10 Organisation as a process

Structure

1.    Introduction

2.    Aspects of organisation

3.    Summary

After going  through  the content, the learner  will  be able to

·Define the process of organization

·Explain the aspects of organization process

1. Introduction

There are various processes of management and organisat ion is one of t he import ant process or function of management. For understanding the organisat ion, we will t ry to understand t he societal st ructure. If we consider any society or community then we find t hat it has definite structure. Soc iety is established because of gregarious nature of human beings. Each soc iety has me mbers who are set into t he structures. The me mbers of the soc iety are associated wit h each ot her horizontally and vert ically. Definite roles are assigne d to each member along with the work. It is not only the role and work are important but aut hority is defined for each role. Soc iety will be c haotic if there is no organisat ion. Organising as a process helps soc iety t o perform specific functions in a spec ific way. It also helps to perform different tasks at the same t ime in a syste mat ic way. Therefore organising helps in the smooth functioning of the society.

Educat ion as a syste m has been established by the society wit h very spec ific objectives. T hese objectives are need to be achieved through t he process of organising. T he educat ion system or school has a definit e st ructure. It has different personnel who are working toget her. School has teac hers as well as support staff. These personnel working in educational inst itute are assoc iated with each ot her horizontally and vert ically. Teachers who are teaching different subjects perform their own dut ies individually but when they have to work as tea m for certain task given by the management or principal t hen t hey are working together as a team and report to t he princ ipal. It means all t he teachers are assoc iated horizontally wit h eac h other. Manage ment occupies the top most posit ion in the st ructure of educational instit ut ion followed by t he principal/head mist re ss/head master who are middle level managers. At the bottom management are teachers and support staff. All management levels are horizontally as well as vertically connected to each other. For achieving goal of education it is necessary that all personnel are associated wit h each other horizontally and vert ically and their aut horit ies are clearly defined. Hence it is necessary to st udy organisat ion as a process. Following are some of the definitions of organisat ion:

Louis  A. Allen:

Organisation is t he proce ss of defining and grouping activit ies and establishing authority relationships among them to attain organizat ional objectives.

Koontz  and O’Donnell:

Organizat ion involves the establishment of authority, relat ionships wit h provision for co-ordination between them, both vertically and horizontally in the enterprise.

Sheldon:

Organisation is a process of combining t he work which individuals or groups have to perform with fac ilities necessary for its execut ion, t hat t he dut ies so performed provide the best channels for efficient, systemat ic, posit ive and coordinated application of available efforts.

Commonly  accepted definition:

Organisation is function of management t hat involves developing an organizational structure and allocat ing human resources to ensure the accomplishment of objectives.

Through t hese definit ions, few common points can be drawn regarding organizing process:

• Organisation  is a continuous  process.
• Activities performed  by the individuals    in an organisat ion  are goal oriented.
• Activities are grouped  and defined.
• Aut horit ies and roles of different depart ments and individuals are defined that helps in organising activities in a better way. Following are the aspects of organisat ion as a process.

