STEPS IN ORGANIZING

The following steps summarize the process of organizing work.

1. Organization of work must be based on objectives. The first requirement when organizing is to obtain a clear statement of the work to be done. It must show the objective which the work will achieve. (This will have been stated in the planning.) The statement is necessary to prevent unnecessary work and to guide the staff in the performance of their duties.

2. The work to be done should be separated into functional activities. The second step required you to differentiate the work activities. A business performs three basic activities; the creation, distribution, and financing of goods or services. The division of necessary functions should be progressively downward by levels until each single activity constitutes one full-time job for one person. Also provide for specialists activities common to several line functions when economical to do so. Split these off horizontally.

3. Define clearly the authority, responsibility, and accountability relationships. The flow of authority and responsibility downward and of accountability upward should be definitively established and made known to all people in the organization. Everyone needs to know his position and of his relationship to others in the business* Often people are left in the dark as to their exact status. This can lead to 

friction and politics in performing work. When people know what is expected of them, what their authority is, and who they are accountable to, they perform to the best of their ability.

4. The work to be performed should be related to the people and work place available for the work* Once the necessary activities have been defined and separated, it is possible to group the work for performance by your people. But one can only assign tasks to people and determine the work place required after the tasks themselves have been defined.

Now, no business firm will have all of the people or work place it requires. Nor will the people or work place perfectly suit the work to be performed. So some adjustment must be made to relate the people and plant available to the work. For example, there may be a variety of tasks to perform which require less than one person. So you combine these as best you can to give every person a full-time job. And some people just can't turn out the quality or quantity of work you want. Temporarily, you compromise. But in no way should this inhibit the manager from seeking perfection. (If your people can't perform the way you want them to, train them, improve them, or replace them. If the work place you have is inadequate — improve, enlarge, or replace it.)

These steps in organizing have been considered in relation to the work of an entire business. However, they are just as applicable to any part of a business. Managers at every level must organize to accomplish their work efficiently and economically. In so doing, they must follow this basic process.

 

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