span of control

(noun)

The number of subordinates a supervisor has.

Related Terms

Examples of span of control in the following topics:

  • Centralization

    • Centralization is the concentration of span of control, decision making, and communication within an organization.
    • Centralization is the concentration of span of control, decision making, and communication within an organization.
    • These decisions or policies are then enforced through several tiers of the organization after gradually broadening the span of control until it reaches the bottom tier.
    • Leaders in centralized organizations have greater access to information and, therefore, can exercise more influence over group members by controlling the flow of critical information.
    • One of the distinct advantages to the centralized approach to organization and management is that it allows for greater control and is particularly useful in hierarchical organizations that have standardized processes and where the emphasis in operations is on cost savings and better quality control.

  • Characteristics of Organizational Structures

    • Important characteristics of an organization's structure include span of control, departmentalization, centralization, and decentralization.
    • Each of these structures provides different degrees of four common organizational elements: span of control, departmentalization, centralization, and decentralization.
    • Span of control—or the number of subordinates a supervisor has—is used as a means of ensuring proper coordination and a sense of accountability among employees.
    • In the past it was not uncommon to see average spans of one to four (one manager supervising four employees).
    • With the development of inexpensive information technology in the 1980s, corporate leaders flattened many organizational structures and caused average spans to move closer to one to ten.

  • Decentralizing Responsibility

    • A decentralized organization tends to show fewer tiers in its organizational structure (less hierarchy), a wider span of control, and a bottom-to-top or horizontal flow of decision making and ideas.
    • These decisions or policies are then enforced through several tiers of hierarchy within the organization, gradually broadening the span of control until they reach the bottom tier.
    • This type of structure tends to be seen in organizations that run on less rigid policies and wider spans of control among each officer of the organization.
    • The wider spans of control also reduce the number of tiers within the organization, giving its structure a flat appearance .
    • One advantage of this structure—if the correct controls are in place—is the bottom-up flow of information.

  • Decentralization

    • A decentralized organization typically has fewer tiers in its organizational structure, wider span of control, and a bottom-to-top flow of ideas an information.
    • In a more decentralized organization, the top executives delegate much of their decision-making authority to lower tiers of the organizational structure.
    • The wider spans of control tends to reduce the number of tiers within the organization, giving its structure a flater and less hierarchical appearance.
    • One of the major advantages of this type of management structure, assuming the correct controls are in place, is the bottom-to-top flow of information, allowing the decisions made by the senior management to be better informed about what is happening in the lower tier operations.
    • The shorter lines of communication allow for the needs of customers and employees to be more easily and quickly met, given the fewer levels of management involved.

  • Fulfilling the Organizing Function

    • Formal reporting relationships include lines of authority, decision responsibility, number of hierarchical levels, and span of managers' control.
    • Tall structure: A management structure characterized by an overall narrow span of management, a relatively large number of hierarchical levels, tight control, and reduced communication overhead.
    • Flat structure: A management structure characterized by a wide span of control and relatively few hierarchical levels, loose control, and ease of delegation.
    • Enabling creativity and minimizing control often comes at the cost of speed and efficiency, and vice versa.
    • The management process involves tasks and goals of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.

  • Network Structure

    • In the network structure, managers coordinate and control relationships with the firm that are both internal and external.
    • In this structure, managers coordinate and control relations that are both internal and external to the firm.
    • At the industry level, complex networks can include technological and innovation networks that may span several geographic areas and organizations.
    • To maintain control of their product, they may rent retail space through their network and purchase production capabilities from a variety of partner organizations that have their own manufacturing facilities.
    • Because the network structure is decentralized, it has fewer tiers in its organizational makeup, a wider span of control, and a bottom-up flow of decision making and ideas.

  • Formal Means of Control

    • Formal means of social control are generally state-determined, through the creation of laws and their enforcement.
    • Formal means of social control are the means of social control exercised by the government and other organizations who use law enforcement mechanisms and sanctions such as fines and imprisonment to enact social control.
    • The mechanisms utilized by the state as means of formal social control span the gamut from the death penalty to curfew laws.
    • Our understanding of formal control is enhanced by social theorist Max Weber's work on the state's use of violence.
    • Explain the relationship between formal means of social control and state authority

  • Practice 2: Hypothesis Testing for Two Averages

    • Center for Disease Control reports that the mean life expectancy for whites born in 1900 was 47.6 years and for nonwhites it was 33.0 years.
    • Of the 124 whites, the mean life span was 45.3 years with a standard deviation of 12.7 years.
    • Of the 82 nonwhites, the mean life span was 34.1 years with a standard deviation of 15.6 years.
    • Conduct a hypothesis test to see if the mean life spans in the county were the same for whites and nonwhites.
    • Sketch a graph of the situation.

  • Arches and Domes

    • Arches and domes are structures that exhibit structural strength and can span large areas with no intermediate supports.
    • An arch is a structure that spans a space, and supports structure and weight above it.
    • The two-hinged arch is most often used to bridge long spans.
    • Domes have the same properties and capabilities of arches, they can span large areas without intermediate supports and have a great deal of structural strength.
    • Clear span 8.

  • Multiple Comparisons of Means

    • When researching, we typically refer to comparisons of two groups, such as a treatment group and a control group.
    • Similarly, techniques have been developed to adjust confidence intervals so that the probability of at least one of the intervals not covering its target value is controlled.
    • An example for the effect of breakfast on attention span (in minutes) for small children is summarized in the table below:
    • In terms of the example this means that breakfast (and its size) does have an effect on children's attention span.
    • This table summarizes the effect of breakfast on attention span (in minutes) for small children.