FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURING

UNIT 5

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 Purpose

To acquaint you with the theoretical and practical

principles of Functional Grouping

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Types of Structures Found in Organisations

In priority and hierarchical order:

• Functional Structure
• Process Design
• Organisation/Staff Establishment (or Post)
Structure
• Personnel Structure

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Types of Structures Found in Organisations
Functional Structure
• Forms the basis on which all other forms of structure
are established
• Is the framework of the organisational unit
• Turns “what” must be done into functions that the
organisation must perform
• Avoids attention to processes, procedures &
methods, posts or personnel to fill posts
• Has as its origin with, and supports top
management’s strategic vision
• Involves design or redesign to give effect to top
management's strategic vision (purpose)

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Types of Structures Found in Organisations

Process Design
• Comes after establishing purpose and functions
(functional structure)
• For every process there must be a process or processes
indicating how the function will be executed
• Indicates how and where the functions will be executed
• Processes are written up in manuals for workers to use,
and the environment is represented on a floor plan

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Types of Structures Found in Organisations

Organisation/Staff Establishment Structures Design

• Make functional structures work – work to be done is now known
• Follows work improvement investigation
• You must decide on things like:
• Departmentalisation (how work is divided)
• Job design
• Quality of work life
• Span of control
• Scalar chain (chain of command)
• Establishing of authority
• Staff establishments structures
• Types of job/posts (job description)?
• Type of person to do the job/fill the post (Job specification - Remember:
people are matched to work, not work to people)
• Number of posts needed to execute the new processes
• Job evaluation – ranking of jobs
The outcome: An Organisation and Staff Establishment Chart
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Types of Structures Found in Organisations

Organisation/Staff Establishment Structures Design (continued):

• Organisation & SE structures are always based on functions from
functional grouping
• No new functions can be added and all existing functions must have a
process and posts or staff to do the work
• The above process allows the entire structure to be arranged so it is
well balanced in terms of control, type of work, work content, volume of
work and number of posts – i.e. it is aimed at creating an organisation
that can effectively achieve its objectives (and strategy) and establish a
motivated work force.

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Types of Structures Found in Organisations

Personnel Structures:
• Done after organisation and Staff Establishment structure
has been done
• Deals with who the posts should be filled by – based
approved Organisation & Staff Establishment chart and
job description done by Management Services
Practitioner
• Filling personnel structures is an HR responsibility

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Steps in Designing an Organisational Unit

Definition: Organisational Unit:

A term to describe a whole organisation as well as a part

of such and organisation

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 Steps in the Process of Designing a Unit
• There must be a client with an expressed need
• Determine the necessity to satisfy the need (top management)
• MS practitioner receives the assignment in including type of unit to
be established (e.g. department, division, section etc) and who the
client is
• Derive the PURPOSE of the unit (aimed at meeting client need)
• From a higher level function, or
• MS practitioner must find out as much as possible about the
new organisational unit to be established, and then
• Compile a list of all processes, procedures and activities, &
group them into a single sentence function that encompasses
all the grouped functions/processes – this is the PURPOSE of
the unit, called the PRIMARY PURPOSE
• Determine the PRIMARY and STAFF FUNCTIONS from the
PRIMARY PURPOSE of the unit

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 Types of Functions Found in Organisations

• Line/Secondary Functions:
• Those functions the organisation is legally obliged to perform
• Encapsulates the mandate of the organisation
• Functions done directly with the client in mind
• Staff/Support Functions:
• The enable line functions to do the job
• Examples from government institutions: HR, Finances,
Logistics, Effectiveness.
• Render service to mainly line functions and other staff functions
• Normally advisory to line functions (not prescriptive)
• Staff functions normally shared with other organisational units
??Who are the clients for staff and line functions??

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 Technical Requirements of Line/Secondary
Functions
• It must be directly aimed at achieving the purpose of the unit
• It must be concise
• It must always start with the word “THE ”
• Avoid the word “AND” as far as possible
• Avoid using adjectives as far as possible
• It must, as far as possible be written in the following format:
THE (VERB) OF A (NOUN)
• The line/secondary functions are always written in CAPITAL
letters

Note: Support functions are always written in small letters

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 Technical Requirements for ‘PURPOSE’
• It must describe the client’s needs in one sentence and encompass
all the functions in that unit (utopian satisfaction of client needs)
• It must be concise
• It must always be written with the word ‘TO and be written in
CAPITAL letters
• Avoid the use of the word ‘AND’
• Avoid adjectives if possible
• Should be written, as far as possible, in the following form:
TO (VERB) A (NOUN)
• Get approval from the commissioner of the investigation for the
PURPOSE and FUNCTIONS
• Ensure correct words used to convey the exact meaning of the
person doing the investigation

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The Functional Chart
Definition: It is a diagrammatical representation of the purpose and
functions of the different organisational units on every level within the
organisation
• The primary function of a department, becomes the purpose at
divisional level
• The functions at divisional level, become the purposes at section level
• The functions at section level, become the purpose at sub-section
levels
• A function at sub-section level, is further defined as procedures,
processes and activities that form the basis for process design
• Line off communication must be shown and must differentiate between
‘line’ ( )and ‘staff’ ( ) lines of communication
NOTE: The chart must be approved by the commissioners of the
investigation before commencing with process improvement as all
process are build around these functions!

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