Line and Staff Organisation
The line organisation is not suitable for large and complex enterprises undertaking large construction works and heavy projects, where key men need advise from expert specialists in different fields.
These specialists who constitute the staff in the organisation are experts with long experience.
They do not have the authority to command any body.
Their role is mainly advisory and are not directly involved in carrying out the major objectives of the organisation.
The combination of the line organisation with this expert staff constitute the line and staff organisation.
The line executes the work the staff carries on the research planning, scheduling and recording of performance.
Figure shows the line and staff organisation of the state PWD.
Advantages :
- Advise of expert specialists is available.
- The project can be executed with better quality product.
- It gives increased economy and efficiency though extra expenditure has to be incurred on staff experts.
- It provides more job opportunities.
- Specialised work is done by staff personnel and line personnel can devote their time to achieve the objectives of the enterprise. Discipline problems are solved by line authority.
Disadvantages :
- The staff (experts) may be infeffective for lack of authority to carryout its functions
- Possibilities of conflict between line persons and staff are there as the responsibilities and authority are not well defined
- The expert advise available is conveyed to workers through the line authority which is a quite lengthy route.Thus there is likelyhood of misunderstanding and misinterpretation
- The overhead cost of the product will increase due to high salaries of staff personnel
- The slackness of any section will affect the whole system