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Span of Control

Span of control refers to the number of subordinates that report directly to a manager. A narrow span results in fewer subordinates per manager, requiring more management layers, while a wide span gives each manager more subordinates. There is an inverse relationship between span and organizational layers - narrower spans have more layers while wider spans have fewer. An organization's ideal span depends on factors like job nature, employee skills, and manager competencies. Wider spans can increase communication and flexibility but require more from managers, while narrower spans allow for closer supervision but at higher cost. Technological advances have made wider spans more feasible by improving communication.

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250 views

Span of Control

Span of control refers to the number of subordinates that report directly to a manager. A narrow span results in fewer subordinates per manager, requiring more management layers, while a wide span gives each manager more subordinates. There is an inverse relationship between span and organizational layers - narrower spans have more layers while wider spans have fewer. An organization's ideal span depends on factors like job nature, employee skills, and manager competencies. Wider spans can increase communication and flexibility but require more from managers, while narrower spans allow for closer supervision but at higher cost. Technological advances have made wider spans more feasible by improving communication.

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revival14
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Share Span of control or span of management is a dimension of organizational design measured by the number of subordinates that report directly

to a given manager. This concept affects organization design in a variety of ways, including speed of communication flow, employee motivation, reporting relationships, and administrative overhead. Span of management has been part of the historical discussion regarding the most appropriate design and structure of organizations.

HISTORICAL DISCUSSION OF SPAN OF CONTROL


A small, or narrow, span of control results in each manager supervising a small number of employees, while a wide span of management occurs when more subordinates report directly to a given manager. A small span of management would make it necessary to have more managers and more layers of management to oversee the same number of operative employees than would be necessary for an organization using a wider span of management. The narrower span of management would result in more layers of management and slower communications between lower level employees and top level managers of the firm. Recent moves to downsize organizations and to eliminate unnecessary positions has resulted in many organizations moving to wider spans of management and the elimination of layers of middle-level managers. An argument for a narrow span of control was presented by .A. !aicunas, who developed a formula showing that an arithmetic increase in the number of a manager"s subordinates resulted in a geometric increase in the number of subordinate relationships that a manager had to manage. According to !aicunas, managers must manage not only one-to-one direct reporting relationships, but also relationships with various groups of subordinates and the relationships that e#ist between and among individual subordinates. The formula is shown below$ where % is the total number of interactions and & is the number of subordinates. Therefore, if a manager has two subordinates, there are ' potential relationships to manage. (owever, if the manager"s subordinates are increased to three, then the number of relationships is increased to )*. As the number of relationships increased, !aicunas argued, the sheer number of interactions would e#ceed the abilities of the manager. Researchers generally argue that a small span of management and a +tall+ organization structure will be more e#pensive to operate because of the large number of managers and it may have communication problems resulting from the multiple levels of management. Such organizations are often seen as well suited for a stable, certain type of environment. A +flat+ organization design resulting from a wider span of management would re,uire managers to assume more administrative duties since those activities would be shared by fewer employees. %t will also result in more employees reporting to each manager, increasing the managers" supervisory responsibilities. (owever, some research also suggests the wider span of management may cause employees to feel greater ownership of their work and increase their motivation, morale, and productivity. This type of organization design is often seen as effective in more uncertain environments.

FACTORS THAT MAY AFFECT SPAN OF CONTROL


-hile early discussions of span of control often centered on pinpointing the optimal number of subordinates, a number of factors may influence the span of control most appropriate for a given management position. Assuming that all other aspects of a manager"s .ob are the same, these factors would likely alter the span of management as follows$

