An organization that has direct two-way lines of responsibility, authority, and communication running from the top to the bottom of the organization, with all people reporting to only one supervisor.
A management function that includes designing the structure of the organization and creating conditions and systems in which everyone and everything works together to achieve the organization's goals and objectives.
A line-staff organization is a structure that distributes work responsibilities from upper management to lower-level employees. The managers establish standards for the quality of the work and deadlines for employees to finish their tasks, and they communicate their expectations to the team. It's the team's responsibility to meet those expectations in the assigned time.
Instead of one professional leading the entire company alone, they appoint qualified supervisors to manage associates, which maintains the authority of the leadership. They also hire industry experts to complement the work of the line managers. Medium-sized and large corporations often use line-staff formats to stabilize the chain of command with large organizational membership.
Another advantage of the line-staff organization is the presence of experts in the company. Line employees can handle their workloads under the qualified advisement of professionals with industry knowledge. The expertise can enhance the business's operations. An example of a staff professional is a human resources manager. They may understand employment law, organizational budgeting and company policies more than any other employee in the organization. They can advise line managers on best practices for communicating with line personnel, addressing their needs and recruiting new employees to the department. Their guidance enables the line supervisors to adopt a better management style.
The qualifications of your staff employees can influence the quality of the support they give your line members. Contemplate the goals you have for your organization and the tasks line professionals fulfill. It might be helpful to seek industry experts who can handle some of the line employee' s current responsibilities while suggesting ways to enhance the company's functions. For example, if a line member processes customers' orders in the warehouse and performs safety audits, then you might hire a safety specialist to check the safety of the warehouse and implement policies to avoid workplace injuries.
Staff employees assist the line professionals in achieving organizational goals. There are also managerial and lower-level employees who hold staff positions. The staff managers are experts in the industry, providing recommendations to line managers on how to lead their departments to success. They also hold a higher rank over all personnel, including lower-level line members and staff members. The staff employees support their line counterparts with handling their occupational responsibilities.
The employees that fulfill line positions make direct contributions to the mission of the company. They handle the responsibilities to help the business run smoothly. Line positions can either include managers or entry-level employees. The line manager may design objectives for improving the quality of the work and create milestones for the department or the organization as a whole. The line personnel member completes the tasks the line manager designates, which may include building a product to sell to consumers or fulfilling a client request.
Professionals in staff roles can be self-sufficient in the work environment. Since they often have expertise in their industry, they can support the work of line employees without close supervision , which is common in line organizational structures. The independence can enable staff employees to be more productive, allowing them to increase their confidence in their roles and lead their line counterparts in the right direction.
Features of Line and Staff Organization 1 There are two types of staff :#N#Staff Assistants- P.A. to Managing Director, Secretary to Marketing Manager.#N#Staff Supervisor- Operation Control Manager, Quality Controller, PRO 2 Line and Staff Organization is a compromise of line organization. It is more complex than line concern. 3 Division of work and specialization takes place in line and staff organization. 4 The whole organization is divided into different functional areas to which staff specialists are attached. 5 Efficiency can be achieved through the features of specialization. 6 There are two lines of authority which flow at one time in a concern :#N#Line Authority#N#Staff Authority 7 Power of command remains with the line executive and staff serves only as counselors.
Line and staff conflicts- Line and staff are two authorities which are flowing at the same time. The factors of designations, status influence sentiments which are related to their relation, can pose a distress on the minds of the employees. This leads to minimizing of co-ordination which hampers a concern’s working.
Training- Due to the presence of staff specialists and their expert advice serves as ground for training to line officials. Line executives can give due concentration to their decision making. This in itself is a training ground for them.
Unity of action- Unity of action is a result of unified control. Control and its effectivity take place when co-ordination is present in the concern. In the line and staff authority all the officials have got independence to make decisions. This serves as effective control in the whole enterprise.
Staff Assistants- P.A. to Managing Director, Secretary to Marketing Manager.
Division of work and specialization takes place in line and staff organization.
Relief to line of executives- In a line and staff organization, the advice and counseling which is provided to the line executives divides the work between the two. The line executive can concentrate on the execution of plans and they get relieved of dividing their attention to many areas.
Line-staff organization, in management, approach in which managers establish goals and directives that are then fulfilled by staff and other workers.
line-staff organization, in management, approach in which authorities (e.g., managers) establish goals and directives that are then fulfilled by staff and other workers. A line-staff organizational structure attempts to render a large and complex enterprise more flexible without sacrificing managerial authority.
Staff groups provide analysis, research, counsel, monitoring, evaluation, and other activities that would otherwise reduce organizational efficiencyif carried out by personnel in line groups. Staff groups are therefore responsible to their appropriate line units.
In manufacturing, line groups engage in work related to production. In the service sector, the line group is responsible for its customers. Line groups have final decision-making authority regarding technical organizational purposes. Staff groups are engaged in tasks that provide support for line groups.
Line groups are engaged in tasks that constitutethe technical core of the firm or the subunit of a larger enterprise. They are directly involved in accomplishing the primary objective of the enterprise. In manufacturing, line groups engage in work related to production.
Relationships between individuals, groups, and divisions are based on lines of authority that are predetermined. Typically, work is carried out in accordance with specialized functions, and authority is exercised in a hierarchical manner.
Taylor, and others who pioneered new administrative strategies in the late 1800s and early 1900s define formal organizations as collectiveenterprises identified by a clear division of labourand authority. These theories view decision-making power as flowing from a unified command structure. Relationships between individuals, groups, and divisions are based on lines of authority that are predetermined. Typically, work is carried out in accordance with specialized functions, and authority is exercised in a hierarchical manner. In a highly centralized structure, decisions are made by a few executives or managers and flow downward through the enterprise. However, as organizations grow in scope and complexity, they need to be flexible in the extent to which coordination and control are centrally applied. The principle of line-staff organization introduces flexibility into hierarchical lines of authority while trying to preserve a unified command structure.