ORGANIZING TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES

(Short intro)

Reasons for Organizing

 Facilitate the implementation of plans
 Breakdown the total job into more manageable man-size jobs
 Assign particular tasks to particular persons
Facilitate the assignment of authority, responsibility, and accountability for certain
functions and tasks.
What is ORGANIZING?
 a management function which refers to “the structuring of resources and
activities to accomplish objectives in an efficient and effective manner”
 Structure ̶ result of the organizing process; arrangement or relationship of
positions within an organization
PURPOSE OF THE STRUCTURE
1. It defines the relationships between tasks and authority for individuals and
departments.
2. It defines formal reporting relationships, the number of levels in hierarchy of the
organization, and the span of control.
3. It defines the groupings of individuals into departments and departments into
organizations.
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 groupings of related jobs, activities, or processes into
major 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
a common goal or objective.
FORMAL ORGANIZATION
 formed to carry out the activities indicated in the plan
 “The structure that details lines of responsibilities, authority, and position.”
 depicted in the Organizational Chart ̶ “the planned structure”; “represents the
deliberate attempt to establish patterned relationships among components that will
meet the objectives effectively”
Formal Structure is described by management through:
1. Organization Chart – a diagram of the organization`s official positions and
formal lines of authority.
2. Organization Manual – provides written descriptions of authority relationships,
details the functions of major organizational units, and describes job
procedures.
3. Policy Manuals – describes personnel activities and company policies.