OFFICE

OFFICE ORGANIZATION
ORGANIZATION
By Peter Kiarie

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 Definitions
• Organization is the arrangement of work
by which the activities are divided among
people or groups of people to whom
responsibilities, duties and authority are
allocated.
• This division of activities results in the
creation of departments and sections
which may be specialized i.e. carrying out
one particular type of activity, or may be
concerned with a particular project or
group of functional activities. 2
 Authority:

• The right to make decisions and to take

action. E.g. a secretary may be given
authority to sign orders up to a
maximum of Ksh.5,000.
• She may also be given the authority to
investigate anomalies on orders, or on
the other hand, she may refer such
orders to her executive who will himself
undertake the necessary investigation.
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 Duties:
• Are the work requirements arising from
the responsibilities. E.g. one of the
duties of a typing-pool supervisor is to
check the work of junior typists
because the supervisor is responsible
for the accuracy of the work even
though it is typed by a subordinate.

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 Responsibilities:

• Is the area of work for which a person or

group of people is accountable. E.g. a
departmental manager is responsible for
coordinating the activities of the various
sections in his department.

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 Organizing an office
There are occasions when an office manager is
asked to undertake the organization of a new
section/department, e.g. a secretariat. The
steps that have to be taken are as follows.
1. Determine the objectives of the office to be
established.
2. Determine the functions arising from the
objectives.
3. Decide the activities involved in fulfilling the
functions.

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4. Decide which activities are already in
existence, or can be dealt with by other
offices e.g. if there is a mail registry where
incoming mail is opened this duty will not
have to be undertaken for or in the new
office.
5. Estimate the volume/work-load of each
activity.
6. Estimate the number of man-hours required
to perform each activity.
7. Establish the interrelationship and sequence
of activities. 7
8. Determine the level of the various
activities in terms of responsibility,
qualifications and experience needed.
9. Group the activities into reasonable
work-loads.
10. Prepare an organization chart based on
the principles of organization and
techniques of organization.

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 Principles of Organization
There are some basic principles which can be
used as a guide-line to organization even
though they may not all be applicable to
individual circumstance:
• Every person should be immediately
responsible to one person only. It is confusing
for a person to receive conflicting
instructions from more than one supervisor.
• Authority should be granted commensurate
with responsibility. When this is not done,
the individual feels frustrated and loses his
initiative.
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• The span of control should be appropriate to the
quality of staff, variety of work, and capabilities of
the supervisor. Span of control is the number of
subordinates responsible to a superior. This should
normally be not more than five or six.
• The best use should be made of the specialist
abilities of each individual.
• The number of levels of management should be
kept to a minimum; otherwise communication (both
upwards and downwards) suffers.
• There should be the right degree of centralization,
appropriate to work-flow requirements, staff
specialist abilities.
• There should be an even distribution of work.
• The maximum use should be made of the abilities of
employees.
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 Techniques of organization
• Determine the method of grouping (either
homogeneous or heterogeneous).
• Decide on the degree of specialization to be used
in the allocation of work.
• Decide on the size of groupings bearing in mind
the span of control appropriate to the work,
quality of subordinates and supervisor, and
making allowance for holidays, sickness etc.
• The number of section leaders and/or supervisors
will arise from the decision on the size of
groupings.
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• Take account of human considerations i.e.
interrelationships of staff (informal
organization) such as grouping by age, and
putting together people who get on well
with each other.
• Allocate responsibilities, duties and
authority.
• Prepare a new organization chart. Prepare
job descriptions and job specifications.

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 Reorganization
• Reorganization can be used as a means of
correcting faults. Bad organization can be
the root cause of inefficiency. Some of the
symptoms of bad organization are:-
• Unacceptable delays.
• Difficulty in locating documents.
• Difficulty in retrieving information.
• Lack of authority necessary to perform the
duties of particular jobs.
• Lack or coordination.
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• Duplication of procedures.
• Inadequate or slow communications.
• Low morale.
• Costs out of proportion to productivity.
• Low productivity.

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• Reorganization may be necessary, not only to
correct faults, but to cope with changes
brought about by growth and/or
development.
Steps in Reorganization
1. Obtain an organization chart of the former
organization as it exists. If it can’t be
found, or is out of date, draw one up.
2. Obtain the job descriptions of the workers.
If these are not in existence, it is necessary
to ask each individual worker to list the
tasks he undertakes.
3. From the job descriptions, summarize the
duties which have to be performed in the
office as a whole.

