“Organization and its Principles”
MPA 509
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Agenda

 Preview of Last Lecture
 Organization and its Principles
 Meaning and Nature of Organization
 Five Important Features of Organization
 Functions of Organization
 Span of Control
 Factors which influence the Span of control
 Quote of the Day
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Meaning and Nature of
Organization

 Meaning
Organization is prior to all administration.
The term organization is used in three different
contexts-The act of designing the structure, both
designing and building; the structure; the
administrative structure itself.
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Organization

 But others do not accept this engineering view or
approach to the concept of organization.
 They say organization not only consists of a
structure, It also embraces human beings.
 Our society is an organized society.
 We are born and brought up in an organization.
 Organization is nothing but a co-operative effort to
achieve the goals.
 Organization is as old as human society itself.
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
 The word organization springs from organism which
means a structure with parts or components.
 When two or more people join hands to achieve a
common goal there arises the need for an
organization.
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Organization

 Common goal is an essence of an organization.
 Modern society is a complex structure.
 The people who work together is known as
organization.
 It is a forum of every human association for the
attainment of a common goal. Weber defined
organization as a corporate group. Its orders are
enforced by the specific individuals.
 The focus is on legitimate integration of parts.
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Organization

 Grouping is given top priority.
 The individuals to whom the functions are entrusted
come later.
 Organizations are social units, human groupings
deliberately constructed or reconstructed to seek
specific objectives or goals or sub-goals.
 Organizations are social institutions. They are
natural communities.
 They are called as social systems.
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Organization

 Just as biological structures are composed of all parts
in an organic whole so are organizations composed
of human beings.
 It refers to the complete body with all its co-related
functions.
 It is an interaction and inter-relationship of people to
achieve some goals.
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Characteristics

 Five important Features of Organizations.

Memberships

Consciously Purposive

Formal Structure

Elusive

Corporate Status
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Memberships

 It comprises a group of persons.
 Membership may be voluntary or involuntary.
 Belongingness is an important criteria so
membership as such is an important feature of an
organization.
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Consciously Purposive

 They are seems to be consciously purposive i.e., they
do something positive for their members.
 It is a purposive creation.
 That is, all organisations have some objectives or set
of objectives.
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Formal Structure

 A third and very important feature of organization is
the structure.
 It refers to the functions in an organisation.
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Elusive

 It means ideology or a set of ideas. That ideology
affects their life and structure. Political and religious
organizations fall in this category.
 But administrative and economic organizations such
as public bureaucracies and business organizations
are ideologically neutral as far as their internal
affairs are concerned.
 However, all organizational life implies some
reasonable value system.
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Corporate Status

 The last, ultimate and final feature of an
organisation, may be described as its corporate
statues.
 Organizations always have legal status, legally
established.
 Thus, they can be treated as legal and social bodies
or entities.
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Nature of Organization







Organization as Machine
Organization as Structure
Organization as a Process
Organization as a Need and Responses
Organization as a Society
Organization as a System
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Principles of Organization

 Principles are the basic doctrines of the organization.
Every organization needs to be based on certain
principles.
 Many dismiss these principles as myths or sayings
or proverbs or precepts.
 Then which principles to follow? No principles are
accurate, definite and precise.
 But many regard these principles as necessary to the
achievement of the goals of public administration.
 Now what are these goals-public welfare, social
security, full employment, social welfare etc.
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Principles

 The end of Public administration is maximum
common good or public welfare at minimum cost.
 The principles of public administration are not like
the laws of physical sciences inflexible or invariable
in their operation.
 But on the other hand they are flexible and dynamic.
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Hierarchy

 Hierarchy is a principle which is quite fundamental
to any organization.
 Hierarchy means the rule or the control of the higher
over the lower. It also means graded organizations.
 In an organization there are people who occupy
different positions and have been given power and
authority.
 In an organization all are not equal.
 On the one hand are those who give orders and
commands on the other are those who are expected
to obey commands issued to them.
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Hierarchy

