MSG Team's other articles

12091 Employee Remuneration

Employee Remuneration refers to the reward or compensation given to the employees for their work performances. Remuneration provides basic attraction to a employee to perform job efficiently and effectively. Remuneration leads to employee motivation. Salaries constitutes an important source of income for employees and determine their standard of living. Salaries effect the employees productivity and […]

11611 Training of Employees – Need and Importance of Training

Training of employees takes place after orientation takes place. Training is the process of enhancing the skills, capabilities and knowledge of employees for doing a particular job. Training process moulds the thinking of employees and leads to quality performance of employees. It is continuous and never ending in nature. Importance of Training Training is crucial […]

9873 Importance of Delegation

Delegation of authority is a process in which the authority and powers are divided and shared amongst the subordinates. When the work of a manager gets beyond his capacity, there should be some system of sharing the work. This is how delegation of authority becomes an important tool in organization function. Through delegation, a manager, […]

10655 Characteristics of Planning

Planning is goal-oriented. Planning is made to achieve desired objective of business. The goals established should general acceptance otherwise individual efforts & energies will go misguided and misdirected. Planning identifies the action that would lead to desired goals quickly & economically. It provides sense of direction to various activities. E.g. Maruti Udhyog is trying to […]

12899 Process of Controlling

Controlling as a management function involves following steps: Establishment of standards- Standards are the plans or the targets which have to be achieved in the course of business function. They can also be called as the criterions for judging the performance. Standards generally are classified into two- Measurable or tangible – Those standards which can […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

Line and staff organization is a modification of line organization and it is more complex than line organization. According to this administrative organization, specialized and supportive activities are attached to the line of command by appointing staff supervisors and staff specialists who are attached to the line authority. The power of command always remains with the line executives and staff supervisors guide, advice and council the line executives. Personal Secretary to the Managing Director is a staff official.

                                             MANAGING DIRECTOR                                                        
Production ManagerMarketing ManagerFinance Manager
Plant SupervisorMarket SupervisorChief Assisstant
ForemanSalesmanAccountant

Features of Line and Staff Organization

  1. There are two types of staff :
    1. Staff Assistants- P.A. to Managing Director, Secretary to Marketing Manager.
    2. Staff Supervisor- Operation Control Manager, Quality Controller, PRO
  2. Line and Staff Organization is a compromise of line organization. It is more complex than line concern.
  3. Division of work and specialization takes place in line and staff organization.
  4. The whole organization is divided into different functional areas to which staff specialists are attached.
  5. Efficiency can be achieved through the features of specialization.
  6. There are two lines of authority which flow at one time in a concern :
    1. Line Authority
    2. Staff Authority
  7. Power of command remains with the line executive and staff serves only as counselors.

Merits of Line and Staff Organization

  1. Relief to line of executives- In a line and staff organization, the advice and counseling which is provided to the line executives divides the work between the two.

    The line executive can concentrate on the execution of plans and they get relieved of dividing their attention to many areas.

  2. Expert advice- The line and staff organization facilitates expert advice to the line executive at the time of need.

    The planning and investigation which is related to different matters can be done by the staff specialist and line officers can concentrate on execution of plans.

  3. Benefit of Specialization- Line and staff through division of whole concern into two types of authority divides the enterprise into parts and functional areas. This way every officer or official can concentrate in its own area.

  4. Better co-ordination- Line and staff organization through specialization is able to provide better decision making and concentration remains in few hands. This feature helps in bringing co-ordination in work as every official is concentrating in their own area.

  5. Benefits of Research and Development- Through the advice of specialized staff, the line executives, the line executives get time to execute plans by taking productive decisions which are helpful for a concern. This gives a wide scope to the line executive to bring innovations and go for research work in those areas. This is possible due to the presence of staff specialists.

  6. Training- Due to the presence of staff specialists and their expert advice serves as ground for training to line officials.

    Line executives can give due concentration to their decision making. This in itself is a training ground for them.

  7. Balanced decisions- The factor of specialization which is achieved by line staff helps in bringing co-ordination. This relationship automatically ends up the line official to take better and balanced decision.

  8. Unity of action- Unity of action is a result of unified control. Control and its effectivity take place when co-ordination is present in the concern. In the line and staff authority all the officials have got independence to make decisions. This serves as effective control in the whole enterprise.

Demerits of Line and Staff Organization

  1. Lack of understanding- In a line and staff organization, there are two authority flowing at one time. This results in the confusion between the two. As a result, the workers are not able to understand as to who is their commanding authority. Hence the problem of understanding can be a hurdle in effective running.

  2. Lack of sound advice- The line official get used to the expertise advice of the staff.

    At times the staff specialist also provide wrong decisions which the line executive have to consider. This can affect the efficient running of the enterprise.

  3. Line and staff conflicts- Line and staff are two authorities which are flowing at the same time. The factors of designations, status influence sentiments which are related to their relation, can pose a distress on the minds of the employees. This leads to minimizing of co-ordination which hampers a concern’s working.

  4. Costly- In line and staff concern, the concerns have to maintain the high remuneration of staff specialist. This proves to be costly for a concern with limited finance.

  5. Assumption of authority- The power of concern is with the line official but the staff dislikes it as they are the one more in mental work.

  6. Staff steals the show- In a line and staff concern, the higher returns are considered to be a product of staff advice and counseling. The line officials feel dissatisfied and a feeling of distress enters a concern. The satisfaction of line officials is very important for effective results.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Centralization and Decentralization

MSG Team

Delegation and Decentralization

MSG Team

Principles of Delegation

MSG Team