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4. Scrutinize the organization chart and
the job descriptions to diagnose
faults, which may include:
a) Inadequate delegation (particularly of
authority)
b) Bad distribution of work.
c) Too much specialization (or not enough).
d) Inappropriate span of control (too narrow
or too wide).
e) Imprecise definition of responsibilities
and authority.
f) Too many levels of management.

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5. Review the objectives. Appraise the organization
chart, the work being done and the faults diagnosed in
relation to those objectives. The appraisal should
establish whether all the work being done is
necessary, whether it is adequate, whether the
systems and procedures are designed to meet the
objectives and whether the staffs are adequate in
number, type, level and ability.
6. Consider alternative ways of organizing the office i.e.
of distributing responsibilities, duties and authority
bearing in mind the purposes, the costs, and overall
control.
7. Assess whether and to what extent the proposed
reorganization will overcome the previous deficiencies
or meet the demands of changes to be implemented.
8. Prepare a new organization chart and new job
descriptions.
9. Submit to top management for approval.
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 Grouping of Staff
• There are two main types of staff
grouping:
• Homogeneous Grouping – means that
workers who are concerned with the same
kind of activity e.g. typists, are placed
together in a pool or secretariat
regardless of the section for which they
work

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 Advantages of Homogeneous
Grouping
• Facilitates the use of machines
• Reduces the effect of work fluctuations.
• Enables better use to be made of
specialization.
• Facilitates training.
• Makes it easier to compare the work of
different members of staff.

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 Heterogeneous Grouping
• Means that workers are placed together
according to the function of their work,
regardless of the kind of activity they
undertake. For example, the handling of
orders in a sales department might be dealt
with by a group consisting of sales
assistants, delivery clerks, accountant,
typists etc.

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 Advantages of Heterogeneous
Grouping
• Makes the exchange of staff easier.
• Helps to develop a team spirit.
• Makes it easier to fix responsibility.
• Is better for customer relations.
• Reduces the movement of paper.
• Makes it easier to switch to new methods
and systems.
• Provides the workers with greater variety
and interest.
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ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
• Is the established pattern of relationships
among various components (parts) of an
organization.
• It is the framework within which employees
of an organization function or work.
• It prescribes the formal (official)
relationships among various positions and
activities of an organization.

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 Steps involved in planning
organizational structure
1. Identify all the necessary activities/tasks and functions
which must be performed in order to achieve the
objectives or goals of the organization.
2. Group all the similar or closely interrelated activities
together into various departments, sections and units in
order to facilitate effective co-ordination of such
activities. This is done through the process of
departmentation.
3. Identify workers who can hold various positions, perform
different activities, tasks and functions through the
process of staff selection. Use staff recruitment
procedures to identify the workers with the right job
knowledge, qualifications (academic, vocational and
professional), expertise, skills and experiences and select
such workers and then recruit them.
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 Line Organizational Structure
• Refers to the structural relationships between a
superior and his immediate subordinates. Such
relationships should be direct hence vertical.
• This relates to official or formal relationships.
• It is characterized by direct lines of responsibility
and authority from the top executive to the lowest
subordinate.
• Thus, responsibility is greatest at the top and
reduced at each successive level down the
organization scale.

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 Advantages of Line Org Structure
• It’s simple to understand as well as to
operate.
• It facilitates the fixing of responsibility for
work at different levels of an organization.
• It gives clear indication of the official lines
or channels of communication to be followed
when communicating officially.
• Through it, heads of departments (line
managers) are in full control of their
respective departments i.e. it clearly
indicates the positions of superiors, their
authority as well as responsibilities. 25
• It enables instructions, directives and commands to
be given by superiors to their subordinates.
• It enables superiors to function effectively since
they have authority or power to do so.
• It reduces conflicts or misunderstandings which
may be cause by conflicting instructions.
• It gives clear cut division of authority and
responsibilities of each position.
• It makes it possible for superiors to
appraise/assess the performance of their
subordinates.
• It facilitates effective communication between a
superior and a subordinate.
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 Disadvantages
• It gives superiors too much authority or power
which he may misuse at the disadvantage of the
subordinate.
• It tends to be rigid; hence inflexible i.e. it confines
workers/subordinates to their areas of operations.
• Unless there is effective planning by top
management, departments may not work together
as a team i.e. they may disintegrate.
• For those superiors who are poor delegators i.e.
they are not effective in delegating authority and
responsibilities to their subordinates, such a
structure results to overburdening/overloading.
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• If there is a link used by a superior involving
his subordinate, there can be
misappropriation/misuse of an organization’s
resources.
• It lacks participative management since
decisions are made by a superior without
consulting the subordinate.
• If the message to be communicated upwards
is undesirable to a superior, he may easily
block it.
• This structure is prone to autocratic
commands which are not useful in some types
of organizations. 28
 Line and Staff Organization
Structure
• It refers to a structure whereby a line
manager or head of department works
together officially with staff specialists who
advice him on what to do but the final
decision rests with the line manager.

