Wolf, Kenneth

Texas A&amp;M Repository

JUL 2 8 1975'51000:JWL-1371ORGANIZING FOR PRODUCTIVE USE OF MANPOWERKenneth Wolf*Many firms and organizations face financialproblems because of increasing labor costs. Laborproductivity is directly related to the internal struc-ture of the firm or organization. The four basicprinciples of internal organization are unity of com-mand, span of control, homogeneous assignmentand delegation.Unity of CommandOne of the oldest principles of organization isthat no man can serve two masters. It is also oneof the most commonly violated principles. Fuzzyorganizational structure and practices can causepoor employee performance even though wri ttenjob descriptions and organizational charts exist.Management studies reveal several reasons for this:• Employees are assigned unrelated duties. Onepart of a job may be composed of duties thatare the responsibility of one supervisor, whilethe remainder of the duties are the responsi-bility of another supervisor. In such a situ-ation, the employee will be inclined to givepriority to those duties which are of concernto the supervisor who is most powerful in theorganization. The other supervisor will notreceive equal priority.• A supervisor who is promoted to a higher levelin the organization often continues to giveorders directly to employees he previouslysupervised, even though his old job has beenfilled by a new supervisor. This practice oftenis encouraged by employees who continue togo to their former supervisor for instructions.An alert supervisor immediately will advisesuch employees to consult their new imme-diate supervisor.• Supervisory personnel often bypass a weak.subordinate supervisor and go directly to hisemployees. This not only confuses the work-ers, but causes them to lose respect for thewhole organization.• Inexperienced supervisors have a tendency tomake assignments directly to a subordinatesupervisor's workers when the subordinate su-pervi or is not immediately available to re-ceive the instructions. This should be doneonly in emergency situations. The higher su-·Extension economist-agribusiness, The Texas A&M Univer-sity System.pervisor should devote his attention to help-ing his subordinate supervisor become moreavailable.• Supervisory personnel who are assigned tem-porary workloads beyond the capabili ties oftheir workers are inclined to go directly toother workers for assistance. The physicallayout of a firm may encourage this bad prac-tice. Supervisors should secure extra man-power by resquesting assistance from othersupervisors.• Employees who have both a "boss" and an"assistant boss" usually are confused and workat less than peak efficiency unless the or-ganizational structure is clarified. Both super-visors often make assignments directly toworkers. Also, workers never quite know towhich boss they should take their problems,It is often desirable to eliminate the "assistantboss" position and make him a "full boss"over a definite segment of the organization byre-structuring the entire organization. If thiscannot be done, specific areas of responsibilitymust be assigned to each supervisor, and allemployees need to know the breakdown,Supervisory personnel in any organization canget a fair indication of how well they are observingthe "one boss" principle if they will:• Request an outsider, preferably a customer,to casually ask some of the employees whotheir boss is, and report the findings.• Review supervisory job descriptions to see ifeach one spells out specifically the positionsdirectly supervised.• Review workers' job descriptions to insurethat each one specifically states who the im-mediate supervisor is.Span of ControlThis principle deals with determining thenumber of workers a supervisor can adequatelysupervise. The supervisor with too few workerswill over-supervise those reporting directly to him.The supervisor who is responsible for too manyworkers will not do justice to any of them. Thenumber of direct subordinates a supervisor shouldhave must be determined after careful considerationof the following points.Type of work done-The nature and complexityof the work done in an organization determines the10.25rvi The T Un'v r 'ty Sy t onE Hutc ISOamount of supervIsIOn workers need. The morecomplex the work, the more often workers mayneed assistance from their supervisor.Quality of workers-The amount of skill work-ers have determines to a large extent the frequencywith which they must consult the supervisor. It isnot always possible or economically feasible to em-ploy workers who are fully skilled in every aspectof their jobs. It may be better at times to employless expensive workers and give them more super-vision. Thus, the quality of the workers is a keyfactor in determining the correct number one super-visor can directly supervise.Experience of