PROCESS OF STRUCTURING

The formal structure of an organisation is two  dimensional-horizontal and  vertical. The horizontal dimension depicts differentiation of  the total organisational job into different departments. The vertical dimension refers to the hierarchy of authority relationship with a number of levels from top to bottom. Authority flows downwards along these levels.The higher the level, the greater the authority and viceversa. In the processof organising, a manager differentiates and integrates the activities of his organisation.The first step in the process of organising is to determine the various activities that need to be performed based on the objectives of the organisation and the type of organisation which is required to be built.The second step is to group these (identified) activities into closely related and similar activities as divisions and departments and if necessary, into sections within departments/divisions. Thirdly, to identify key  departments  which require key attention and to decide the. relative importance of various departments. Fourthly, to determine the levels at which various major and minor decisions have to be made and also the degree of centralisation in decision making. Extreme decentralisation may lead to loss of control and effective coordination whereas extreme centralisation may lead to wrong decisions and a breakdown of the morale of employees.Fifthly, to determine the span of management, that is the number of subordinates who should report directly to each executive. Note that the  narrower the span, the taller would be the structure with several levels of management as well as difficulty, in communication and increased payroll. Lastly, it is very important to set up a coordination  mechanism so that various departments and work synergistically and  contribute, to the objective. For this purpose  it is suggested to have good activities analysis, decision analysis and relations analysis. The organising process must reflect the objective's of the orgnisation, the environment and the authority that is available and take into account the people and the resources  available. One of the usual problems with libraries is that it is often assumed that more or less authority is available to manage the library than actually exists.