For a downloadable, pdf version of this paper, click here. Unter einer leitungsspanne oder fuhrungsspanne englisch span of control oder. Hello learners, this video consists of the full description of span of control also known as span of management. These three limitations on the capacity of human beings. Span of control is the term now used more commonly in business management, particularly human resource management. The number of people who report to one manager in a hierarchy the more people under the control of one manager the wider the span of control less means a narrower span of control example below shows a span of control of 4 for the marketing manager marketing manager market. Number of employees there are no specific numbers that define a wide or narrow span of control, as these can be relative to the size of the organization. Span of control is simply the number of staff that report to a manager. Span of control in hindi span of management youtube. Human resources hr span of control, or management span, measures the average number of employees that report directly to each individual hr manager, or director. Span of control can be used as an optimization criteria for estimating the number of employees as well as the amount of hierarchical levels.
The extent or measure of space between two points or extremities, as of a bridge or roof. Whereas, with the narrow span, the hierarchical levels increases, hence the. First, ceo span of control is a strategic variable that is associated with the ceos level of involvement. The principle of span of control in public administration is related to the concept of span of attention described in psychology by v graicunus, the french management consultant. The concept of span of control, also known as management ratio, refers to the number of subordinates controlled directly by a superior. How to identify the right spans of control for your. Wide span of control means a single manager or supervisor oversees a large number of subordinates. The concept of span of control is an important concept in business.
Typically, it is either narrow or wide resulting in a flatter or more hierarchical organizational structure. 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. All the subordinates cannot be managed by one superior. The uses of the concept, span of control, have become so varied over the past years that in its present form it is no longer useful as a means of communicating information between scholars. Span of control, a management and leadership theory. This concept affects organization design in a variety of ways, including speed of communication flow, employee motivation, reporting relationships, and administrative overhead.
A span of control is a concept that describes the number of people that are managed by someone. Defining optimal span of control for an enterprise. The number of direct reports and the presence of a delegate coo or cfo are strong predictors of how the top executives runs the. Span of control definition in the cambridge english.
Span of control and span of attention working paper harvard. Span of control simply refers to the number of employees that a manager can supervise effectively at any given time without compromising his or her own performance, or that of the employees he or she manages hindle, 2008. Meeting and exceeding expectations, a vice president, for instance, usually manages fewer than four people while the lowerranking assembly line supervisor might manage oversee 15. Traditionally, span of control is defined and measured as the number of direct subordinates a manager supervises. Graicunas and urwick both noted the existence of pressures to increase the span of control. Each type has its inherent advantages and disadvantages. Span of control definition, meaning, factors, examples. This gives rise to a flat organizational structure.
What is span of control and organizational structure. Read this article to learn about the definition and evaluation of span of control in administration. Pdf the span of control expresses how many subordinates correspond to one. A structure where span of control for each managerial position is 4 appears as follows. So span of control as we see is an individual characteristic depending upon type of organizational structure as well as upon individual features of a certain company. The two diagrams below illustrate two different spans of control. Span of control means that a manager can properly control only a limited number of subordinates, after a certain number is exceeded, communication of commands grows increasingly garbed and control. Span of control is the term used in business management, particularly human resource. Traditionally, span of control is defined and measured as the number of direct. It is because shorter span of control leads to rise. The number of subordinates managed by a manager varies depending on the complexity of the work. First, of course, is the tendency of people to want to report directly to the boss, whomever that might be.
Span of control is the number of peoplesubordinates that can be effectively managed by one manager. Also, due to this kind of span of control, number of managers are increases and hence the overall costing of the company increases. Span of control how is span of control abbreviated. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a narrow span. Let us define the principle in the words of nicholas henry. A wide span of control exists when a person oversees many subordinates. Hypotheses were tested at a significance level of p. It is a chain of command notion where the number of subordinates are properly identified to understand a managers reach. The term span of control is made of two words, viz. This concept says that there is a limit to the number of things one can attend to at the same time. The span of control refers to number of employees that directly report to a single manager. This paper argues that the span of control is a useful concept for measuring the closeness of contact between a superior and his subordinates. Spans literary meaning says, it is the distance between the tip of a thumb and small finger when palm of hand is fully stretched out. Span of control span of control industry standard fhwa manual on uniform traffic control devices for streets and highwaysc control bridge span span book pdf the span book life span eng 2 span 065279 introdation bridge span development across the life span 8th ed.
