Figure 1. Simple line organization

LINE AND STAFF ORGANIZATIONS

 To minimize the disadvantages of simple line organizations, most organizations today have both line and staff personnel. A couple of definitions will help:                                                

• Line personnel perform functions that contribute directly to the primary goals of the organization (e. g., making the product, distributing it, and selling it).          

• Staff personnel perform functions that advise and assist line personnel in performing their goals (e. g., marketing research, legal advising, and personnel). (See Figure 2.)

Most organizations have benefited from the expert advice of staff assistants in areas such as safety, quality control, computer technology, personnel, investing, and so forth. Such positions strengthen the line positions and are by no means inferior or lower-paid positions. It is like having well-paid consultants on the organization's payroll.

Staff usually serve an advisory function; that is, they usually cannot tell line managers or their workers what to do. Naturally, this can cause conflicts, because staff experts often know more about correct procedures to follow than line managers. This can be very frustrating for staff people. In fact, different organizations handle line-staff relationships in different ways. In some organizations, line managers must consult with staff managers on some issues; on others, they must get staff approval for certain actions; and in others, staff people may actually give orders.

Simple line and staff organization (staff personnel act as advisors, in-house expert)

Figure 2. Line and staff organizations.

The benefits of the line and staff organization structure are rather clear. The disadvantages are not so obvious at first. Today, however, some organizations are suffering from too many staff personnel (over-staffing). To justify their existence, staff people may conduct research and generate reports that no one asks for or needs (over-analyzing). The resulting paperwork can be astounding. Lines of authority and communication can become blurred when staff people get involved in decision making (over-managing). For example, by the time a line manager clears a decision with the legal department, the safety department, and personnel, the initial problem could have become much more serious.                        

As you have learned, the trend today is to cut staff positions or assign staff to smaller functional units where they truly assist, rather than work independently from line managers. Much of the attention of top managers today is focused on designing systems that enable line and staff managers to co-operate more fully and to move more quickly to respond to market changes.  

MATRIX ORGANIZATIONS

Both line and line and staff organization structures suffer from certain inflexibility. Both have established lines of authority and communication, and both work well in organizations with a relatively stable environment and evolutionary development (such as firms selling consumer products like toasters and refrigerators). In such firms, clear lines of authority and relatively fixed organization structures are assets that assureefficient operations,                                

Today's economic scene is dominated by new kinds of organizations in high-growth industries unlike anything seen in the past. They include industries such as robotics, biotechnology, and aerospace. In such industries, new projects are developed, competition with similar projects elsewhere is stiff, and the life cycle of new ideas is very short. The economic, technological, and competitive environments are rapidly changing. In such organizations, emphasis is on new product development, creativity, special projects, rapid communication, and interdepartmental teamwork. From that environment grew the popularity of the matrix organization. Amatrix organization is one in which specialists from different parts of the organization are brought together to work on specific projects but still remain part of a line and staff structure (see Figure 3). In other words, a project manager can borrow people from different departments to help design and market new product ideas.

  Matrix organization structures were developed in the aerospace industry at firms such as Boeing, Lockheed, and McDonnell Douglas. The structure is now used in banking, management consulting firms, accounting firms and agencies.

In a matrix organization, project managers are in charge of teams made up of members of several departments. In this case, project manager 2 supervises employees A, B, C, and D. These employees are accountable not only to project manager 2, but also to the head of their individual departments. For example, employee B, a market researcher, reports to project manager 2 and to the vice president of marketing.

♦ President ♦

Vice president (manufacturing

Vice president (marketing)

Vice president (finance)

Vice president (engineering)

Project manager 1

Project manager 2

Employee A (buyer)

Employee B (market research)

Employee C (budget analysis)

Employee D ((product designer)

Project manager 3

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