Organisation &
Management
Organisational charts, management functions, leadership styles, delegation, and trade unions — everything you need for Section 2.2.
📖 Click any section to open it and start revising.
A diagram that shows the structure of a business — who is responsible for what and how different people relate to each other. Shows the chain of command, levels of hierarchy, span of control, and relationships between roles.
Key Terms
| Hierarchy | The levels of authority in an organisation — from most senior at the top to least senior at the bottom. |
| Chain of Command | The line of authority through which instructions are passed down from top to bottom of an organisation. |
| Span of Control | The number of subordinates a manager is directly responsible for and supervises. |
| Delegation | When a manager passes authority and responsibility for a task down to a subordinate. |
| Subordinate | A worker who is below and accountable to a manager in the hierarchy. |
Tall vs Flat Structure — Visual Comparison
| Feature | TALL Structure | FLAT Structure |
|---|---|---|
| Levels of hierarchy | Many (5+) | Few (2–3) |
| Span of control | Narrow — few subordinates per manager | Wide — many workers per manager |
| Chain of command | Long — slow communication | Short — fast, direct communication |
| Delegation | Limited at each level | Greater freedom for workers |
| Common in | Large organisations, military, government | Small businesses, start-ups, creative firms |
- Clear promotion pathway — motivates workers
- Narrow span makes supervision easier
- Each manager oversees a small team — more control
- Specialised roles at each level
- Slow communication — many layers to pass through
- Expensive — many management salaries to pay
- Workers at the bottom may feel unimportant
- Decision-making is slow — must pass up many levels
- Faster communication — fewer levels to pass through
- Workers have more responsibility and autonomy — motivating
- Less expensive — fewer managers needed
- Better relationships between managers and workers
- Wide span — managers may be overstretched
- Less promotion opportunity — fewer levels
- Less supervision — problems may go unnoticed
- Can become chaotic as business grows
Roles in an Organisation
| Role | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Directors | Set overall strategy and objectives. Accountable to shareholders. Make major decisions on direction, investment and policy. |
| Managers | Implement directors’ strategy. Organise, coordinate and control their department. Set targets for supervisors. |
| Supervisors | Oversee a team of workers day-to-day. Ensure tasks are completed correctly and on time. Report to managers. |
| Other Employees | Carry out operational tasks. Report to supervisors or managers. Directly produce goods/services. |
Exam tip: Always explain both span of control AND levels of hierarchy — don’t just describe the shape of the chart. Link narrow span → more control → slower decisions, or wide span → less control → faster communication.
Functions of Management (Henri Fayol)
Henri Fayol identified five key functions every manager must perform.
Delegation — Trust vs Control
The process of a manager passing authority and responsibility for a specific task down to a subordinate. Essential in growing businesses — a manager cannot do everything themselves.
- Frees up managers to focus on higher-level tasks
- Motivates workers — more responsibility = higher esteem (Maslow)
- Develops employee skills and career progression
- Faster decisions — don’t need to consult manager for every task
- Builds trust between managers and workers
- Task may be done incorrectly if worker lacks skill
- Manager remains accountable — responsible for mistakes
- Loss of control over quality and standards
- Worker may feel overwhelmed or overburdened
- Can cause confusion if authority boundaries are unclear
Manager bottleneck
Workers feel micromanaged
Right tasks to right people
More trust in workers
Less direct control
Link delegation to motivation: Herzberg — responsibility is a motivator. Maslow — delegation satisfies esteem needs. The best managers delegate the right tasks to the right people — matching responsibility to ability.
Click each style to explore its features, advantages and disadvantages.
- Leader makes ALL decisions without consulting the team
- Instructions passed down — workers follow without question
- Little or no delegation — manager retains tight control
- Communication flows mainly downward
- Very fast decision-making — no need to consult others
- Clear direction — workers always know what to do
- Effective in a crisis or emergency
- Useful when workers are unskilled or new
- Demotivates workers — no input or autonomy
- Ignores valuable ideas from employees
- Can create resentment and high staff turnover
- Entirely dependent on the quality of the leader’s decisions
- Leader consults the team and considers opinions before deciding
- Two-way communication — ideas flow both up and down
- Workers feel valued and involved — higher motivation
- Leader still makes the final decision
- Workers feel valued — higher motivation and morale
- Better quality decisions — draws on team expertise
- Encourages creativity and new ideas
- Workers more likely to accept decisions they helped make
- Decision-making is slow — time consuming
- Can be difficult with large teams
- Risk of conflict between team members
- Leader may struggle if team has poor ideas or no consensus
- Leader gives workers complete freedom to make their own decisions
- Minimal supervision or direction from the leader
- Workers set their own goals and methods
- Leader is available for support but does not interfere
- Highly motivating for skilled, experienced workers
- Encourages creativity, innovation and ownership
- Meets Maslow’s self-actualisation needs
- Workers develop leadership skills themselves
- Can lead to chaos with inexperienced or unmotivated workers
- Very little direction — goals may be unclear
- Manager may lose control of the team
- Not suitable for urgent or crisis situations
📇 Which Style Fits? — Recommendation Flashcards
Click each situation to reveal the best leadership style and why.
