Chart A Vice President Production Manager Planning and Control Manager Manufacturing Clean Room Supervisor Plant Planner Supervisor Quality Control Inventory Control Final Finish Purchasing (4) Assembly (6) Work (3) (4) (6) Machine Shop (10) Sub Assembly (8) Chart B Vice President Production Manager Planning and Control Manager Manufacturing Purchasing (4) Quality Control Inventory Control (3) (4) Machine Sub Final Finish Shop (10) Assembly (6) Work Assembly (8) (6)
Barnes Corporation recently purchased Parker Machine Company, a manufacturer of sophisticated parts for the aircraft industry. Donald Jenkins has been appointed vice president of production at Parker, and Beverly Kiner, president at Barnes, has asked Jenkins to prepare an organizational chart for his department at Parker. The chart that Jenkins prepared is presented in Chart A in the figure.
When Jenkins presented his chart to Kiner, she told him that she preferred a flat organizational structure and showed him how she envisioned his department at Parker by drawing the chart presented in Chart B. Kiner’s chart reduced a layer of management personnel and increased the number of people reporting directly to the manager of planning and control and the manager of manufacturing.
Jenkins expressed concern about the broad span of control depicted in Kiner’s chart, as he believed this might cause problems for the two managers. Kiner said that she believed that the benefits of a flat organizational structure outweighed the problems that could arise from too great a span of control.
a. For the organizational structure Jenkins proposed, describe the
1. advantages and disadvantages of that structure.
2. impact of the resulting span of control.
3. effect of the organizational structure on employee behavior.
b. For the flat organizational structure Kiner proposed, describe the
1. advantages and disadvantages of that organizational structure.
2. impact of the resulting span of control.
3. effect of the organizational structure on employee behavior.
c. When determining the appropriate span of control for Parker Machine Company, discuss the factors that Jenkins and Kiner should consider.
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