Co-ordination

If work activities are divided and departmentalized, it is necessary for managers to coordinate these activities to achieve organizational goals.

The ability of managers to achieve effective coordination depends in part on the number of subordinates reporting to them. The number of subordinates reporting to one manager constitutes his or her management or span of control. The larger the span the more difficult it may be to coordinate and supervise the activities of subordinates.
Coordination is the process of integrating the objectives and activities of the separate units (departments) of an organization in order to achieve organization goals effectively. Without coordination, individuals and departments would lose sight of their roles within the organization.

The need for coordination depends upon the nature and communication requirements of the tasks performed and the degree of interdependence of the various subunits performing them. When these tasks require or can benefit from information flow between units then a high degree of coordination is best.

A high degree of coordination is also likely to be beneficial for work that is non routine and unpredictable for work where environmental factors keep changing, for work in which tasks are highly interdependent (i.e when one unit cannot function without receiving inputs from another unit) and for organizations that set high performance objectives.

Co-ordination of activities

Co-ordination is the linking of activities in the organisation that serve to achieve a common goal or objective. As task activities are divided in the organisation managers must attempt to develop mechanisms that will link the task’s together so that a desired goal is accomplished. The result of linking activities is the creation of various forms of activity interdependence. The degree to which activities are interdependent can vary from high to low. There are four configurations of activity interdependence:-

•    Pooled
•    Sequential
•    Reciprocal
•    Team