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 Advantages
• It results to planned specialization arising from line
manager i.e. departmental specialization and staff
specialists i.e. functional specialization.
• It enhances quality decision making.
• It generates prospects for managerial
developments since line managers benefit from
knowledge and expertise of staff specialists.
• It is a good training ground for both line managers
and staff specialists.
• It fixes responsibility for final decision making on
line managers.

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• It facilitates maintenance of discipline among
members of staff by line managers.
• It makes it possible for each head of department
to plan wisely on how to achieve the department’s
target since he receives extra specialized advice
from staff specialists.
• It may minimize the cost of consultancy since staff
specialists can provide specialized knowledge to line
manager which would otherwise involve having an
external consultant.

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 Disadvantages
• Line managers may ignore the advice of staff
experts.
• Staff experts may start issuing orders
which contradict those of line managers.
• It causes confusion and dissatisfaction
among workers.
• The staff experts have no executive
positions and cannot make decisions.
• Line managers receive the credit for work
done by staff expert.
• When things go wrong, staff experts get the
blame. 32
 Functional Organization Structure
• This is where experts are placed in charge
of different functions e.g. engineering,
buying, selling etc. regardless of whether
the work involved falls within another
section.
• The organization makes the greatest use of
specialization.
• A person’s special skills are available “across
the board” and are not restricted by
departmental boundaries.

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 Advantages
• It facilitates high standards of functional
relationships between functional departments as it
enables the various departments of an organization
to receive specialized functions relating to
departments of an organization.
• It enables an organization to grow or expand by
forming branches without affecting the
headquarters of the organization.
• It facilitates standardization of accounting
systems in the whole organization.
• It enhances standardization of office systems,
methods and procedures used by all departments of
the organization. 34
• It facilitates standardization of
organization’s policies relating to the
functional departments.
• It makes it possible to standardize office
forms.
• Since functional departments offer
specialized services to all the other
departments of the organization, this helps
to reduce consultancy fees.
• It facilitates better and more effective
coordination of functional activities.
• It strengthens central control of functional
activities.
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 Disadvantages
• It lacks well defined authority since the
functional managers also have authority over
other departments.
• It tends to create conflicts between the
functional departments and the other
departments of an organization.
• It tends to protect the interests of the
functional departments at the expense of
those of the other departments.
• It violates the principle of unity of command.
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• It results to divided responsibility in the sense
that a subordinate worker sometimes finds it
difficult whether to comply with the requirement
of his immediate superior or those of the head of
functional department.
• It tends to result to delay in decision making.
• It represents a rigid approach to emergency
problems of workers.
• It weakens authority and initiative of supervisors.
• Due to overlapping authority, it results in frictions
(misunderstanding).
• It may increase office overheads with no
corresponding contribution to efficiency.

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Committee Organizational Structure
• A committee is a group of people to whom
some matters are committed.
• It is a group of people who have been
elected or appointed then given authority to
deliberate and discuss certain issues and
make suggestions or proposals which they
submit to a higher authority or make final
decisions

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 Types of Committees
• Those which are formed according to their tenure
or duration. They can be permanent or temporary
Examples of permanent committee
• Board of directors
• Executive committee
• Planning committee
• Budget committee
Examples of temporary committee
• Probe committee
• Commission of inquiry
• Funeral committee 39
 Advantages of Committees
• It results to a posting of knowledge and experience
of various people.
• It facilitates coordination of the activities of
various components of an organization i.e. units
departments, branches and sections.
• It facilitates easy communication in an
organization.
• It results in representation of the various
interested groups of an organization.
• It avoids the concentration of too much authority
in a single individual.
• It consolidates authority since all committee
members have to share the responsibilities for the
failure or success of the business. 40
• Sometimes committees are used to avoid or
delay an action.
• Responsibility for decisions of the
committee are shared rather than borne by
one person.
• It makes use of experts and specialists
through the process of co-opting ex-officio
members.
• It enables members to learn how to solve
problems or discuss issues collectively.

