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I) Organisations with narrow spans of management
Advantages of narrow span of management
• It is easier for a manager to provide guidance to subordinates and to supervise and control
their activities.
• It is easier to develop group cohesiveness within the smaller group of employees reporting
to each manager.
• It is possible to have organizational units with more focused functions, rather than many
different functions grouped under one manager. Thus it is possible to develop greater degree
of specialization for management activities.
Disadvantages of narrow span of management
- It tends to increases the total number of organizational levels. This makes it difficult for
manages at higher levels to keep in touch with ground realities at operating level.
- It increases the total number of employees in the organization. This increases cost of
employees.
- It creates problem of coordination between different managers and organizational units.
ii) Organisations with wide spans of management
The advantages of wide span of control are:
• There are less layers of management to pass a message through, so the message reaches
more employees faster
• It costs less money to run a wider span of control because a business does not need to
employ as many managers
• All the subordinates will be able to work easily with each other as they are on the same
level of heirarchy and also be authorised by one person.
• Creates a more entrepreneurial culture as workers can take responsibility for jobs
Disadvantages of wide span
- Fewer promotional opportunities so can be de-motivating.
- Harder for manager to supervise and co-ordinate the exact work of subordinates and
ensure they are working towards same common goal.
- Increase the risk of wrong decision being made as subordinates may be less well trained
or lack experience
Kavungya answered the question on May 17, 2019 at 15:15
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