Lesson 4

ORGANIZING TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES

Time Frame: 2hrs

Objectives: After completing this lesson, the students should be able to:
 Describe the process of organizing
 Discuss the designation and why it is important for the managers to designate

Reasons for Organizing

Organizing is undertaken to facilitate the implementation of plans. In effective
organizing, steps are under taken to breakdown the total job into more manageable man-size
jobs.
Organizing Defined
Organizing is a management function which refers to "the structuring of resources and
activities to accomplish objectives in an efficient and effective manner."
The Purpose of the Structure
The structure serves some very useful purposes. They are the following:
1. It defines the relationships between tasks and authority for individuals and
departments.
2. It defines formal reporting relationships, the number of levels in the hierarchy of the
organization, and the span of control.
3. It defines the groupings of individuals in to departments and departments into
organization.
4. It defines the system to effect coordination of effort in both vertical (authority) and
horizontal (tasks) directions

When structuring an organization, the engineer manager must be concerned with the
following:
1. Division of labor-determining the scope of work and how it is combined in a job.
2. Delegation of authority -the process of assigning various degrees of decision-making
authority to subordinates.
3. Departmentation - the grouping of related jobs, activities, or processes into mll,jor
organizational subunits.
4. Span of control - the number of people who report directly to a given manager.
 5. Coordination - the linking of activities in the organization that serves to achieve ll
common goal or objective.
The Formal Organization
The formal organization is "the structure that details lines of responsibilities, authority,
and position
The formal structure is described by management through:
1. organization chart
2. organizational manual and
3. policy manuals.
The organization chart is a diagram of the organization's official positions and formal
lines of authority.
The organizational manual provides written descriptions of authority relationships,
details the functions of major organizational units, and describes job procedures.
Informal Groups
There are instances when members of an organization spontaneously form a group with
friendship as a principal reason for belonging. This group is called an informal group. It is not a
part of the formal organization and it does not have a formal performance purpose
The informal organization, useful as it is, is "vulnerable to expediency, manipulation,
and opportunism," according to Valentine.' Its low visibility, Valentine added, makes it "difficult
for management to detect these perversions and considerable harm can be done to the
company."
Types of Organizational Structures
Organizations may be classified into three types. They are the following:
1. Functional organization - this is a form of departmentalization in which everyone
engaged in one functional activity, such as engineering or marketing, is grouped into
one unit.
2. Product or market organization this refers to the organization of a company by
divisions that bring together all those involved with a certain type of product or
customer.
3. Matrix organization- an organizational structure in which each employee reports to
both a functional or division manager und to a project or group manager.
Functional Organization
Functional organization structures are very effective m smaller firm,· especially "single-
business firms where key activities revolve around well-defined skills and areas of
specialization."
Functional Organizations have certain advantages. They are the following:
1. The grouping of employees who perform a common task permit economies of scale
and efficient resource use.
2. Since the chain of command converges at the top if the organization, decision-
making is centralized, providing a unified direction from the top.
3. Communication and coordination among employees within each department are
excellent.
4. The structure promotes high-quality technical problem-solving.
5. The organization is provided with in depth skill specialization and development.
6. Employees are provided with career progress within functional departments

The disadvantages of the functional organization are the following:

1. Communication and coordination between the departments are often poor.
2. Decisions involving more than one department pile up at the top management level
and are often delayed.
3. Work specialization and division of labor, which are stressed in a functional
organization, produce routine, nonmotivating employee tasks.
4. It is difficult to identify which section or group is responsible for certain problems.
5. There is limited view of organizational goals by employee.
6. There is limited general management training for employees.
Product or Market Organization
The product or market organization, with its feature of operating by divisions, is
appropriate for a large corporation with many product lines in several related industries.
Types of Authority
The advantages of a product or market organization are as follows:
1. The organization is flexible and responsive to change.
 2. The organization provides a high concern for customer's needs.
3. The organization provides excellent coordination across functional departments.
4. There is easy pinpointing of responsibility for product problems.
5. There is emphasis on overall product and division goals.
6. The opportunity for the development of general management skills is provided.
The disadvantages of the product or market organization are as follows:
1. There is a high possibility of duplication of resources across divisions.
2. There is less technical depth and specialization in divisions.
3. There is poor coordination across divisions.
4. There is less top management control.
5. There is competition for corporate resources.
Matrix Organization
A matrix organization, according to Thompson and Strickland, "is a structure with two
(or more) channels of command, two lines of budget authority, and two sources of
performance and reward " Higgins declared that "the matrix structure was designed to keep
employees in a central pool and to allocate them to various projects in the firm according to the
length of time they were needed."
The matrix organization is afforded with the following advantages:
1. There is more efficient use of resources than the divisional structure.
2. There is flexibility and adaptability to changing environment.
3. The development of both general and functional management skills are present.
4. There is interdisciplinary cooperation and any expertise is available to all divisions.
5. There are enlarged tasks for employees which motivate them better.
The matrix organization has some disadvantages, however. They are the following:
1. There is frustration and confusion from dual chain. of command.
2. There is high conflict between divisional and functional interests.
3. There are many meetings and more discussion than action.
4. There is a need for human relations training for key employees and managers.
 5. There is a tendency for power dominance by one side of the matrix.
TYPES OF AUTHORITY
1. Line authority- a manager's right to tell subordinates what to do and then see that they
do it.
Line departments perform tasks that reflect the organization's primary goal and
mission. In a construction firm, the department that negotiates and secures con· tracts for
the firm is a line department. The construction division is also a line function.
2. Staff authority- a staff specialist's .right to give advice to a superior.

Staff officers may be classified into the following:

a. Personal staff- those individuals assigned to a specific manager to provide needed
staff services.
b. Specialized staff- those individuals providing needed staff services for the whole
organization.
3. Functional authority - a specialist's right to oversee lower level personnel involved in
that specialty, regardless of where the personnel are in the organization.
Functional authority is one given to a person or a work group to make decisions
related to their expertise even if these decisions concern other departments. This authority
is given to roost budget officers of organizations, as well as other officers.
The Purpose of Committees
Committees are very useful most especially to engineering and manufacturing
firms. When a certain concern, like product development, is under consideration, a
committee is usually formed to provide the necessary line-up of expertise needed to
achieve certain objectives.
Committees may be classified as follows:
1. Ad hoc committee - one created for a short-term purpose and have a limited life. An
example is the committee created to manage the anniversary festivities of a certain
firm.
2. Standing committee - it is a relatively permanent committee that deals with issues on an
ongoing basis. An example is the grievance committee set up to handle initially
complaints from employees of the organization.
SUGGESTED ITEM FOR RESEARCH
1. Prepare an organization chart of a large engineering firm showing line and staff relationships.

Reference:
1. Engineering Management, Roberto G. Medina