/ob comple#ity. Subordinate .obs that are comple#, ambiguous, dynamic or otherwise complicated will likely re,uire more management involvement and a narrower span of management. 0. Similarity of subordinate .obs. The more similar and routine the tasks that subordinates are performing, the easier it is for a manager to supervise employees and the wider the span of management that will likely be effective. 1. 2hysical pro#imity of subordinates. The more geographically dispersed a group of subordinates the more difficult it is for a manager to be in regular contact with them and the fewer employees a manager could reasonably oversee, resulting in a narrower span of management. 3. Abilities of employees. 4anagers who supervise employees that lack ability, motivation, or confidence will have to spend more time with each employee. The result will be that the manager cannot supervise as many employees and would be most effective with a narrower span of management. 5. Abilities of the manager. Some managers are better organized, better at e#plaining things to subordinates, and more efficient in performing their .obs. Such managers can function effectively with a wider span of management than a less skilled manager. '. Technology. 6ell phones, email, and other forms of technology that facilitate communication and the e#change of information make it possible for managers to increase their spans of management over managers who do not have access to or who are unable to use the technology. The trend in recent years has been to move toward wider spans of control to reduce costs, speed decision making, increase fle#ibility and empower employees. (owever, to avoid potential problems of wide spans of control, organizations are having to invest in training managers and employees and in technology enabling the sharing of information and enhancing communication between and among managers and employees. SEE ALSO: 7mpowerment8 4anagement Styles8 9rganizational Structure8 9rganizing Joe Thomas

).

FURTHER READING:
:avison, ;arbara. +4anagement Span of 6ontrol$ (ow -ide %s Too -ide<+ Journal of Business Strategy. 03 =0>>1?$ 00@0A. !riffin, Ricky. Management. ;oston$ (oughton 4ifflin, 0>>5. (itt, 4ichael, /.S. ;lack, and Byman, 2orter. Management. Cpper Saddle River$ 2earsonD2rentice (all, 0>>5. Elein, 7.7. +Csing %nformation Technology To 7liminate Bayers 9f ;ureaucracy.+ National Public Accountant. 01 =0>>)?$ 3'@3*. Did this raise a questio !or "ou#
e&otes.com is a resource used daily by thousands of students, teachers, professors and researchers. -e invite you to become a part of our community. /oin e&otes ;ecome an e&otes 7ditorSpan of 6ontrol means the number of subordinates that can be managed efficiently and effectively by a superior in an organization. %t suggests how the relations are designed between a superior and a subordinate in an organization. Span of control is of two types$ Narro$ s%a o! &o tro': &arrow Span of control means a single manager or supervisor oversees few subordinates. This gives rise to a tall organizational structure. (ide s%a o! &o tro': -ide span of control means a single manager or supervisor oversees a large number of subordinates. This gives rise to a flat organizational structure.

There is an inverse relation between the span of control and the number of levels in hierarchy in an organization, i.e. , narrower the span, the greater is the number of levels in an organization. &arrow span of control is more e#pensive as compared to wide span of control as there are more number of superiors and therefore there are greater communication problems between various levels of management. -ide span of control is best suited when the employees are not widely scattered geographically, as it is easy for managers to be in touch with the subordinates and to supervise them. %n case of narrow span of control, there are comparatively more opportunities for growth as the number of levels are more. The more efficient and organized the superiors are in performing their tasks, the better it is to have wide span of management. The less motivated and confident the employees are, the better it is to have a narrow span of management so that the supervisors can spend time with them and supervise them well. The more standardized is the nature of work ,like - if same task can be performed using same types of inputs, the better it is to have a wide span of management as more number of employees can be supervised by a single supervisor. There is more fle#ibility, prompt decision making, effective communication between higher level and lower level management, and improved customer interaction in case of wide span of management. Technological advancement such as internet, emails, mobile phones, etc. makes it easy for superiors to widen their span of control as there is more effective communication. An ideal span of control in an organization, according to modern authors is around )5 to 0> subordinates per manager, while according to the traditional authors the ideal number is around ' subordinates per manager. %n reality, the ideal span of control depends upon various factors, such as$ ). &ature of an organization 0. &ature of .ob 1.Skills and competencies of manager 3.7mployees skills and abilities 5.The kind of interaction that takes happens between superiors and subordinates, etc
Span of control in an organization is a very important concept of the organizing function of management. Author is the writer of www.managementstudyguide.comDorganizingFfunction.htm which

e#plains in detail about the organizing function of management and its important concepts.

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