Span of control refers to the number of subordinates a supervisor has. Since management represents the activities that do not directly result in productivity, they are rather a overhead, span of control determines the additional. To illustrate, if organisations a and b, both have 256 workers and the span of control for each managerial position is 2 for company a and 4 for company b, there will be 9 levels in company a requiring 128 supervisors at the lowest level, 64 at the next. Simply, span of control refers to the number of subordinates under the managers direct control. Span of control financial definition of span of control. The topdown assignment of managerial span of control, based on external comparisons, misses the specificity critical to designing something that is right for each companys context and strategy.
Simon 1 945, urwick 1 956, and porter and lawler 1 965 used equally simple definitions. Wide span according to wide span, the manager supervises and control effectively a large group of persons at one time. With the wider span, there will be less hierarchical levels, and thus, the organizational structure would be flatter. What does it mean for a manager to have a wide span of. Almost two years later, that posting led to a request for those formulas. In january of 1998, i had occasion to post to an hr list a comment about span of control and the formulas of v.
However, in terms of management and administration, it means the maximum extend or the number of people that can be reached by. It means how effectively a superior can effectively supervise. A span of control of 7 would be considered to be quite wide. The span of control is a perennial topic in discussions of management. Span of control can be defined as the total number of direct subordinates that a manager can control or manage. Depending upon the complexity of organisational activities and relationships amongst superiors and subordinates, it becomes important the superiors manage an optimum number of subordinates that result in optimum organisational output. Finally, we complemented the time use data with information from manual. In simple words, span of control means the manageable number of subordinates of a superior. A wide span of control can have positive or negative effects, or a mix of both, depending on how the business is structured and how the manager handles supervisory duties. Some companies also have an ideal span of control, which is the number of reports they feel a. Pdf span of control in teamwork and organization structure.
Span of control is defined as the number of subordinates who report to an individual supervisor. The span of control is the number of employees a manager can supervise as effectively as possible. Pdf for both practitioners and researchers, span of control plays an. Span of control description the full technique overview is available for free. Span of control meaning in the cambridge english dictionary. The addition of new hierarchical layers makes the organisational structure steeper. Span of control is very simply defined as the number of subordinates a manager within an organization has reporting to him or her. Shiwani bansal, in biyani groups of colleges, department of social science, explains the meaning of span of control. There is an inverse relation between the span of control and the number of levels in hierarchy in an organization, i. The span of control is the number of subordinates for whom a manager is directly responsible. Traditionally, span of control is defined and measured as the number of. Information and translations of span of control in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. It doesnt take into account how each department and team should perform their work to accomplish their collective performance and health goals. Pdf span of control, unity of command, coordination adnan.
As an example, a manager with five direct reports has a span of control of five. Span of control depends highly on the organizational structure of the business. Within an organization, taller organizational structures are relatively more expensive than flatter and wider organizational structures due to the increased number of managers required. A large span of control leads to a flatter organisational structure, which results in lower costs.
Most organizations are structured on the premise that there are practical limitations to the number of people one manager can effectively supervise without becoming overloaded or losing sight of what the subordinates are doing. The span of management is related to the horizontal levels of the organization structure. The difference between a narrow or wide span of control may be determined by a managers rank. Span of control refers to the number of subordinates that can be managed effectively and efficiently by supervisors or managers in an organization. It is very important to understand span of control and organizational structure when describing an organization. A highly structured hierarchical organization will typically have a. Browse the definition and meaning of more terms similar to span of control. In the hierarchical business organization of some time in the past it was not uncommon to see average spans of 1 to 4 or even less. Wide span of control means a manager can supervise and control effectively a large number of persons at a time. Span of control determines the structure of an organization, a narrow span of control results in hierarchal organization while broad span of control leads to flat structure. Contrast this with a span of 3 below, which would be considered narrow narrow span of control. Since all managers manage at least one subordinate, span of control applies to managers at all levels throughout the organization.
It refers to how many workers a manager is supervising. It is an organizational theory term that refers to how relationships are structured between leaders and subordinates in organizations. A small span of control creates a steeper organisational. Pdf span of control and span of activity researchgate. The management dictionary covers over 7000 business concepts from 6 categories. The number of subordinates that a manager or supervisor can directly control. This setting allows us to look directly at the allocation of ceo time, and its relationship with.
1452 560 1215 1214 1100 1438 1409 1027 1156 201 888 36 737 1161 1440 1406 815 140 752 1406 513 294 1103 26 1265 1260 1039 798 411 257 1165 445 518 771 1373 997