ASSIGNMENT
Unit 4: Span of Control
1. What is span of control?
Span of control refers to the maximum numbers effectively supervised by a single individual. The
number of members may be increased or decreased according to the nature of work done by the
subordinate or the ability of the supervision. In the administration area, under one executive,
nearly four of five subordinates may work. The span of control enables the smooth functioning of
the organization
2. What is the importance of span of control?
The problem of span of control is a natural extension of the principle of hierarchy or scalar
system. The hierarchical organization involves a number of tiers or steps one above the other
in an organization, each step being headed by a single person. How many such levels an
organization have depends upon the total number of employees at the bottom to be
supervised and the number of subordinates each superior officer can effectively supervise.
This shows that there is a close relationship between hierarchy arid span of control. Hence,
the levels or tiers in hierarchy should be established after taking into account the span of
control of a superior officer. If a superior officer is expected to control a large number of
persons than the can actually control, the result is delay and inefficiency. The quality of the
work of an organization depends upon effective control and supervision. Hence, there is a
strong need for the principle of span of control. No organization can ignore it. If the exceeds
the capacity of on individual, the break down of the organization.
3. What are the factors that affect span of control?
The span of control depends on certain factors
1. Function
2. Time
3. Space
4. Personality of supervisor and of the subordinates
5. Delegation of authority
6. Techniques of supervision
4. What is Graicuna’s Formula?
Graicuna develops a formula to calculate the number of relationships to enable the
executives to examine the complexity of span of control
n(2n/2 + n + 1) where n= number of subordinates.