Convenience

Functional Departmentalization
The most common base for departmentalization,
especially among smaller organizations, is by function.
Functional departmentalization
groups together those jobs involving the same or similar activities. (The word
function
is
used here to mean organizational functions such as finance and production, rather than
the basic managerial functions, such as planning or controlling.) This approach, which is
most common in smaller organizations, has three primary advantages. First, each depart-
ment can be staffed by experts in that functional area. Marketing experts can be hired to
run the marketing function, for example. Second, supervision is facilitated because an indi-
vidual manager needs to be familiar with only a relatively narrow set of skills. And, third,
coordinating activities inside each department is easier.
On the other hand, as an organization begins to grow in size, several disadvantages of
this approach may emerge. For one, decision making tends to become slower and more
Core job
dimensions
Personal and
work outcomes
Critical
psychological
states
Experienced
responsibility
for outcomes
of the work
•
Skill variety
•
Task identity
•
Task significance
•
Autonomy
•
Feedback
Knowledge of the
actual results of
work activities
Employee
growth-need
strength
•
High internal
work motivation
•
High-quality work
performance
•
High satisfaction
with the work
•
Low absenteeism
and turnover
Experienced
meaningfulness
of the work
©
Aca
de
m
ic
Pr
es
s,
In
c.
R
ep
ri
nt
ed
by
pe
rm
is
si
on
of
Ac
ade
m
ic
Pr
ess
an
d
th
e
au
th
or
s.