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 Disadvantages of Committees
• They are costly because a lot of organization’s time
and even money are spent in committee deliberation
and yet sometimes the returns are not
proportionate.
• Committee decisions tend to be slow since each
committee member has equal opportunity to
express his views such that before final decision is
reached a lot of time has to be spent.
• Sometimes even after long discussions, no final
decisions are reached by committee members.
• Committee decisions are not necessarily the best
but merely those accepted by the majority.
• If there are members of a committee who are more
influential than others they will tend to debate and
influence committee decisions such that the final
decisions are merely their own decisions. 42
 ORGANIZATION CHARTS
• An organization chart is a visual/pictorial
representation of an organization structure.
• A visual representation is most easily understood at
a glance.
• An organization chart is a diagrammatic illustration
which may include some explanatory notes.
• The steps to be taken in preparing an organization
chart are the same as in developing an organization
structure.

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 Purposes of an organization chart
• The whole organization structure can be seen at
a glance. This means that every member of the
staff from the top to the bottom of the concern
can be aware of how each section or department
or the whole organization is structured.
• It is easier to analyze and review the structure
when it is represented graphically.
• Management relationships are visible. It
graphically/diagrammatically show the
formal/official relationships which exist among
various positions of the organization.
• Spheres of responsibility and authority are
defined.
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• The span of control of each supervisor/manager
can be seen. It enables one to see the span of
control or management or supervision of each
manager or supervisor.
• Lines of communication are visible.
• Weaknesses in organization can be more easily
diagnosed e.g. weak lines of communication,
unattached staff etc.
• It depicts the lines or levels of promotion.
• It reveals the number of subordinate employees
reporting to a superior or manager.
• It enables every worker in an organization to
become aware of how various departments and
positions are interrelated as well as how they
function.
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 Types of Organizational Charts
1. Vertical Organizational Chart
• Positions are arranged hierarchically from top
to bottom by using vertical flow charts in the
form of rectangles or boxes.
• The highest position is placed on top followed
by the next highest, downwards until the lowest
position.
• Principal or main units are arranged in levels
and these are connected by various lines
showing different types of authority.
• Each subunit and position is shown by a square
or rectangular box.
• Vertical organizational chart is the most popular
and the most commonly used type of
organizational chart. 46
 2. Horizontal Organizational Chart
• Positions are arranged hierarchically from
left to right.
• The highest position in an organization is
shown at the extreme left followed by the
next highest position rightwards until the
lowest position is shown at the extreme
right.
• Boxes or rectangles are used to show units,
subunits and various positions.
• Each box or rectangle briefly indicates the
duties and responsibilities of the person
occupying the position. 47
 3. Spherical/Circular/Concentric
Organizational Chart
• Various positions, units, subunits and sections are represented by
circles or spheres.
• The highest position is either shown by the outermost circle/sphere or
alternatively by the innermost circle or sphere.
• The succeeding positions then follow accordingly until the lowest
position is either shown by the innermost circle/sphere or by the
outermost circle.
• Boxes can be used together with spheres or circles to indicate various
titles as well as names of individuals occupying the major positions.
• The positions are numbered.
• The number may be given in whole as well as in decimal. Each function
being represented by a whole number while its subdivisions are
represented by decimals of the whole number.

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 Adva of Organizational Charts
• An organizational chart presents the formal
structure of an organization.
• It provides useful information to management
when undertaking their various managerial
functions.
• It is a useful tool to employees in understanding
their official interrelationships.
• It can be used to inform new employees about
the hierarchical relationships of various
positions and staff.
• It is useful in studying the operations of an
organization.
• It can be used by management in identifying
strengths and weaknesses of the current
organizational structure.
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• It provides a quick way of
understanding the structural
arrangement of an organization.
• It enables interested parties such as
customers, suppliers etc. to know whom
to deal with or consult on a particular
official issue.
• It enables one to identify the major or
basic functions as well as secondary
functions and sub functions of an
organization.
• It enables one to identify the name and
even the type of organization. 50
 Disadv of Organizational Chart
• Organizational chart have a tendency to imply
organizational status i.e. it emphasizes on status
of various positions. This result to a feeling of
inferiority and superiority among workers hence
dilute team spirit.
• An organizational chart must be frequently
updated in order for it to reflect the realities or
changes taking place in an organization.
• Human relationships cannot be shown on paper.
• Preparing, studying and storing organizational
charts tend to be costly.
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• It only presents a limited picture of an
organization since it shows only the officially
prescribed relationships i.e. formal
relationships. It ignores informal
relationships among workers.
• It shows only official authority relationships.
• It does not show the exact extent of
authority of any position.

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THE
THE END
END
THANK YOU

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