Chapter 13

Decision Rights: Bundling Task into Jobs and

Subunits

Alberto Marino
Bundling Task into Jobs
 Concept: Productivity vs. Bundling Task
 Specialized versus Broad Task Assignment:
 The appropriate bundling of task depend on the magnitude of the
cost and benefits alternative.
 FinWare Inc. Example Case: Specialized Task Assignment
and Broad Task Assignment.
 Lower Cross Training and Cost of Specialized Task Assignment

 Productive Bundling of Tasks

 Depending on the Production Technology and Information Flows
Bundling of Jobs into Subunits
 Functional Subunits Groups
FinWare, Inc
Chief
Executive
Officer

Sales Service
Department Department
Bundling of Jobs into Subunits
 Grouping Jobs by Products or Geography

Chief Executive Chief Executive

Officer Officer

Business Consumer
West Coast East Coast
Products Products
Division Division
Division Division
Sales Sales
Sales Sales
Department Department
Department Department
Service Service
Service Service
Department Department
Department Department
Trade-offs between Functional and Product
or Geographic Subunits
 Benefits of Functional Subunits
 Promotion of Coordination and expertise according with the
functional areas
 Problems with Functional Subunits
 High opportunity cost of employing senior management time
to coordinate departments and make operating decisions,
handoffs across departments that can take significant time,
coordination failures across departments.
Trade-offs between Functional and Product
or Geographic Subunits
 Benefits of Product or Geographic Subunits
 Using the Multidivisional (M form) firm operating decisions
are decentralized to business-unit level.
 Problems with Product or Geographic Subunits
 Arise because business units at the expense of other units
within the firm.
 Excessive overlapping structure of functional and product or
geographic subunits.
Matrix Organizations
 Promote functionality inter-departmental such as finance
and marketing , creating a cross-functional product teams
(subunits).
FinWare Inc.
Chief Executive
Officer

Service
Sales Division
Division
Business Products Team Business Sales Department Business Services
Department

Consumer Products Team Consumer Sales Department Consumer Service

Department
Network Organizations

 Forms of organizing subunits; divided into units works

groups based on function , geography, or some other
dimension, determined by the demands of specific
projects.

 Personal Experience “Ticket to Work” as Employer

Network with the SSA.
Recent Trends in Assignment of Decision
Rights
 Jobs creation with specify limited decision authority.
Recently ,there has been a trend toward granting
employees more decision authority and broader task
assignments.
 Companies shifted away from functional subunits toward
more product- oriented increasing global competition.