span of control

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span of control

the number of people a manager has formal AUTHORITY over and is responsible for. 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. CLASSICAL MANAGEMENT THEORY held that the optimum span of control was around six people. It is now generally believed that the effective width of the span is to some extent determined by the distribution of decision-making. Where this is decentralized a wider span is feasible. The span of control is often inversely related to the number of levels in the HIERARCHY of an ORGANIZATION. The more levels, the smaller the span of control, and vice versa.

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Our approach focuses on three major dimensions: Streamlining our organization, by bringing similar businesses and functions together, reducing management layers and increasing spans of control, Reengineering key cross-business processes by looking at them end-to-end and creating global centers of excellence that clarify roles and responsibilities and provide support across businesses, Leveraging policy changes to help drive tighter expense control across the company

United States : Organization Announcement: American Express

Reportedly, cost savings of approximately USD200m are expected to be derived from a combination of lower headcount and non-headcount costs which will be achieved by aggressively embracing zero-based budgeting, simplifying organisational structure by increasing spans of control and reducing layers, and outsourcing technology and back office functions to improve scalability.

ConAgra Foods announces restructuring plan with USD300m efficiency benefits; Plans new Chicago HQ

The retailer reorganized its leadership structure in the last few months to integrate pharmacy and front-of-store execution and narrow spans of control.

Relationships drive Rx business

The nurse managers who participated in this study were experienced, well-educated, and managed large spans of control.

Nurse manager job satisfaction and intent to leave

Large spans of control or influence in downsized organizations may limit the opportunities supervisors have to observe their employees directly as well as to provide feedback and coach in face-to-face settings.

Why performance management systems must continue to evolve

In organizations with wide spans of control, supervisors have many subordinates under their command.

Taking feedback-seeking to the next "level": organizational structure and feedback-seeking behavior

First, we analyzed AMFI Research's Supply Chain Top 25 organizations, and found that they have demonstrably greater spans of control.

What makes a modern supply chain professional?

In some cases, commanders intentionally establish excessive spans of control at their level because they want their subordinates rated by their own commander (e.

Self-evaluation: a disconnect in our values

Of the supply chain leaders AMR spoke to, almost all had different spans of control.

Continuing Education Update

For instance, one company decided to significantly broaden its managerial spans of control (nearly doubled) to reduce costs.

Trimming organizational costs ... for the long term: keeping organizations trim over the long term can be compared to dieting to keep weight off. Success depends on taking a serious look into root causes--those that go deep into four areas of an organization's DNA

Get a grip: Without creating bureaucracy the new pope must address the vast spans of control in the Church.

Perspective: Burning issue of the Pope's new brand; With the succession of the new Pope, the world's longest-serving organisation faces its biggest management challenge. Malcolm McKenzie, Consultancy Partner at leading business consultants RSM Robson Rhodes, outlines the management challenges facing Pope Benedict XVI

With fewer management layers and wider spans of control, our division team will be able to improve store-level execution, lower costs and react more quickly to the needs of our customers.