how. Span of control is the term now used more commonly in business management, particularly human resource management. Organizations size and span of control practical management. Span of control refers to the number of subordinates that can be managed effectively and efficiently by supervisors or managers in an organization. Span of control 5 things every leader should know forbes. How to identify the right spans of control for your. Pdf the span of control expresses how many subordinates correspond to one manager. Later in the 20th century, flatter organizational structures became more common, and the ideal span of control rose to between 15 and 25, with a corresponding ideal of not more than five. Span of control, sometimes known as span of management, is measured by the number of subordinates that report directly to a manager.

Jul 26, 2018 hello learners, this video consists of the full description of span of control also known as span of management. Span of control and span of attention working paper harvard. Pdf span of control, unity of command, coordination. Typically, we see comprehensive span exercises reducing at least one layer in an organization. Graicunas theory on the span of management theories. As an example, a manager with five direct reports has a span of control of five. A narrow span of control describes a situation where a manager. Graicunas and the span of control academy of management.

It also poses a very different challenge for the organizations leaders, while small organizations are build for innovation, large are meant for operational efficiency. Span of management span of control span of authority. Typically, it is either narrow or wide resulting in a flatter or more hierarchical organizational structure. This concept affects organization design in a variety of ways, including speed of communication flow, employee motivation, reporting relationships, and administrative. The concept is the central theme of the classical theory. The span of control is a perennial topic in discussions of management. Pdf span of control in teamwork and organization structure. The principle of span of control means the number of subordinates or the units of work that an officer can personally direct, control, and supervise. Span of control is a term that describes the number of subordinate workers organizational units under a single manager. The span of control is the number of employees a manager can supervise as effectively as possible. This is emphasized repeatedly in the literature and in particular by jurisdictions that that have visited or revisited the question the concept of an ideal range often stated as 57, or 68 originates in the pioneering span of control research that took. In many industrial operations, an unofficial leadership. Organizations size and span of control organizations size is determined by number of its employees, the largeness of its operation, and its market reach and share.

With the current manner of managing an organization, the age of the. Span of control theory there is no standard for span of control. Pdf span of control, unity of command, coordination adnan. The concept of span of control is an important concept in business. Read on to learn what it is and how it impacts a companys results. Graicunas fred nickols 422011 this paper presents the formulas for determining a managers span of control as set forth by v. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a narrow span. In a classical type of organizational structure, which is the most common form.

As there are levels of management, or hierarchy, an organization may be tall. This paper examines emergency management span of control nationally, surveys emergency management directors in four new england states, and proposes a regional construct for emergency management in vermont, to enable effective emergency management during the next manmade or natural disaster. Span of control determines the structure of an organization, a narrow span of control results in hierarchal organization while broad span of control leads to flat structure. The addition of new hierarchical layers makes the organisational structure steeper. After reading you will understand the basics of this powerful management and leadership theory. In january of 1998, i posted a comment about the span of control and the formulas of v. Proper span of control is considered necessary for effective coordination. With the wider span, there will be less hierarchical levels, and thus, the organizational structure would be flatter. Span of control is very simply the number of subordinates that report to a manager. Spans literary meaning says, it is the distance between the tip of a thumb and small finger when palm of hand is fully stretched out.

Span of control refers to the number of subordinates a supervisor has. It is very important to understand span of control and organizational structure when describing an organization. Determination of span of control is one of the results of organizing and it is defacto manifestation of formal organizational structure. Management, firms, ceo, productivity, firm activities. A large span of control leads to a flatter organisational structure, which results in lower costs. In order to understand how people use our site generally, and to create more valuable. Workers are engaged in groups on a repetitive operation and control of the work is exercised by individual output figures. The basic concepts and principles of unity of command and the. However, as policing started to move organizationally from a tall hierarchy to a more flattened organizational, the span of control concept began to fade from the literature. The number of subordinates that a superior can effectively supervise is known as span of management or span of control. The term span of control is made of two words, viz. The article discusses the authors opinion on the span of control principle of organization conceptualized by vytautas andrius graicunas. Span of control for law enforcement agencies police chief. Defining optimal span of control for an enterprise.

Finally, by rightsizing spans of control, you can free up resources to invest in higher value activities. Span of control, a management and leadership theory. In the span of control example below we could say that the it manager has a span of control of 3, as they have 3 subordinates reporting to them. The span of management can be determined on the basis of a number of relationships that a manager can manage. In business, the principle does not apply at the lowest level of supervision. Span of management, also known as span of control, refers to the number of people a manager directly manages. Al though control is listed last, it certainly is not the least important. The span of control refers to number of employees that directly report to a single manager.

Span of control ability to effectively manage how can a manager receive and provide assurance they are in control of the risks that they are required to manage how can i use risk management to assist me to deliver objectives and discharge compliance requirements. This module provides an insight into the span of control through its concept, types, factors affecting, advantages, limitations and v. The span of management is related to the horizontal levels of the organization structure. This is a crucial information for managers since they need to understand which are.