Explain the terms span of control and control loss. Are these concepts Essay - 1

Explain the terms span of control and control loss. Are these concepts useful in understanding the design of organizations - Essay Example The early researchers have given a great consideration towards the ideal specific number of span of control and it has been generally assumed that small span of control maintains close control. It is believed that if the manager fails to achieve the control over its subordinates, then the issue of control loss may arise. Control loss is another important concept in the organisations. Actually span of control gives a control to managers over their subordinates. When the span of control is wide and organisation has a decentralised structure, the managers have less control over their subordinates and they encourage their employees to work in more independence. Galbraith and Williamson argue that decentralisation in organisations reduces the information costs and enhance the organisational efficiency however; it can contribute to control loss (Stevens, 1993, pp. 10). In this essay, the importance of the concepts of span of control and control loss has been discussed to understand the org anisational designs. Span of control is very important when it comes to design the structure of the organisations. Span of control is of the major determinants of the organisational structure. A relatively wide span of control and few hierarchical levels form a flat organisational structure. ... It means that span of control, control loss and organisational design are interrelated concepts and organisations have to consider the role of span of control and control loss in the organisational designs. Ivancevich, Konopaske, & Matteson (2008, pp.540) argue that creation of organisational design involves four major decisions including the decision of division of labour, the decisions of delegation of authority, the decision of departmentalisation and decision of span of control. Actually span of control is a major determinant of organisational design because it creates the number of hierarchical levels in the organisations. Span of control not only defines the relationships of formally assigned subordinated but it also considers those who have access to manager. To achieve the defined organisation objectives, designing the right organisational design and structure if very important. The process of development of organisational design with setting the goals and objectives of organ isational design and the next step is to group or relate the various functions, in which the concept of span of control is very important (Amrine, Ritchey, Moodie & Kmec, 1993, pp.88). For example, if few functions logically relate to each, they can be groups under one group and through span of control the reporting of the employees can be determined like who will report to whom. The researchers have always been interested in determining how an ideal span of control contributes to a good organisational design. Fisch (1963 cited in Dive, 2004, pp.115) argues that if the number of subordinated reporting to each manager is too small (in other words, if the span of control is narrow), the company will be too heavy, costly to run,