Span of control refers the total number of people that manager or administrator can effectively control and

supervised The term ‘Span of Control ‘ contains two keywords SPAN and CONTROL
SPAN- refers to the maximum extent or number of people that can be reached.
CONTROL-refers to an authoritative power to direct, order, or restrain.
The application of the principle on Span of Control in an organization results in limiting both the number of
direct subordinates a supervisor has and his area of supervision.
There are 3 Aspect of this principle should be carefully considered.
People
Distance
Time
People- Experience shows that a supervisor should manage no fewer than 3 nor more than 7 soburdinates ,
Because there is too great a strain on his energy ability
Distance- This span of control deals with the physical area of supervison and requires that subordinates and
activities be located so as to permit ease of supervision. Bcoz it is unwise for supervisor to locate a
subordinates either too close or too far.
Time -Every supervisor job consist of 4 main type of work .which is the routine, regular, special,and creative.

Homogeneous Assignment
Homos means “ like or similar” genos means ” family, race, or kind. Therefore Homogenous means a similar
family, race or kind. The principle of homogenous assignment means that workers performing like function
should be grouped and that functions should be scheduled so that each operation is another step towards
completion.
The magnitude of any assignment is limited by the physical and mental capabilities of the person to whom the
assignment is made.
Delegation- It refers to the assignment of certain responsibilities along with the necessary authority by a
superior to his/ her subordinates manager. No one should be assigned responsibility for work without
authority to direct the manner of its performance.
There are certain rights which comprise executive authority:
1 The right to plan--
2 The right to decide-
3 The right to organize
The principle of delegation of authority is important to your success.
Cross- communication- this is how well people from different culture interact in a business.
Division of work – Every supervisor should understand the principle of division of work and know the basic
system.
Which is the 1 The series -
2 The parallel system
3 The unit- assembly system
In the series system the papers, materials etc. flow from one person to another, each person performing a
segment of the work.
In the parallel system each employee performs a whole operation.
In the unit assembly system several employees works together as a crew on one item from start to finish.
Simplicity- one of the marks of good supervisor is his ability to devise good system for perfoming work.
These system be kept as simple as possible.
Organization type
1. Line organization-is simple and direct and responsibility is readily fixed.however this
organization has many disadvantage. ( the instance, the top man must handle
employment ,personnel problems, purchasing ,engineering and all other phase)
2.Line and Staff organization- are more flexible than line organization.
3. Functional organization- is seldom used today. Under functional organization several
foreman, each a specialist would supervise the same grouped of workmen.
The Committee Idea – Multiple Management- this consist a committees appointed by the top executive
who work out policies and recommendation to him. a combination of this men makes for better
organization they are an important part of the organization.
 Organizational Changes- an organizational change take place due to several factors, which may be
internal or external . In internal factors include management, worker, job design, strategies and etc.
External factors include competion, government, customer, suppliers, dealer etc.

Principle of Span Control- (read the book) the number of subordinates reporting to a manager.
-a manager with a small number of subordinates directly reporting to them. Will have Narrow span of control
(tall org.)
On the otherhand the manager with a lot of people directly reporting to them will have a Wide span of control
(flat)
Principle of Departmentalization-(read book )
In departmentalization similar are grouped together to form various department.
According to professors pearce and robinson departmentalization is the grouping of jobs, processes and
resource into logical units to perform some organizational task.
Principle of Unity of Command- according to this principle our employee should receive orders from
one superior only.

Subordinates meaning/ placed in a lowr class,rank or position.