Edexcel Business A Level Revision

Delegation - Where responsibility for carrying out a task or role is passed onto someone else in the business. Delegation involves the assignment to others of the authority for particular functions, tasks, and decisions. Delegation can allow subordinates to gain more autonomy and become empowered leading to an increase in performance The main advantages and disadvantages of delegation can be summarised as follows: Advantages Reduces management stress and workload Allows senior management to focus on key tasks Subordinates are empowered and motivated Better decisions or use of resources (potentially) Good method of on-the-job training  Disadvantages Cannot / should not delegate responsibility Depends on quality / experience of subordinates Harder in a smaller firm May increase workload and stress of subordinates

Span of control - is the number of people directly answerable to each person in the chain of command. The most appropriate span of control depends on the circumstances. The size of a span of control depends on; Experience and personality of the manager Nature of the business. If being a line manager requires a great deal of close supervision, then a narrow span might be appropriate. Skills and attitudes of the employees. Highly skilled and professional employees might flourish in a business adopting wide spans of control. Tradition and culture of the organisation. A business with a tradition of democratic management and empowered workers may operate better in wider spans of control. Tall organisations with narrow spans of control run the risk of slow decision making and distorted communication... but they can monitor staff more efficiently. Flat organisations with a wide span of control can have managers which find it hard to manage their wide span of control of people effec...