Organizing – Concept of Organization and Organizing -Meaning, Definitions, Process and Theories

Concept of Organization and Organizing

The Organizing Function of Management

Organizing comes after the completion of the creative phase of planning through which managers are able to define what is to be done; now the question arises who will do it. Then it is also the responsibility of managers to define who will do what and what will be the relationship among these persons.

  • Organizing in general means systematic arrangement of activities.
  • Organizing as a process of management essentially relates to sub-dividing and grouping of activities.
  • The outcome of the organizing process is a set of formal relationships which is known as organization structure. It becomes necessary to have divisions and sub-divisions of work among employees at different levels.
  • Ultimately, the work of the organization is divided into a number of positions of employees and managers and establish a relationship between them.
Business process management and workflow automation diagram with gears and icons with connection line network in background. Manager touching interface

Definitions

According to G.R. Terry

Organizing is the establishing of effective behavioral relationships among persons so that they may work together efficiently and gain personal satisfaction in doing selected tasks under given environmental conditions for the purpose of achieving some goal or objective.

According to Louis A. Allen

Organizing is the purpose of identifying and grouping the work to be performed, defining and delegating responsibility and authority, and establishing relationships for the purpose of enabling people to work together most effectively in accomplishing objectives.

According to Oliver Sheldon

The process of combining the work which individuals or group have to perform with facilities necessary for its execution that the duties so performed; provide the best channels for the efficient, systematic, positive and coordination application of the available efforts.

Benefits

Effective organizing can provide a number of organizational benefits.

i. The process of organizing helps to clarify the specialized tasks and performance expectations for each person.

ii. Organizing produces appropriate authority structures with accountability to support planning and control throughout the organization.

iii. organizing creates channels of communication that support decision making and control.

iv. the organizing process establishes a logical flow of work activities that can be comfortably performed by individuals and work groups.

v. By organizing, management develops a division of labour that avoids the misuse of resources, conflict and duplication of effort.

vi. The proper organization creates coordinating mechanisms that produce harmony among organizational members in diversified activities.

vii. organizing produces focused work efforts that are logically and efficiently related to a common goal

Process of Organizing

The main purpose of Organizing is to create a framework for the performance of the activities of an organization in a systematic manner. It is a process through which organization structure is created and it consists of following elements or steps.

1. Grouping

The first and foremost element in organizing is the grouping i.e., creating various departments, divisions, and sections in order to  perform various organizational activities. To perform this effectively, it is necessary to identify the activities, which would lead to the achievement of organizational objectives. Since the objectives of different organizations are different it is therefore, necessary to determine the activities of each organization separately. After tracing them, they need to be grouped into departments based on their similarities and differences. The responsible manager must check that all the necessary activities are performed; there is no duplication in performing various necessary activities, and activities are performed in a synchronized and co-ordinated way. It also has to be kept in mind while undergoing the process of departmentation that how many individuals should be put under the direct supervision of a superior manager.

2. Linking Groups

After creating different groups; which may be called as departments, divisions, sections etc., the question arises how to link them up. It is well understood that no group can work in isolation and the law of interdependence prevails everywhere so, it becomes necessary to link them up so that they can operate in a co-ordinated manner. The shape of any organization is determined, the way they have been linked with each other. For example in any manufacturing unit four major functions of production, Marketing, Finance and Human Resource are there. Managerial positions will be created to supervise the activities of these departments.

3. Assigning Responsibility

Every individual is assigned with a particular task and made responsible to perform those activities. It is very important to assign different responsibilities to different individuals because of two major reasons:

  • The total work in any organization or department is so large that it cannot be completed by a single individual or by a few persons.
  • If the work is divided into smaller units, it becomes easy to assign work to individuals who have the necessary skill and knowledge to perform the work efficiently.

 4. Delegating Authorities

No individual would be able to discharge-his duties without having any power or authority so, it is an important part of ‘Organizing’. It becomes very necessary to define well about the responsibility, accountability and authority. Therefore, establishing clear cut relationship or hierarchy among individuals is important aspect of the organizing process. At this stage it is important to have clear demarcation between responsibility, authority and accountability to allocate three of them separately to each individual.

(i)Responsibility

It is the obligation of a subordinated to perform the assigned duties in the manner guided and desired by ihe superior. Responsibilities/duties are assigned to the subordinates to share the work.

(ii)Authority

When an individual is given certain responsibility/duty to perform then it is mandatory to give necessary authority to handle that responsibility otherwise, the employee will not be able to perform. Authority includes the rights to take decision, right to issue orders and the right to take action, if orders are not carried out. To sum up authority must follow responsibility.

(iii) Accountability

Bluntly Accountability means Answerability and is always upward. Accountability as, each person has to report to his superior, how the work has been done and how authority has been used. In this way, every person becomes accountable to top management. Infact, accountability ensures that the work is done as planned and there is no misuse of authority. An important principle of accountability is principle of single accountability. The super subordinate may be in fix; whom to obey, if this principle is not followed.

5. Designing the Hierarchy Level

It is to design the connectivity between individuals to make the organizational working smooth and simple. « will basically make clear “who” will be reporting to “whom”.

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