 Thus, whole system is based on the principle of high
and low, the officer and the subordinate.
 The rule through proper channel occupies upper place
in hierarchy.
 In every large scale organisation there are few who
command and there are others, who are commanded.
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Hierarchy

 Thus, it creates the superior and the subordinate
relationships.
 In hierarchy the authority, the command and the
control flows from the top to the bottom-slowly,
gradually or step-by step.
 The structure of an army is the best example of a
hierarchy.
 All large scale organisations follows the same
pattern.
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Hierarchy

 Hierarchy is a universal phenomena. Every person
or position in the hierarchy finds its appropriate
place.
 The lines of authority and responsibility flow along
the path of hierarchy.
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Hierarchy

 Every organisation looks like a triangle in its
structure.
 A paramidical structure is sharp at the top and
broad at the bottom.
 Every organisation is like a ladder.
 A person desirous of going to the roof will have to
climb all the steps of the ladder, if he misses any step
in the middle, he is likely to fall down.
 Similarly, in the organisation there are various levels.
Hierarchy in other words is also called as a scalar
process which means ladder with several steps.
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Hierarchy

 In organizations every thing must move through
proper channel.
 For example, the secretary of the department will
have to deal with the joint secretary, joint-secretary,
in turn shall, deal with the deputy secretary.
 Deputy-secretary shall, in turn deal with Assistant
Secretary who further shall, deal with the undersecretary, the under-secretary shall, in turn deal with
the section officer-who in turn, shall deal with the
assistants, clerks etc.
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Functions of Hierarchy

 The functions of the hierarchy are numerous.
 (1) It is a channel of command.
 (2) It is a channel of communication down ward and
upward-along with information, advice, specific
instructions, warnings etc.
 (3) It is the channel for the delegation of authority.
 (4) It is a channel of internal control.
 (5) It is the means of clarifying responsibilities and
defining relations.
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Span of Control

 The second principle of the organization is the
principle of span of control.
 It refers to the number of subordinates, a supervisor
can supervise effectively.
 By span of control we mean the number of
subordinates an officer can effectively supervise.
 The span of control is the limit of attention or the
scope of attention which one superior officer can pay
towards his subordinates. It is the optimum limit of
attention.
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Span of Control

 There is a great deal of disagreement among the
writers on the administration about the exact limit of
the span of control.
 The experts are sharply divided over the views
regarding the span of control. One school of thought
holds the view that eight to ten subordinates can be
supervised by one superior officer.
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Span of Control

 Other school holds the view that four to six
subordinates can be supervised by one superior
officer. Still others restrict it to 20 and so on.
 There is no unanimity or oneness of opinion as
regards to the exact number.
 But the main idea behind this problem is the
effectiveness of supervision.
 The supervision has both qualitative and
quantitative aspects. Hence, quality is to be
accompanied by quantity is an important factor.
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Span of Control

 In an organisation a superior officer is expected to
exercise control over subordinates.
 The number of subordinates to be supervised differs
from one organisation to another organisation.
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Factors which influence the
span of control











Nature of Work
Leadership
Age of the Agency
Location of Organizational Units
Span of Control under Revision
Unity of Command
Unity
Diversity of Command
Morale
Communication and Its Principles
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Quote of Day

Change does not roll in on the wheels of
inevitability, but comes through continuous
struggle. And so we must straighten our
backs and work for our freedom. A man can't
ride you unless your back is bent.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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References

 1. L.D. White, fntmduction to the Study of Public
Administration,
 1955, p. 41. 2. Appleby, P.H., -Policy and Administration, the
University of
 Alabama Press, Alabama, 1949, pp. 72-73. The various parts
operating in the organisation are having
 legitimate or legal sanction. Authority is the base of legitimacy.
3. Dimock, M.E. and Dimock, e.O., Public Administration,
Rinehart
 and Co., New York, 1959, p. 110. Organisation always works on
the basis of some doctrines
 or principles or values. Efficiency is an important value in
organisation.
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