Levels in the structure
Too many levels of management and supervision inhibit
communication and teamwork and create extra work (and
unnecessary jobs). The aim should be to reduce the number of
levels to a minimum. However, the elimination of middle
managers and wider spans of control mean that more attention
has to be paid to improving teamwork, delegation and methods
of integrating activities.
Span of control
There are limits to the number of people anyone can manage
or supervise well, but these vary considerably between different
jobs. Most people can work with a far greater span of control
than they imagine, as long as they are prepared to delegate
more effectively, to avoid becoming involved in too much
detail, and to develop good teamwork among the individuals
reporting to them. In fact, wide spans of control are beneficial in
that they can enforce delegation and better teamwork and free
the higher-level manager to spend more time on policy-making
and planning.
Limited spans of control encourage managers to interfere too
much with the work going on beneath them and therefore
constrain the scope that should be given to their subordinates to
grow with their jobs.
One person, one boss
Generally speaking, individuals should be accountable only to
one boss for the results they achieve, to avoid confusion on oper-
ational matters. But in a project-based or matrix organization
individuals might be responsible to their project leader for
contributing to the outcome of the project while also being
responsible to their departmental manager or the head of their
discipline for the continuing requirements of their role and for
achieving agreed standards of overall performance.
Individuals in functional roles such as finance or personnel
may be directly responsible to a line manager but may also have
a ‘dotted line’ relationship of responsibility to the head of their
function on matters of corporate policy.
262 How to be an Even Better Manager