Fast decisions needed. No time to consult. Clear commands prevent chaos and confusion.
Skilled, motivated experts thrive with freedom. Creativity and innovation flourish without micromanagement.
Wider consultation leads to better-informed decisions. Team expertise improves quality and buy-in.
Clear direction is needed. Workers lack the experience to contribute meaningfully to decisions yet.
Innovation needs freedom and collaboration. Experts set their own methods while leader coordinates progress.
Owner knows their vision best and acts decisively. Speed and clarity outweigh the need for consensus.
Autocratic ≠ bad, Democratic ≠ always good. The right style depends entirely on the situation and the workforce. Always justify your recommendation by linking to the specific context given in the question.
An organisation of workers that aims to protect and improve the pay, working conditions and rights of its members through collective bargaining with employers.
| Collective Bargaining | When a trade union negotiates pay and conditions on behalf of all its members as a group — giving workers greater bargaining power than negotiating individually. |
| Industrial Action | Action taken by workers (usually organised by a trade union) to put pressure on an employer, e.g. a strike or work-to-rule. |
- Greater bargaining power — negotiate better pay as a group
- Protection from unfair dismissal or unsafe conditions
- Legal support if disputes arise with employer
- Improved job security — union can challenge redundancies
- Voice in workplace decisions and policies
- Membership fees must be paid regularly
- Individual preferences may be overridden by majority union decisions
- Strikes may result in loss of pay for workers
- May create an adversarial relationship with management
- Union decisions may not suit every member
- Single point of contact for wage negotiations — more efficient
- Can reduce individual grievances — fewer disputes
- Motivated workforce if union helps resolve issues fairly
- Unions can help communicate business changes to workers
- Strikes and industrial action disrupt production and damage reputation
- Union pressure may lead to higher wages — raises costs
- Negotiations can be slow and complex
- Business has less flexibility in changing working conditions
Types of Industrial Action
Strike = most extreme — workers lose pay too, so it’s a last resort. Work-to-rule keeps wages but still disrupts. Exam questions often ask you to consider both sides — benefits and drawbacks for both employees AND the business.
Number of subordinates a manager directly supervises. Narrow = tall structure; Wide = flat structure.
Line of authority from top to bottom. Longer chain = slower communication and decisions.
Many levels, narrow span — slow communication, expensive, but clear promotion path.
Few levels, wide span — fast communication, more autonomy, but managers overstretched.
Passing authority to a subordinate — motivating (Herzberg/Maslow) but risks quality if poorly matched.
Planning, Organising, Coordinating, Commanding, Controlling (Fayol’s five).
Leader decides alone — fast, clear direction, good in crises. But demotivating, low creativity.
Leader consults team — motivating, better decisions. But slow, hard with large teams.
Workers have full freedom — great for skilled experts, creative work. Risky with beginners.
Protects workers via collective bargaining. Can improve conditions but may cause industrial action.
Most extreme industrial action — workers refuse to work. Workers lose pay; employer loses production.
Workers do contract minimum only — disrupts production without losing their pay.
TechBuild Ltd has recently expanded rapidly and now employs 500 staff. The CEO still makes every decision personally and rarely delegates. Managers are frustrated and junior staff feel undervalued.
- Knowledge (K): The CEO can focus on higher-level strategic decisions rather than routine tasks (1 mark)
- Application (App): managers feel trusted and motivated as they are given more responsibility (1 mark)
- Analysis (An): faster decision-making and a more motivated workforce improves overall performance (1 mark)
Workers at GreenPack, a packaging company, have voted to go on strike after the company refused to raise wages despite record profits. The strike is expected to last at least two weeks.
- Knowledge (K): Workers lose their wages for every day they are on strike (1 mark)
- Application (App): After two weeks they face significant financial hardship with no income (1 mark)
- Analysis (An): Some workers may return early, weakening the union’s bargaining position (1 mark)
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