supervisor-Experienced supervi-sors usually are able to effectively supervise a largernumber of subordinates than inexperienced super-visors.Layout-Layout of the plant or other facilityis an important factor. Physical grouping of similaractivities makes supervision much easier. When thephysical layout is awkward, supervisors lose muchtime walking from one area to another.Time allowed for supervision-Some personnelare required to serve as supervisors part of the timeand as workers part of the time. This factor mustbe studied carefully when organizational plans aredeveloped. A person is able to give direct super-vision to more people if he can devote all of histime to the supervisory role.Homogeneous AssignmentHomogeneou assignment is, among other things,the principle of utilizing employees at their highestskill level. Although this cannot always be achieved,especially in small firms where an employee is ex-pected to do various levels of work, much can begained by the application of this principle. Thefollowing case is an illustration.A few years ago, a machine shop employing 12skilled machinists at 5 an hour each was havingdifficul ty meeting the increased workload of theshop. Hiring additional machinists was not possibledue to the tight labor market. A management con-sultant was engaged to study the problem. The con-sultant noted that at 4:30 p.m. each day all themachines in the shop were closed down, and for thenext 30 minutes everyone worked to clean the shopand oil the machines. When the consultant askedthe owner why thi was done, the owner said, "Thati the way you run a machine shop; it is a traditionthat every man helps clean up." The con ultant ex-plained that the observance of this tradition wasvery co tly. He ugge ted that the owner hire a jan-itor to do the cleaning at 2 per hour and let himwork a full 8-hour hift at night. The followingbenefits then would accrue to the company:• Direct costs for cleaning the shop would bereduced from 30 per day to 16 per day.(12 machinists at 5 per hour for 30 minuteseach vs. 1 janitor at 2 per hour for 8 hours)• Six manhours of machinist time would be re-leased each day to apply toward backloggedwork.• Machinists' morale would go up because theywould be utilized at their highest skill level.DelegationDelegation is the act of assigning authority andresponsibility from one level of an organization toanother. The delegator rids himself of neither, butshares both.Delegation is one of the hardest tasks faced bysupervisors and managers, perhaps because theyfear that mistakes will be made or that others willnot do the tasks in the same way they would. Also,a supervisor may find it hard to give up tasks heenjoys even though they easily could be done by asubordinate.The following are symptoms of a poor delegator:• Causes bottlenecks in the flow of processes orprocedures.• Keeps lines of people waiting-employees andcustomers.• Has a backlog of telephone calls to make.• Has overdue paperwork.• Has an untidy place of business.• Takes work home at night.• Skips lunch frequently.• ever takes a vacation.• Calls meetings on short notice regularly.• Transacts considerable business with subordi-nates while riding elevators or going to andfrom airports.Delegation can be improved if:• Each employee knows what his job is, howwell he is expected to do his job and how wellhe is doing it.• There are up-to-date policies in every area ofoperations where recurring decisions aremade.• Delegated authority and responsibility arekept in balance.• People are employed to fit specific jobs, ratherthan developing jobs to fit new workers.• Decisions are made as close to the point ofaction as possible.• Subordinates are encouraged to make de-cisions in their areas of responsibility.• The system of accountability is understood byall.• Complex instructions are issued in writing.• The chain of comand is followed.To assure efficient management and operation,a firm's observance of the principles of unity ofcommand, span of control, homogeneous assign-ment and delegation should be reviewed at leastonce each year.Educational programs conducted by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service serve people of all ages regardless of socio-economiclevel. race, color, sex, religion or national origin.Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics, The Texas A&M University System and the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture cooperating. Distributed in furthe ranee of the Acts of Congress of May 8, 1914, as amended, andJune 30, 1914.

Organizing For Productive Use of Manpower.

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Organizing For Productive Use of Manpower.

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Organizing For Productive Use of Manpower.

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