7.6 Reporting Relationships and Span of Control

There are terms and concepts we can use to describe the reporting relationships in an organization.

Chain of command  – This term comes from the military.  It simply refers to who reports to whom.  An individual contributor may report to a supervisor who reports to a director who reports to a vice president who reports the president.  That’s a simple chain of command.

Unity of command – Unity of command is the principle that an employee should report to one and only one manager.  Have you ever worked for two bosses?  Then you know the issues that can arise.  What organizational structure violates this idea?

Scalar principle – This is the concept that there should be a clear, unbroken chain of command from each individual contributor to the CEO.  In addition, someone must be responsible for every decision.

Span of control – This is a fancy term for the number of employees that report to a manager.  It has nothing to do with the number of products or budget or otherwise.  How many people should report to a manager?  That depends upon the nature of the work.  Work that requires little direct supervision, such as managing a call center, will allow for a relatively large span of control.  Where the manager is more intimately involved in an employee’s work, the span of control will be smaller.