F. Organizing  
 

Organizations are different from other groups in several important ways:

• they generally have a common purpose;
• they generally have a division of labor;
• they generally have supervisors; and
• they generally have the intent to coordinate their activities

In this context, we need to take a more careful look at organizations.

 
1. organization:     an intentional structure of roles.
 

Roles tell us how people should work in groups.
The goal of organizing is to find synergisms in groups.
For example, if I'm better at field work and you're better at office work, 
then the more time I spend in the field and the more you spend in the office,
the more productive we are as a group.  Of course, there are more issues to 
consider, but that is our starting point for considering organizations. 

 
2. roles:            roles consist of responsibilities and authority.
 
3. responsibilities: activities classified by objectives.
 

Responsibilities are the obligations to carry out these activities. 

 
4. authority:        assigned power. 
 

Authority is the discretionary power to carry out activities.

 
5. power:           power is a more general term that refers to 
                     the ability to influence persons or groups.
 

This can come in many forms:

                        legitimate power (authority)   
                        referent power (references such as the law)     
                        expertise can be a source of power          
                        reward power (e.g., financial rewards)       
                        coercive power  

Informal organizations (informal relationships among employees) 
may not be on any organizational chart, but they are important to study 
because they are very powerful, sometimes more powerful than the formal 
organization.     

 
6. department:     a distinct area of an organization over which 
                     a manager has authority for the performance 
                     of responsibilities (e.g., an organizational chart). 
                     Departmentation can be based on:

• time (e.g., a day shift, swing shift, or graveyard shift)
• number (e.g., a pre-assigned number of employees for every supervisor)
• function (e.g., water quality, food safety , industrial hygiene, etc.)
• geography (e.g., regions of the country);
• product (e.g., a single company may produce cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc.)
• clients (e.g., undergraduate students, graduate students)
• equipment (e.g., computers, lab equipment)

See chapter 5 of the text for more discussion. 

         
7.  line:             employees that are essential to the major activity of 
                      an organization(distinguished from staff)
 
8.  staff:            employees that assist line personnel 
                      (EOH professionals are often considered staff personnel) 
 
 
   Principles of Organization
                                  
1. Unity of          Individuals in an organization          
   objective:        should have complementary objectives.        
                                                             
2. Span of           There is a limit to the number of       
   management:       persons an individual can effectively   
                     manage (the number varies).             
 

Span of management may depend such issues as the
supervisor (a supervisor who can delegate authority effectively can 
manage more people), employees (a well trained employee needs less 
supervision), and environment (supervising is more difficult in a changing 
environment).  Small span of management results in vertical organizations 
(i.e., many levels of supervisors), while large span of management tends to 
"flatten" the organization (i.e., horizontal organizations). 
 

 
3. Parity of         Authority should match the              
   authority and     responsibilities of a position.         
   responsibility:                                           
 

Authority without responsibility is tyranny.  
Responsibility without authority is slavery.
Somewhere in between is a balancing act that 
ultimately should mean better productivity.

 
4. Unity of          Individuals should report to            
   command:          a single superior.   
 

This principle is violated all the time, 
sometimes because we have no other choice.
For example, EOH professionals may have 
the difficult task of reporting to multiple supervisors 
with competing interests in the same organization.    
Negotiation skills become essential in this situation.                  

                                                             
5. Flexibility:      The more an environment is              
                     complex and changing,                   
                     the more an organization                
                     needs flexibility.                      
     
  
   Common mistakes in organizing
   
1. failure to plan: this is especially a problem when plans have changed 

but the organizational structure has stayed the same.  For example, 
assumptions about the external environment may have changed.   

                                 
2. overorganization:  too inflexible with organizational structure.               
   underorganization: unclear about relationships in hte organization.
 
3. withholding information: this is sometimes expressed as 
   "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing"
   Sometimes confidentiality may be the issue, 
   but more often it is poor communication.
                          
4. improper delegation of authority (either too much or too little).  
               
5. violating basic principles of organization (given in the earlier section).       
 
 

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