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    Departmentalization

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    duncanza
    The document discusses different types of departmentalization including functional, product, customer, geographic, and process departmentalization. Functional departmentalization groups activities by function, product departmentalization groups by product line, customer departmentalization groups by type of customer, geographic departmentalization groups by territory, and process departmentalization groups activities along the product or service flow. The advantages of departmentalization include specialization while the disadvantages include departments becoming too focused on their function and isolated from other parts of the process.

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    Departmentalization

    Uploaded by

    duncanza
    481 views2 pages
    The document discusses different types of departmentalization including functional, product, customer, geographic, and process departmentalization. Functional departmentalization groups activities by function, product departmentalization groups by product line, customer departmentalization groups by type of customer, geographic departmentalization groups by territory, and process departmentalization groups activities along the product or service flow. The advantages of departmentalization include specialization while the disadvantages include departments becoming too focused on their function and isolated from other parts of the process.

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    The document discusses different types of departmentalization including functional, product, customer, geographic, and process departmentalization. Functional departmentalization groups activities by function, product departmentalization groups by product line, customer departmentalization groups by type of customer, geographic departmentalization groups by territory, and process departmentalization groups activities along the product or service flow. The advantages of departmentalization include specialization while the disadvantages include departments becoming too focused on their function and isolated from other parts of the process.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    481 views2 pages

    Departmentalization

    Uploaded by

    duncanza
    The document discusses different types of departmentalization including functional, product, customer, geographic, and process departmentalization. Functional departmentalization groups activities by function, product departmentalization groups by product line, customer departmentalization groups by type of customer, geographic departmentalization groups by territory, and process departmentalization groups activities along the product or service flow. The advantages of departmentalization include specialization while the disadvantages include departments becoming too focused on their function and isolated from other parts of the process.

    Copyright:

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    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
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    Departmentalization refers to the process of grouping activities into departments.

    Division of labour creates specialists who need coordination. This coordination is


    facilitated by grouping specialists together in departments. Manner or practice in which
    related individual tasks and their allocation to work groups is combined, to form a
    specialized functional area that is distinct from other functional areas in an organizatio.

    Types of Departmentalization
    • Functional departmentalization - Grouping activities by functions performed.
    Activities can be grouped according to function (work being done) to pursue
    economies of scale by placing employees with shared skills and knowledge into
    departments for example human resources, IT, accounting, manufacturing,
    logistics, and engineering. Functional departmentalization can be used in all types
    of organizations.

    • Product departmentalization - Grouping activities by product line. Tasks can


    also be grouped according to a specific product or service, thus placing all
    activities related to the product or the service under one manager. Each major
    product area in the corporation is under the authority of a senior manager who is
    specialist in, and is responsible for, everything related to the product line. LA
    Gear is an example of company that uses product departmentalization. Its
    structure is based on its varied product lines which include women’s footwear,
    children’s footwear and men’s’ footwear.

    • Customer departmentalization - Grouping activities on the basis of common


    customers or types of customers. Jobs may be grouped according to the type of
    customer served by the organization. The assumption is that customers in each
    department have a common set of problems and needs that can best be met by
    specialists. The sales activities in an office supply firm can be broken down into
    three departments that serve retail, wholesale and government accounts.

    • Geographic departmentalization - Grouping activities on the basis of territory.


    If an organization's customers are geographically dispersed, it can group jobs
    based on geography. For example, the organization structure of Coca-Cola has
    reflected the company’s operation in two broad geographic areas – the North
    American sector and the international sector, which includes the Pacific Rim, the
    European Community, Northeast Europe, Africa and Latin America groups.

    • Process departmentalization - Grouping activities on the basis of product or


    service or customer flow. Because each process requires different skills, process
    departmentalization allows homogenous activities to be categorized. For example,
    the applicants might need to go through several departments namely validation,
    licensing and treasury, before receiving the driver’s license
    Advantages of departmentalization :

    The greatest advantage to this sort of departmentalization is that it allows for


    specialization. The people in the department are focused on one task and the managers
    can be expert in that task.

    Disadvantages of departmentalization :

    The greatest disadvantage of this type of departmentalization is that it isolates the


    department from the other parts of the process. The department may become excessively
    concerned with its own function instead of acting in ways that will benefit the overall
    production process and firm.

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