2.   Aspects of organisation

•  Ident ification of the activit ies and work: Eac h organisat ion co mes int o existence for achieving certain goals. T hese goals are ac hieved by performing various activit ies. Hence, it is necessary for manager to ident ify the activities to be performed. For example, school as an o rganisat ion came into existence for development of st udents. Activities performed in t he sc hool are curricular, co-curric ular, administ rat ive, financ ial etc. For performing these activit ies there are different depart ments or sections. People working in those depart ments are responsible to carry out the spec ific activit ies of the depart ment, which is necessary to achieve the general goal of an institution.
• Assigning these activit ies to appropriate depart ments, sections and individual: Organisations have to perform various activities, which may be carried out simultaneously or sequentially. Hence, t here is need to have various sections or department s are responsible for partic ular functions. For example , University as an educat ional inst itute has examinat ion department. T his department is responsible for paper sett ing, conducting exa minat ion, paper assessment and declarat ion of results . If it is a school syste m teachers are responsible for teaching as well as paper sett ing, assessment and result dec laration. In university, system teachers are responsible for teaching and examinat ion section is responsible for conducting the examinations of students. When inst itut ion is big t hen it has many departments and sections. On the other hand, if the institution is small then it can have few departments .
• Defining responsibility: After assigning work to the different  depart ment s then responsibilities are defined. T his is very import ant as it gives c lear direction to the persons who are working in that depart ment about his o r her work. For example, while conducting the university examination, for paper sett ing t he examinat ion sect ion of t he university is responsible for collecting informat ion of the examiner and dec iding the panel of t he examiners responsible for part icular subject. So if an employee from examinat ion depart ment is given responsibility of M.Ed. progra mme t hen he or she will be responsible for all t he tasks related to M.Ed. examinat ion. If it is a school then princ ipal will allocate or form subject wise committees if it is a bigger school. If many schools or cluster of schools wants to have sa me examinat ion paper, then the job is bit challenging. In such a situation they will have to collect informat ion about each teacher which includes the subject, experience and t he standards t hese teachers teach to. On the basis of t his data base committees can be formed and they will be responsible for setting the paper.
• Providing authority, delegat ion: Delegat ion and aut hority go hand in hand. Delegation means assigning task to individual and authority means giving some freedom to person in a set fra mework. For example, when the responsibility of paper sett ing is given to teachers t hen t hey will be setting the quest ion for respective classes. The content for each paper will be fixed but teachers will have authority to decide the structure of paper and type of quest ions. Anot her example can be teachers are given responsibility to teach a part icular subject but have freedom to decide the teaching method. This freedom is within framework of content to be taught and the time to be utilized. Giving aut hority in the limited way is import ant ot herwise, it will lead to chaos. For example, if we give freedom to teac hers to dec ide content, time as well as met hodology then each teacher will use his or her discretion to take decisions. As a result t he functioning of the organisat ion will get disturbed and the objective of sett ing papers will not be achieved in specific time frame.
• Ensuring co-ordination and communicat ion: T he persons who have been given responsibility should know to whom they need to report. Hence there should be mec hanism for coordinat ing and reporting the progress of t he activit ies. For example, if a committee of teac hers is setting t he paper then one senior teacher who can work as chief paper setter will coordinate wit h co-paper setters and complete the task. If t hree paper sets are required along with translat ions in Marathi and Gujarati t hen chief paper setter will be responsible t o get the work done. Co- paper setters will report to chief and chief paper setter will report to principal. Each me mber of the committee should be given letter mentioning t he work assigned to them as well to whom they will be reporting.
• Establishing  structural  relationship:  The  persons  in  the  organisat ion  are  not working in isolat ion but they share relat ionship with each other which may be horizontal or vert ical. Establishing st ructural relat ionship helps in s mooth functioning of an organisation because eac h one is aware about to whom he or she is answerable. If we consider above example then we can say that when setting the paper all t he co mmittee me mbers are at one level i.e. have horizontal relat ionship and when t hey are submitt ing t he paper to chief paper setter the relationship is vertical.
• Provision of facilit ies and equipment: It is the responsibility of the manager to provide required fac ilit ies and equipment to the e mployees so t hat t hey can perform the task. For example, if it is expected that paper setters will sub mit the typed copy of question paper then it is the responsibility of the school to make available computers to the teachers.

In short, it can be said that manager has to consider the above -mentioned aspects of organisation process for effective functioning of an institution.

3. Summary

Organisation is the function of management which follows planning. In this process the human, financial and physical resources are synchronized and combined in s uch a way that the organization achieve its goal optimally. Organizing involves creation of structures, establishment of relationship, allocation of resources so as to accomplish determined goal.

According to Koontz and O’Donnell, organization involves the establishment of authority, relationships with provision for co-ordination between them, both vertically and horizontally in the enterprise. The organization as a function of management is concerned with the following aspects:

• Ident ifying and grouping of work and activities: Each organisat ion comes into existence for ac hieving certain goals. These goals are achieved by performing various activit ies. Hence it is necessary for manager to ident ify t he activities to be performed.
• Assigning these activit ies to appropriate depart ments, secti ons and individual:
• Organisations have to perform various activit ies which may be carried out simult aneously or sequentially. Hence there is need to have various sections or department s are responsible for particular functions.
• Defining responsibilit y: This is very import ant as it gives clear cut direction to the persons who are working in that depart ment about his or her work.
• Providing authority, delegat ion: Delegat ion and aut hority go hand in hand. Delegation means assigning task to individual and authority means giving some freedom to person in set framework.
• Ensuring co-ordination and communicat ion: T he persons who have bee n given responsibility should be knowing to who m t hey need to report. Hence there should  be mechanism   for coordinat ing  and reporting  the activities
• Establishing structural relationship: The persons in t he organisat ion are not working in isolat ion but they share relat ionship with each other which may be horizontal or vert ical. Establishing st ructural relat ionship helps in s mooth functioning of an organisation because eac h one is aware about to whom he or she is answerable.
• Provision of facilities and equipment: It is the responsibility of the manager to provide required facilities and equipment to the employees so that they can perform the task.