Ii) Departmentation

 . This is the process of grouping jobs together so that common tasks can be coordinated, such as activities grouped by function/products or services or program/geography or territory, etc.

. Functions can include engineering, accounting, manufacturing, marketing, etc. The function can change to reflect the organisation's objectives and activities. The main advantage of this type of grouping is obtaining efficiencies from putting like specialists together, ie placing people with common skills and orientations into common units.

. Each production unit will have staff who specialise in all functions related to the product/service period; the main advantage of this structure is increased accountability for product/service performance.

. Process departmentalization occurs when each department specialises in one specific phase of the production, type of customer, etc. Each process requires different skills and this method offers a basis for the homogeneous categorising of activities.

. Customer departmentalisation is use to explain the particular type of customer the organisation seeks to reach. The assumptions underlying this is that the customer in each department has a common set of problems and needs that can best be met by having a specialist for each.

. In the 1990s customer departmentalisation become more structurally significant so that the needs of the customer are now monitored and organisation are better able to respond to changes in those needs, ie this allows a better understanding of the customer and a faster response to their requirements.

. Another trend is that rigid, functional departmentalisation is being complemented by teams across traditional departmental lines. This is a better way to handle the more complex tasks.

. Another way to departmentalise is based on geography/territory, with each region as a department based around geography.

Question: on what basis will jobs be grouped together?