Responsibility, Task and Reporting relationship

Ø  Responsibility is the obligation of a person to perform his or her assigned task with his/her best effort. In other words, responsibility is the obligation to obey command, perform assigned task and respect or follow organizations rules and regulations and policies. A person must be responsible effectively lack of responsibility leads the organization to the failure. Lack of responsibility increases indiscipline among employees. And, indiscipline employee is burden to the organization. Task is the distinct work i.e.; assigned to the person to perform. Every person has to perform task in organization. Task may be of different nature. And, employees must be assigned task according to his or her qualification. It is the responsibility of employee to perform assigned task effectively. An organizational structure is based on responsibility, authority, and task and reporting relationship.

Reporting relationship is also necessary to make the organizational structure successful. Reporting relationship makes who is to command and who is to report. Every subordinate has to report his superior about his assigned task and performance in time. Timely reporting about task makes it clear whether task is going to be performed in time or not? What are the weaknesses in task performance? All employees in organization are related with superior subordinate relationship and every subordinate has to report about his task to his immediate superior at a time. To establish effective reporting relationship three principle of management must be strictly followed.

They are: -

a)      Unity of command

b)      Chain of command

c)       Scalar chain and span of management or control

These points are defined as following:-

a)      Unity of command: - Under unity of command a subordinate should to report to only one his immediate superior and he/she should get command or order from only superior or boss.

b)      Chain of command: - According to this principle all employees will be linked with superior subordinate relationship and it makes clear who is to command whom and who is to report whom. According to this principle there will be chain of command and hierarchy of authority. Authority flows downwards and responsibility moves upward in equal.

c)       Span of management: - Span of management/control makes it clear how many employees are working under a superior. The number of subordinates must be limited to the manageable number. Hence, those who are working under one superior must report to their superior. According to span of management many subordinates have to report one superior. There will be narrow span and wide span. In tall organizational structure there will be narrow span of management. That mean less than one superior there will be few subordinates who have to report one superior. In wide span of management there will be many subordinates under one superior and they have to report to him/her.

Process of Decision making

1.       Define problem: - Problem identification is initial state in decision making. Why decision is needed, what is the issue in the problem that must be clearly identified.  Problems must be clearly identified. Problems must be clearly defined. If wrong problem is defined then everything becomes wrong. Therefore, what is the problem faced by the organization. What problem is expected to be solved from decision making must be clearly defined.

2.       Collect information’s: - Information’s are vital in decision making. Without having sufficient information’s, appropriate or correct decision cannot be taken. Therefore, information related to problem must be properly collected. Where it occurred? Why it occurred? When did the problem occur? Why did it occur in that way? To whom the problem occurs? Why did problem occur to him/her? What may be the consequences of problem, if it is not solved? Information’s about all these factors should be collected.

3.       Developing alternatives: - same problems can be managed or solved in different ways. IF there are no alternatives there is no any necessity to solve the problems must be developed or identified. What are the various possibilities to solve the problems must be determined. Information of all alternatives must be collected and they must be carefully analyzed and studied.

4.       Choosing the cost alternatives: -Decision making is the process of choosing best alternative out of available alternatives. Therefore, this is the vital step in decision making process. Choosing best alternative means selecting the alternatives with the highest possible pay off. Before selecting alternatives, all alternatives available must be evaluated and studied on the basis of cast benefit analysis, resource availability, feasibility, etc. After evaluating alternatives best alternative must be selected. Basic factors which must be considered while selecting best alternatives are,

a)      it must be less expensive,

b)      It must take less time

c)       It would be more effective

d)      It should be preferred by employees

e)      It should generate more profit

f)       It should generate greater productivity

5.       Implementing the decision: - When best alternative, is selected that becomes decision. Implementing the decision means putting the decision into action. Now, if the decisions are not implemented properly, there is no meaning of making decision. To make decision is important but implementing decision in time is more important. Implementation of decision means action at work has started. To implement some decisions are easy and some are very difficult. To implement decision successfully commitment from top management, supporting staff, sufficient resources are required. Decision when is implemented, employee may resist decision. Because, decision making may change the role of employees, duties and responsibilities of employees and place of work of employees. It is the responsibility of management to so to convince them.

6.       Evaluating and controlling: - This step is also important. After implementing decisions the progress must be monitored and their success must be evaluated. Whether the decisions are properly implemented or not. Whether the decisions are going to achieve their objective or not. Whether the decision need any correction or not. What is the weakness in implementation of decision must be properly evaluated. Control compares target and performance of decision and takes corrective action. This step provides feedback to the decision makers.

Principles of organizing

1.       Clarity of objectives

2.       Division of work

3.       Unity of command (One boss should give command to one sub-ordinate)

4.       Unity of direction (One boss should direct to one cub-ordinate)

5.       Scalar chain (It is the chain of command, information, authorization from upward to downward)

6.       Span of control (Number of subordinate under one superior must be limited to a manageable number. It depends upon a person’s experience)

7.       Departmentation

8.       Decentralization: - Decentralization is the distribution of authority throughout the organization so that every employee get sufficient authority to perform his/her task. It is the process of pushing down decision making authority to the lower level of management.

9.       Separation of line and staff function: - Line function related with decision making. Line function plays decisive role in decision making. Staff function has no right in decision making. They play an advisory role in decision making. Departmental manager such as marketing, production, financial manager have line function and experts or specialists such as human resource manager, different experts and legal advisor have staff function.

10.   Authority and responsibility: - Authority is the right to make decision, to command others and issue order. Responsibility is the obligation to perform assigned task. There must be balance between authority and responsibility. Authority must be delegated on the basis of responsibility.

11.   Simplicity: - Organizational structure must be very simple. It must be easy to understand. What are the jobs to be performed, what the position is created, what is the relation between authority and responsibility must be very simple and easy to understand.

12.   Flexibility: - Organizational structure must be flexible. It should be rigid. It should be adaptable or adjustable with changing environment.

Characteristics of planning

1.       Intellectual process: - Planning is mental exercise and intellectual process. Managers have to consider various course of action to reach the goal. They have to identify pros and cons of every alternate. Planning is not guess work, it is intellectual process.

2.       Future oriented: - Planning is always future oriented; it is prepared for future not for today. It is looking forward. Planning anticipates future opportunities and threats.

3.       Goal focused: - Planning aims to achieve goal in future. The main objective of formulating planning is to achieve goal in time. It identifies right course of action to reach the goal.

4.       Pervasiveness of plan: - Planning is needed at all level of management. All managers in organization formulate plan, but in nature of plan may differ. Planning is required for all type of organization.

5.       Increase efficiency: -Planning increase efficiency. Planning aims to achieve goal at low cost. Planning basically focus on better utilization of resources. It reduces cost by controlling wastage, scraps and rejects.

6.       Decision making: - Planning and decision making are interrelated. Planning is selecting right course of action to reach the goal. Therefore, it also involves developing and evaluating alternatives. Decision making is also selecting best alternatives out of available alternatives.

Planning

Planning is basic or primary function of management. Planning is the process of setting goal and selecting best course of action to reach the goal. It is looking ahead. Planning is deciding in advance, what to do, who is to do, how to do and when to do. Planning bridge the gap between where we are and where we want to go. Planning provide target, they allocate resources in a coordinate manner. They also solve as standard for control. Planning is mental exercise and intellectual process. Planning may be long term and short term. Planning may be strategic, tactical and operational.