Chain of Command and Span of Control

By Travis Sokana

Chain of Command and Span of Control

Elements of Organizational Structure include all of the following:

·      Work Specialization – The degree to which tasks in an organization are divided into separate jobs

·      Chain of Command - Answers the question of “who reports to whom?” and signifies formal authority relationships

·      Span Of Control – Represents how many employees each manager in the organization has responsibility for

·      Centralization – Refers to where decisions are formally made in organizations

·      Formalization – The degree to which rules and procedures are used to standardize behaviors and decisions in an organization

This blog will focus in on Chain of command and Span of Control. All of the elements of Organizational Structure go hand and hand, but this is especially true for Chain of Command and Span of Control. 

Chain of Command

Chain of Command – The order in which authority and power in an organization is wielded and delegated from top management to every employee at every level of the organization. Instructions flow downward along the chain of command and accountability flows upward. (Business Dictionary)

The chain of command is exactly what it sounds like. It is where each employee in a traditional organizational structure reports to another employee, usually who holds a higher position then the reporting employee. Chain of command is often seen as the specific flow of authority down through the levels of an organizational structure. Although chain of command may not seem like a very important thing, most companies rely on it to attain order, control, and predictable performances. In most business chain of command also acts as an indirect communication line between lower level employees and high-level employees.  Higher-level employees, CEO’s, will communicate their instructions down the line of command till it reaches the proper level of the organizational structure. Many people commonly mistake the CEO as the top of the Chain of Commands, which is right most times but in public companies even the CEO is responsible to the board of directors. Due to the importance and effectiveness of the chain of command, newer companies are beginning to have more complex organizational structures. These complex structures commonly require reporting to several mangers. Chain of command is used in every business and is vital to the success of most businesses. 

Span of Control

Span of Control - The number of subordinates that a manager or supervisor can directly control. This number varies with the type of work: complex, variable work reduces it to six, whereas routine, fixed work increases it to twenty or more. (Business Dictionary)

In simpler terms a mangers span of control represents how many employees he or she is responsible for in the organization. (493) Span of control is directly related to chain of command, each manger in the chain of command has a span of control in which it must communicate with and manage. There are two main types of span of control, narrow spans of control and wide spans of control. Narrow spans of control let mangers hands on with employees and give them direct feedback, allowing close mentoring relationships with employees. (493) Narrow spans of control work extremely well when the manager is exponentially more skilled then its subordinates. The problem with Narrow spans of control is it requires organizations and companies to hire many mangers. Wide spans of control are the exact opposite of narrow spans of control. The key for most businesses is to find the right balance between narrow and wide spans of control. Obviously this balance in spans of control will differ for each company depending on the type of business it is. In recent years studies have shown that there is a significant increase in span of control in organizations.

References

Colquitt, J. A., Lepine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2011).Organizational behavior. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Keren, Michael. "Informs Online." The Optimum Span of Control in a Pure Hierarchy. Management Science, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.

Sci. Aging Knowl. Environ., 11 January 2006 Vol. 2006, Issue 2, p. nf2

[DOI: 10.1126/sageke.2006.2.nf2]