Organising

Organising is the process of identifying and grouping the activities to be performed, dividing them among individuals, assigning them the necessary authority to carry them out, and establishing relationships to enable people to work together effectively towards the accomplishment of objectives.

Steps in the process of organising:

1. Identification and division of work — determining the total work that needs to be done to achieve the objectives and dividing it into manageable, related activities/jobs.
2. Departmentalisation — grouping similar or related jobs together into units/departments (e.g. all sales-related work into a marketing department).
3. Assignment of duties — allocating the work of each department to specific individuals, matching their capability with the requirements of the job.
4. Establishing reporting relationships — creating superior-subordinate relationships so that every individual knows who they report to and who reports to them, forming a clear hierarchy.

Importance of organising: benefits of specialisation (repetitive performance of a well-defined job builds expertise), clarity in the working relationships (each person knows their role, avoiding confusion), optimum utilisation of resources (avoids duplication/overlap of effort and resource wastage), adaptation to change (a well-designed structure can be modified to meet new environmental demands), effective administration (clarity in job roles/relationships makes it easier to run the organisation and avoid conflict), and development of personnel (delegation of authority reduces a manager's workload, allows them to focus on higher-value work, and gives subordinates the chance to develop their own capabilities).

Organisation structure — the two main types taught in this unit are: …