Comparative Public Administration
February 12, 2025
Dealing with Radical Change We live in times when change is the only constant. Indeed, organizations now compete in an external market landscape where the time to market is in the months and not years, as earlier, and where each new technology or trend that emerges leads to another round and wave of disruption. Just […]
Conflict arises when individuals strongly oppose each other’s opinions and views and are not willing to compromise with each other. A conflict solves no problems; it just creates tensions, anxiety and earns you a bad name. No body appreciates you, if you are constantly engaged in fights. Conflicts must be controlled at the right time […]
Why do you think an individual is recruited? Is it because he/she is qualified enough to do justice to a particular role or he/she belongs to the religion you belong? The answer is very simple. Obviously an individual is hired because the company feels that he/she can contribute to his/her level best towards achieving organization […]
Dressing plays an essential role in public speaking. It is the way you dress which speaks volumes about your personality and confidence. A public speaker needs to dress as per the occasion, time and season. If you are addressing your office colleagues during the office hours, it is essential to stick to formal dressing. You […]
The previous articles discussed the importance of transformational leadership in the corporate world. This article looks at the traits and attributes needed in the 21st century business landscape. Though the article on transformative leadership touched upon several aspects of leadership in the contemporary times, this article expands on it by including the role of ethics […]
The line agency in its traditional form exists as departments. Departments are the fundamental unit of administrative organizations and carries out all the functions. There are different shortcoming and problems associated with this structure as well but before we dwell into that, we shall make an attempt to understand the basic principles on which the organization of departments is based.
The organization of departments is based on four principles:
The above mentioned principles are not the sole criteria for the basis of organizations, aspects like traditions and history also play a role. Generally, the governments look at a combination of one or more principles and considerations to base the departments on. The most relevant however has been the functional principle or the Scientific Principle of Organization. With increase in specialization of functions, it only makes sense to have organizations based on them. Let us read about some of the features of this principle:
The departments are further divided into divisions which is the vertical division based on the broader functions to be performed by the department. The horizontal division is done for other specific activities to be carried out under that division.
The horizontal method of dividing the work within the organization is preferred in comparison to the vertical segregation. The arguments given for the same are:
The departments are generally divided into two divisions (there may be more), the division of Primary Activities and the Division of Secondary or Institutional Activities about which we read earlier.
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